350 
Miscellany. 
JLntidote to arsenic. — M. Blondel of Mer, (France,) has published a case 
in which the hydrate of the peroxide of iron was completely successful as 
an antidote in a case where about two drachms of arsenic had been taken. 
The poison was swallowed at 6, A. M. A physician saw the individual 
in about a quarter of an hour afterwards, and administered some glasses 
of sugar and water. M. Blondel visited him twenty minutes after the 
poison had been ingested, and ordered the hydrate of the peroxide of iron. 
This was made by treating the sulphate of the tritoxide with potash. As 
much as was furnished by six ounces of the sulphate was mixed with 
about forty pints of sugar and water, of this the patient took a tumbler 
every five minutes for three or four hours. After swallowing two or three 
doses, a vomiting ensued of about three ounces of fluid. Half an hour 
afterwards, there was copious vomiting and discharges from the bowels, 
which continued until 4 P. M. The patient recovered. He never ex- 
perienced any pain. It should be noticed that no examination was made 
of the discharges. But the powder remaining in the tumbler in which 
the patient had mixed the dose, was ascertained to be arsenic. 
Journ. de Clam. Med. 
Preservative liquid. — M. Le Reboulet, conservator of the Museum of 
Nat. Hist, at Strasbourg, has given the following formula for a liquid for 
the preservation of anatomical preparations &c. This fluid is peculiarly 
applicable to the preservation of the brain. When any tissues kept in 
this solution, become hardened, as sometimes happens, they can be re- 
stored to their original flexibility by keeping them in fresh water for a 
short time : 
R. Water 16 parts. 
Chloride of lime 4 " 
Alum 2 " 
Nitre 1 '• 
Journ. de Pharm. 
Jlction of diluted acids on sugar. — M. Malaguti, in an interesting memoir 
on this subject, has satisfactorily shown, that acids, whether organic or 
inorganic, when diluted, and with the assistance of heat, act in an iden- 
tical manner on cane sugar. This is first transformed into grape sugar, 
then into ulmic acid, and if atmospheric air be present, into formic 
acid : when cane sugar is transformed into grape sugar, there is no need 
of any elevation of temperature, the acids acting without the aid of heat : 
that extremely diluted acids act in the same way, but more slowly : that 
the action of atmospheric air is necessary to the formation of formic acid, 
this change not taking place in vacuo : that the action of alkalies is iden- 
tical with that of acids. Ibid. 
