ADDITIONAL OBSEEVATIONS ON EXTDACTUM CARNIS. 347 
we should have thought, to have had any influence as an antiseptic, strikingly 
counteracts this tendency. 
The behaviour of Extractum carnis with various reagents has been but 
slightly touched upon hitherto. The appearances following the addition of 
hydrochloric acid are worthy of note. Some of the extract, containing a full 
proportion of crystalloids, was placed in a watch-glass, and a little hydrochloric 
acid added. The whole became almost immediately quite transparent, owing to 
the rapid solution of kreatine and phosphates. After a few minutes, minute 
cubes of chloride of potassium made their appearance, increasing in number and 
size until they studded the whole field of the microscope. This was set aside, 
and in twelve hours a second set of crystals, of large size, and in the form of 
prisms and plates, were found. The second series appeared to consist of hydro¬ 
chlorates of organic bases. Our original idea in acidulating the extract was to 
reduce the phosphates to a more soluble state, thereby to observe more easily 
the organic constituents; but the rapid precipitation of chloride of potassium, 
from its smaller solubility in hydrochloric acid, was a result we did not look for. 
The gradual combination of the acid with kreatine (or sarkosine?) or the forma¬ 
tion of kreatinine, would explain the second growth of crystals.'* 
It may not be out of place here to notice two letters which have been pub¬ 
lished referring to our last paper,—one in the ‘Chemical News’of October 
5th, the other in the ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal ’ for November. To the former 
we did not reply, firstly and chiefly because it was anonymous, and secondly, 
because there is nothing incompatible in our statement and the paragraph 
quoted from Baron Liebig. Gelatine and allied principles have doubtless 
their use in the animal economy, and if the writer desires a preparation of meat 
containing these principles to their full extent, he may buy a very fair sample in 
London for about four shillings per pound. But the term Extractum carnis 
is now a well-understood one, and cannot be applied to any and every prepa¬ 
ration that happens to be made by the evaporation of a decoction of flesh. 
The relative physiological value of the gelatinous and other constituents belongs 
to a subject beyond our province. 
Baron von Liebig’s letter in the last number of the Journal requires more 
remark, although it only aflTects our paper directly in one or two particulars. 
Our use of the word “gelatine” we explained fully in the paper itself. It was 
intended to comprise the non-crystallizable extractive precipitated by tannic 
acid or tincture of galls, consisting chiefly of chondrine, just in the same ge¬ 
neral sense as the term “ albuminoid ” is used by physiologists, to comprise a 
number of bodies allied to albumen. The character of the precipitates in the 
various samples we experimented on did not differ. The same weight of ex¬ 
tract, and the same quantity of water, was used in each, and the tannic acid 
solution was added in the same way from a burette. The only difference ob¬ 
servable was in the amount of precipitate. 
The age and sex of the animals used for the preparation of the extract has 
without doubt something to do with the variations met with in the produce of 
certain manufacturers, but we cannot allow that it explains everjThing. The 
sample kindly given to one of us at the Koyal Pharmacy at Munich and which 
had been manufactured there was labelled “ Liebig’sches Fleisch-extrakt,” and 
we suppose w’e are to consider that it was made from cow-beef, in accordance 
with the instructions of the Bavarian pharmacopoeia. Why the flesh of the 
female animal should be ordered in that work, in preference to that of the male, 
we do not understand, except it be on the grounds of cost. We suspect there 
is still some misunderstanding of terms, and that the South American article is 
not prepared solely from oxen^ in our sense of the term, at all, but from the 
* This reaction is one to which we hope to devote further attention. 
2 A 2 
