ANIMAL CHARCOAL AN ANTIDOTE TO POISON. 207 
calcareous salt, therefore, must have originated either from the 
water, or from the vessels, in which the fluid had been eva- 
porated. In fact, after an equal quantity of water had been 
evaporated in a porcelain capsule, to a few drops, and only one 
drop of muriatic acid added, I obtained distinct evidence of the 
presence of lirne on the addition of oxalate of ammonia. More- 
over, as charcoal also precipitates substances, where the pre- 
cipitation cannot depend on the presence of calcareous salts, as 
in the case of iodine, it is very improbable that the effect on 
metallic salts depends on the calcareous salts. — Phar. Jour. , 
from Ann. der Chimie. 
ART. XL I. —ANIMAL CHARCOAL AN ANTIDOTE TO POISON. 
On Monday, November 17th, 1845, Dr. A. B. Garrod read 
a paper before the Medical Society of London, on Animal Char- 
coal as an Antidote to various Poisons, especially those derived 
from the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The following is an 
abstract of the paper, which will appear in the forthcoming 
volume of the Society's Transactions : 
Dr. Garrod first noticed the experiments which had of late 
been made on the effects of animal charcoal in removing bitter 
principles from their solution, and then detailed his own ex- 
periments which led him to use it as an antidote. The results 
he had arrived at were, 
1st. That animal charcoal removed the active principles from 
vegetable and animal substances when added in proper quanti- 
ties, even in a solution, imitating the gastric juice, and at the 
temperature of the stomach (100° Fahr .) 
2d. That animal charcoal will also form compounds with 
arsenious acid and other mineral substances, removing these 
