578 
Constitution  of  Albumenoids. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Nov.,  1882. 
mended,  on  aocount  of  its  rendering  them  less  drastic,  and  more  chola- 
gogue  in  their  action.  It  has  been  thoroughly  tested  in  this  j^art  of 
the  country,  and  is  found  superior  to  the  U.  S.  formula  in  every  par- 
ticular, and  I  respectfully  suggest  it  for  consideration  by  the  revisors 
of  our  standard.  In  this  the  calomel  is  increased  and  the  gamboge 
diminished,  as  follows : 
R    Ext.  coloc.  comp.,  .... 
Calomel,             .  .      '       .            .    aa  gr.  1^- 
Ext.  jalap,    .  .            .            .            .  gr.  1 
Gamboge,           .  .            .            .  gr.  ^-  M. 
J.  Dabney  Palmer. 
Monticello,  Fla.,  Sept.  28,  1882. 
THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  ALBUMENOIDS. 
The  following  passages  are  taken  from  an  interesting  report  upon 
albumen oid  matters  which  has  recently  been  presented  by  M.  Dumas 
to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  based  upon  a  communication  from  M. 
Bechamp. 
Among  the  most  interesting  and  least  known  of  organic  substances 
are  those  which  are  designated  under  the  common  name  of  albumenoid 
or  gelatinigenous  matters,  which  are  either  liquid  and  coagulable,  as 
white  of  egg,  blood  serum,  and  the  fibrous  principle  of  the  flesh  of 
animals,  or  tissues  that  may  be  converted  into  gelatin,  as  well  as 
gelatin  itself.  Not  being  volatile  or  crystallizable  they  are  most  diffi- 
cult to  define,  and  just  as  it  might  be  believed  that  we  had  to  do  with 
a  well  characterized  species  the  substance  proves  to  be  a  mixture  of 
two  or  more  different  bodies. 
The  distinctive  specific  properties  of  these  bodies  are  therefore  not 
yet  well  known ;  there  are  obscure  points  in  respect  to  their  elementary 
composition  ;  the  products  resulting  from  the  action  of  energetic  rea- 
gents upon  them  are  complex,  whilst  all  the  formulse  by  which  it  has 
been  attempted  to  represent  their  composition  have  proved  so  compli- 
cated that  it  is  difficult  to  lay  hold  of  the  bond  connecting  them  with 
the  ordinary  equations  of  organic  chemistry  which  have  been  studied 
with  success  in  recent  years.  Such  considerable  effi3rts  have,  however, 
been  made,  and  science  has  been  for  some  time  past  enriched  with 
results  so  worthy  of  attention,  that  the  not  very  distant  discovery  of 
the  true  constitution  of  these  substances — which  appear  to  be  direct 
