MISCELLANY. 
Kiestcine. — M. Nauche has given this name to a particular product of a 
gelatino-albuminous nature, which is found in the urine of women at the 
end of the first month of pregnancy. This principle is separated by repose 
alone, from the other matters of the urine. It is sufficient to place this 
fluid in a glass ; at the end of several hours the kiesteine shows itself 
upon the surface, under the form of points of oblong filaments, which unite 
in a layer a line in thickness. A portion of this layer is precipitated to 
the bottom of the vessel, and there forms a white deposit, of a milky ap- 
pearance. Another remains upon the surface of the urine, contracts ad- 
hesions with the sides of the vessel, and is converted into a solid mem- 
braniform substance. 
The kiesteine furnishes a positive means of detecting pregnancy, even 
at its commencement, when the woman is in health. In diseases with 
purulent secretion, in the different dropsies, diabetes, in children with 
worms, the urine is often covered with an albuminous, fatty, or 
saline layer, which has some resemblance to that observed in pregnancy, 
but, with a little practice, they are distinguished at the first glance. The 
existence of these diseases ought, moreover, to put us upon our guard 
against all mistakes of this kind. 
M. Nauche assures us, that he has frequently employed this method of 
determining pregnancy, in the case where it was far from being expected. 
He thinks that kiesteine is also found in animals under the same circum- 
stances. 
Emanuel Russeau has undertaken, at the Garden of Plants, experiments 
upon the same subject. He has found the same substance as M. Nauche 
in the urine of Apes during gestation. He has in vain sought for it in 
those who were not fecund — or in the urine of males. 
Journ. de Chemie Med. 
Upon Ligustrine, and the constituent parts of the Bark of the Ligustrum 
vulgare. By M. G. Potex. — In the bark of the Ligustrum vulgare I 
have discovered a peculiar substance. The following is the method of 
preparing it: The bark, well bruised, is boiled in pure alcohol, it is then 
distilled and the residue filtered, and made to undergo fermentation by 
means of yeast, to destroy the sugary matter. After this, it is filtered a 
