598 FERMENTATION AS A CAUSE OF VARIOUS DISEASES. 
saliva and diastase in contact with starch, the fermentation 
occasioned by myrocine in a paste of black mustard-flour, 
that produced by emulsine on the amygdaline of bitter 
almonds, &c. 
M. Polli has proved that alkaline or earthy sulphites 
possess the same antiseptic and decolorising properties. 
This is an important fact, since it allows of the application 
of sulphurous acid in therapeutics. He thinks that he has 
grounds for believing that the action of sulphurous acid and 
sulphites on colouring matters, as well as on ferments, is not 
a deoxygenation, nor a combination nor destruction, but 
simply a molecular modification. 
This action of sulphurous acid and sulphites affords an 
explanation of the valuable property possessed by these 
chemical compounds of preventing, or energetically arresting, 
the action of morbific ferments artificially introduced into the 
blood of animals, without altering its composition in a manner 
incompatible with life. 
From a number of experiments on dogs, mentioned in his 
memoirs, M. Polli has determined the quantity of the safe 
and efficacious dose of sulphites for internal administration, 
the changes they undergo in the organism, and their cura¬ 
tive action on affections produced by injecting putrid or con¬ 
tagious matters into the blood. 
The following are some of his experiments, selected from 
those of the last-mentioned series : 
1. Ten grains of sulphite of soda were given to dog in a 
space of five days, then one grain of pus was introduced 
into the femoral vein. The animal became spiritless and re¬ 
fused food, but its spirits returned the next day, and it ate 
willingly. The experiment repeated two days after yielded 
a like result. The animal was perfectly cured in a few' days. 
2. One gramme of pus was injected in two portions, into 
the veins of a dog more robust than the subject of the pre¬ 
ceding experiment. The animal became dull, but ate the 
next day; the following day it w r as very low, the breathing 
difficult, the wounds sanious, the left leg and foot swelled, 
and it died ten da} T s after. 
3. An equal quantity of putrid blood w r as introduced into 
the veins of three dogs; one died five hours after, another 
after five days* illness, and the third, to which some sulphite 
of soda had been given, recovered rapidly after a little illness. 
4. Numerous other experiments with putrid blood and 
glandered mucus prove that animals die with every symptom 
of general infection whenever sulphite of soda is not ad- 
