266     PHYSIOLOGICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  NITRITE  OF  AMYLE. 
Church  for  his  analysis.  His  report  of  its  composition  was  as 
follows  : — 
Water    10.23 
Oil    4-70 
Starch,  mucilage    ••      ..  35*63 
Albuminous  compounds,  containing  5-153  of 
nitrogen    32-29 
Indigestible  fibre,  cellulose   9-45 
Ash   7-70 
100-00 
Thus  proving  that  much  more  oil  was  extracted  by  the  chemi- 
cal than  by  the  mechanical  process  in  general  use,  ordinary 
rape  cake  containing  sometimes  as  much  as  12  per  cent,  of  oil, 
and  linseed  cake  a  much  larger  quantity. 
So  efficacious  is  the  bisulphide  in  extracting  oil  from  organic 
matters,  that  it  is  even  superior  to  ether  in  this  respect,  and 
Professor  Church  informs  me  that  he  has  adopted  it  as  a  cheaper 
and  preferable  means  of  analysis. 
Thus  the  same  sample  of  linseed  cake  under  the  old  ether 
process  gave  16-57  per  cent,  of  oil.  But  treated  in  a  precisely 
similar  manner  with  bisulphide  of  carbon  it  afforded  16-79  per 
cent  of  oil. 
The  cost  of  ether  in  the  analysis  of  oil  cakes  is  so  great  that 
the  suggestion  of  this  efficacious  substitute  by  Professor  Church 
is  one  of  very  great  practical  importance,  and  I  have  therefore 
much  pleasure  in  bringing  it  under  the  notice  of  the  readers  of 
the  Chemist  and  Druggist,  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that 
it  is  equally  applicable  to  determining  the  amount  of  oil  in  any 
other  seeds  or  in  organic  matters  generally. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  NITRITE  OF  AMYLE. 
Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson  read  a  paper  on  this  subject  before 
Sub-section  D,  of  the  British  Association.  He  first  described 
the  mode  of  manufacture  and  the  chemical  properties  of  the 
nitrite,  and  then  passed  on  to  the  physiological  action.  The 
first  remarkable  fact  was  that  the  nitrite  when  inhaled  produced 
an  immediate  action  on  the  heart,  increasing  the  action  of  the 
organ  more  powerfully  than  any  other  known  agent.    As  the 
