August 13, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
139 
The whole of the oxides of nitrogen are tabulated 
below:— 
Nitrous oxide, or laugliing gas.N 3 O 
Colourless. 
Nitric oxide (formerly binoxide of nitro¬ 
gen) .N 2 0 2 , or NO 
Colourless, but reddens in the air. 
Nitrous anhydride.N 2 0 3 
Red fumes, condensible to blue liquid. 
Nitric peroxide.N„ 0 4 , or N 0 2 
Red-brown fumes, condensible to orange liquid or 
crystalline solid. 
Nitric anhydride.N 2 0 5 
Colourless, crystalline, easily decomposed. 
The nitric acid of the B. P. should leave no re¬ 
sidue on evaporation, showing that it contains no 
nitrate of potash or soda; and should give, when 
considerably diluted, no precipitate with chloride of 
bariimi or nitrate of silver, showing freedom from 
sulphuric and liydrocliloric acids. It is necessary to 
add water, for the undiluted acid will throw down 
many salts, such as nitrate of barium, which are so¬ 
luble in water, but not in the concentrated acid. 9 
grams of nitric acid, B. P., are neutralized by the 
addition of 100 cubic centimetres of the volumetric 
solution of soda. 1000 c.c. of vol. sol. of soda con¬ 
tain 40 grams of NaHO, and will neutralize 1 mole¬ 
cule of HN0 3 , or grams. 100 will therefore 
neutralize xfrth of 63 or 6‘3 grams. Tliis is the 
amount of H N 0 3 in 9 grams of the official acid; it 
is equivalent to 70 per cent.; for 
9:6-3:: 100 : 70. 
The British Medical Association. —The Thirty- 
eighth Annual Congress of the British Medical Associa¬ 
tion was inaugurated yesterday by the usual preliminary 
proceedings of the Council, and more formally by the 
general meeting of the members in the Lecture Room of 
the Literary and Philosophical Society, on w r hich occasion 
Dr. Charlton, of Newcastle, signalized his accession to 
the Presidency for the year by the delivery of an address 
almost equally interesting to the general public and to 
the medical profession, inasmuch as it was devoted to the 
great subject of Hygiene and to what may be called the 
politics of the profession. This latter subject elicited 
sympathetic response from the Association, wdiich has 
already distinguished itself in the promotion of medical 
reform, while it is still leading the van against obsolete 
pretensions and the obstructiveness of vested interests. 
The address furnishes a convenient abstract of the aims, 
principles, and achievements of the Society to -which 
Newcastle is this week extending- its heartiest welcome 
and "warmest hospitality.— Newcastle Daily Chronicle. 
Accident at the ABC Sewage Works at Hast¬ 
ings. —The Hastings sewage works* have become the 
scene of a melancholy disaster. As in the case of the 
London main drainage, the sewage of Hastings is re¬ 
ceived into a large tank or reservoir, where it is stored 
until the state of the tide allows of its discharge. The 
Hastings Sewage Manure Company, who work what is 
termed the ABC patent, under an arrangement with 
the Native Guano Company, have established their works 
just over the spot where the great intercepting sewer dis¬ 
charges into the tank. The tank itself is of considerable 
extent, and is entirely subterranean, having an entrance 
or man-hole at each end. Late on Friday evening cries 
01 distress were heard proceeding from the tank, into 
wor bnaen were known to have de¬ 
scended. Mr. Porter, w ho acted as chemist to the ma¬ 
* See Pharm. Journ. No. 1, p. 5. 
nure company, was on the premises at the time, and un¬ 
fortunately sacrificed his own life in an unsuccessful at¬ 
tempt to rescue them. He descended the shaft leading to 
the tank, and a man who accompanied him saw him fall. 
An inquest was held, on Monday afternoon, on the 
bodies of the two workmen, when the jury returned a ver¬ 
dict of “Accidental death from inhaling noxious gases,” 
but no evidence was produced to show how these gases 
were generated. A similar verdict was returned by an¬ 
other jury in the case of Mr. Porter, whose body was re¬ 
covered later. 
Blood Pictures. —Dr. Day, of Geelong, Australia, 
the improver of the guaiacum-tests for blood and other 
animal fluids, confirms the discovery of Neumann, that 
the picture or network formed by human blood can be 
distinguished under the microscope from that which is 
formed by the blood of other animals. He says he has 
repeated the experiment, which is “ wonderfully simple,” 
almost every day for the last two months, with invariable 
success. A small drop, not a mere speck, of the blood is 
to be placed on a microscopic slide, and carefully watched, 
at a temperature of 10° or 12° Reaumur ( = 54-2° to 59° 
Fahr.), until the picture or network formed by its co¬ 
agulation is developed. Human blood speedily breaks 
up into a “ small pattern” network; the blood of other 
animals (calves, pigs, etc.) takes a longer time, and makes 
a larger pattern; but the blood of every animal seems 
to form a characteristic “ picture.” Dr. Day has ex¬ 
amined the blood of calves, pigs, sheep, rabbits, ducks, 
hens, several kinds of fishes, etc., as well as that of man, 
and has found the results to be trustworthy and con¬ 
stant.— British Medical Journal. 
Arsenic. —The use of arsenic in a very large number 
of skin diseases has led to a conclusion that its specific 
effects upon such diseases have been greatly exaggerated. 
In a large number of selected cases no benefit has been 
apparent. As a tonic in neuralgia, rheumatism, and 
ague, it is an excellent remedy.— Annual Report of the 
Hankow Medical Mission, by F. Porter Smith, M.B. 
The death, at the age of 75, of Baron Charles yon 
Hiigel is announced. He was Austrian plenipotentiary 
at the Court of Belgium, and well known as an Austrian 
explorer and founder of the Horticultural Society at 
Vienna. He died at Brussels on the 2nd of June. Baron 
von Hiigel was author of ‘ Botanisches Archiv der Gar- 
tenbaugesellschaft des Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaates,’ 
Wien, 1837 ; and of ‘ Orchideensammlimg im Friihjahr 
1845/ Wien, 1845, which enumerates 1080 species. 
Some of the plants collected by him in Australia in 1833 
were enumerated, and the new species described by 
Bentham, Fenzl, Schott, and Endlicher, in the unfi¬ 
nished ‘Enumeratio Plantarum quas in Nov. Holl. col- 
legit C. L. B. de Hiigel/ Vienna, 1837. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Obsebvaiions on Thebapeuiics and Disease. By 
Donald Campbell Black, M.D., L.R.C.S. Edinburgh. 
London: John Churchill and Sons. Glasgow: James 
Hadden. 1870. 
The Food Joubnal. No. VII. London: J. M. Johnson 
and Sons, 3, Castle Street, Holborn. 
The Pbacxice op Peefumeby : a Treatise on the Toilet 
and Cosmetic Arts, Historical, Scientific, and Practical; 
with Chapters on the Management of the Hair, Skin, 
and Teeth. By E. Jones Owen. London: Houlston 
and Sons. 
The Labobaxoet Guide : a Manual of Practical Che¬ 
mistry for Colleges and Schools, specially arranged for 
Agricultural Students. By Aeihue Heebeet Chuecii, 
M.A. London: Van Voorst. 
