170 ACTION OF METALLIC SALTS ON ALBUMEN, ETC. 
ART. XXX — ON THE ACTION OF THE METALLIC SALTS 
ON ALBUMEN AND ON ANIMAL TISSUES. By J. L. Las- 
SAIGNE. 
Extract. 
Chemists have stated that most metallic solutions precipi- 
tate albumen. This action has by many chemists been ascrib- 
ed to the decomposition of these salts, and the union of the 
oxide with the organic body. No positive experiments hav- 
ing as yet been made to confirm this opinion, the author of 
this paper has undertaken a series of experiments, of which the 
results establish, contrary to the received opinion, that, in the 
action of albumen upon metallic salts, this principle unites di- 
rectly with these compounds without producing any decom- 
position. The examination of the resulting combinations has 
shown that they possess properties, of which the most essen- 
tial are exhibited under the following conclusions : 
1. Albumen, as the experiments related in the paper of M. 
Lassaigne demonstrate, has the property of uniting with me- 
tallic salts without decomposing them, and produces with them 
compounds which are insoluble in water, when these bodies 
are in certain proportions, but susceptible of solution when 
the albumen or the metallic salt is in excess. 
2. These compounds, which may be called albuminates, 
appear to result from the action of four or six atoms of albumen 
upon one atom of the metallic salt, as is indicated by the ana- 
lysis of the combinations which have been examined in these 
experiments. 
3. These combinations, when hydrated, possess the singu- 
lar property of dissolving in many of the alkaline salts, which 
are capable of decomposing the metallic salts of the com- 
pound when not united to the albumen. 
4. It is probable that, when administered internally, the 
metallic salts, in consequence of their absorption, form analo- 
gous compounds, either by union with the albumen contained 
