38 
jOTteccllatua* 
ON THE USE OF OXALID ACID IN ANATOMICAL 
PREPARATIONS. 
IT has long been regretted that the different colours of anato¬ 
mical preparations preserved in the humid way, and which are so 
beautiful and distinct in the recent state, quickly fade into an al¬ 
most uniform paleness. 
Dr. M‘Donald has discovered a solution which will retain the 
colours as distinctly marked as on their first immersion. He dis¬ 
solves oxalid acid in pure water in the proportion of one scruple 
to an ounce, and filters the solution. 
The subject to be preserved is then carefully cleared of all its 
superfluous parts, and the free blood, and all impurities, are 
carefully removed ; and in doing this, all washing with plain water, 
and more especially with spirits, must be avoided, as they tend to 
render the muscular parts pale. If washing is necessary, a little 
of the solution may be used. The preparation should then be im¬ 
mersed for two hours in some of the solution, whence it is to be 
transferred to the glass or stone jar in which it is intended to re¬ 
main until finally put up. 
All contact with metallic matter, and especially with iron, is to 
be avoided, because it would be rapidly oxidized by the acid, and 
the whole discoloured. 
We have used the oxalic acid in several preparations, and the 
colour has been preserved in a way we could not effect, either by 
spirit or the muriate of soda. 
LONDON VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY, 
November 12, 1828. 
Mr. PERCIVALL’s valuable paper on inflammation of the foot, 
with which we have been enabled to present our readers in ano¬ 
ther part of this number, was discussed. It was acknowledged 
that the laminae were the usual and principal seats of inflamma¬ 
tion, but that all the secreting surfaces of the foot were occa¬ 
sionally affected. In the inflammation of the foot so frequent on 
ship-board, the laminae were the parts principally inflamed, from 
the horses standing so long, and in shoes, and the laminae being 
permanently elongated. At the beginning of the disease, there was 
