ARTIFICIAL  MILK. 
463 
vert  to  furnish  a  purer  picric  acid  than  that  hitherto  made, 
showing  him,  at  the  same  time,  a  product  white  and  crystalline, 
which  they  furnished  as  a  type.  Mr.  Calvert  made  new  re- 
searches and  discovered  that  the  most  favorable  mode  of  prepa- 
ration was  not  to  treat  the  coal  oils  with  concentrated  alkalies ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  to  treat  impure  benzine  of  commerce,  or 
naphtha,  by  weak  alkaline  solutions. 
By  this  means,  a  blackish  semi-fluid  product  was  obtained,  a 
little  heavier  than  water,  having  a  sp.  gr.  of  1*06,  containing  50 
per  cent,  of  real  phenic  acid,  and  which  acid  he  separated  partly  by 
the  aid  of  distillation.  After  further  researches,  Mr.  Calvert 
produced  white  phenic  acid  in  detached  crystals,  melting  between 
26°  and  27°C.  Towards  the  end  of  last  year  he  discovered  a 
process  by  which  he  produces  phenic  acid  free  from  all  unpleas- 
ant taste  ;  and  what  deserves  remark  is,  that  it  is  as  pure,  though 
it  is  made  from  coal  tar,  as  if  it  had  been  artificially  produced 
by  the  aid  of  reactions  recently  discovered  by  MM.  Wurtz  and 
Kekule. 
F.  Moigno. 
London  Ohem.  Neivs,  July  19,  1867. 
ARTIFICIAL  MILK. 
At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  M.  Giboust, 
Professor  at  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  read  a  paper  which  we  can- 
not help  noticing.  He  called  the  attention  of  the  medical  world 
to  the  description  given  of  the  artificial  milk  invented  by  Baron 
Von  Liebig,  and  regretted  very  much  being  obliged  to  enter  into 
a  controversy  with  him.  After  having  reminded  the  assembly 
of  the  composition  of  this  milk,  and  insisting  upon  the  difficul- 
ties attending  the  preparation  of  such  aliments  in  places  where 
it  might  be  most  necessary,  such  as  with  wet-nurses  or  small 
families,  M.  Giboust  added  that  we  have  at  our  disposal  a  natural 
product  which  more  nearly  resembles  human  milk  than  does  a 
mixture  of  cow's  milk,  flour,  malt,  lactate  and  butyrate  of  pot- 
ash. It  is  cow's  milk  itself.  On  an  average,  human  milk  con- 
tains a  little  more  water,  more  sugar  of  milk,  less  butter  and 
caseine  than  cow's  milk.  Thus,  by  taking  the  latter,  and  adding 
a  little  sugar  and  a  fifth  of  its  weight  of  water,  we  have  an  ali- 
