CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF CARTILAGE. 
107 
inoculated, the experiment of M. Dequise may be men¬ 
tioned. This surgeon had been given, by a traveller, a 
quiver full of arrows said to be poisoned with woorara. He 
found, however, on trying them upon a dog, that they pro¬ 
duced no effect. If we consider the woorara as an extract, 
such a result need create no surprise, as extracts are very 
liable to change.” 
ON THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OE CARTILAGE. 
“ Two distinct cartilaginous tissues are recognised in the 
animal world. The first constitutes the cartilage which forms 
the basis of the bones, i. e. which on being incrusted with 
carbonate and phosphate of lime, forms the bony structures 
of the animal organism ; this species is sometimes known as 
collagenous . The second, known as hyalin cartilage or chon - 
drogenous cartilage is never transformed into bone. Up to the 
present time chondrogenouscartilage and collagenous cartilage 
have been looked upon as two distinct chemical varieties of 
the cartilaginous tissue. The collagenous cartilage obtained 
by the action of hydrochloric acid upon bones appear, in fact, 
to differ essentially from chondrogenous cartilage, which con¬ 
stitutes the hyalin cartilaginous tissue, or that cartilaginous 
tissue which is not yet penetrated with calcareous matter. 
The latter gives all the reactions which characterise chondrine; 
it is precipitated from its solutions by acetic acid, by acetate 
of lead, by alum, and by chloride of iron, whilst the former is 
not precipitated by these chemical agents, but only by 
tannic acid and corrosive sublimate. 
“ Dr. Friedleben does not deny these facts, but asserts that 
they are not sufficient to permit us to separate the two tissues 
as distinct varieties. These chemical differences result, ac¬ 
cording to the author, from the mode of preparation of the 
substances, and not from a primordial difference in the car¬ 
tilaginous tissues. In fact, the chrondogenous tissue sub¬ 
mitted for some time to the action of hydrochloric acid no 
longer gives the reactions of chondrine , but those which 
characterise gelatine , the basis of the collagenous tissues, in 
the same manner as the collagenous cartilage extracted from 
bones by hydrochloric acid. From this ingenious discovery 
it results that all the cartilaginous tissues of the animal 
economy present an identical constitution in a chemical point 
of view. It is well to add that some time ago, M. 
Schultze showed that caustic potash possessed the property 
of transforming chrondrogenous tissues (chondrine) into 
collagenous cartilage (gelatine.)”— The Chemical News. 
