ANTISEPIC  PROPERTIES  OF  AMMONIA. 
459 
munication  he  had  made  to  the  Society  on  this  subject  in  1850. 
His  present  inquiry  and  application  of  ammonia  as  an  antiseptic 
commenced  in  1858.  His  attention  was  then  directed  to  the 
fact,  that  the  presence  of  ammonia  effectually  arrested  the  oxi- 
dation of  various  bodies,  and  even  prevented  the  action  of  ozone. 
Believing  that  by  an  extension  of  the  same  law  animal  substances 
exposed  to  ammonia  could  be  prevented  from  putrefaction,  he 
kept  blood  and  portions  of  tissues  in  contact  with  simple  am- 
moniacal  vapor,  and  with  results  which  were  most  remarkable. 
Blood  in  an  ordinary  stopped  bottle,  if  charged  with  ammonia 
so  as  to  give  a  faint  ammoniacal  odor,  would  retain  its  freshness 
and  many  of  its  properties  for  years.  Animal  structures  in  like 
manner  placed  even  so  as  to  be  massed  together  in  bottles  con- 
taining ammonia  vapor,  would  retain  their  freshness  for  an  un- 
limited time.  Dr.  Richardson  now  showed  the  following  speci- 
mens :  The  lungs  of  a  calf  which  he  had  used  for  lecture  pur- 
poses for  six  months,  and  which  had  been  simply  placed  under 
a  bell-jar,  a  little  ammonia  in  solution  being  put  over  them  from 
time  to  time;  a  pancreas  which  had  been  kept  for  eighteen 
months  in  a  bottle  containing  twenty  minims  of  ammonia  solu- 
tion ;  a  kidney  showing  deep  congestion,  which  had  been  re- 
moved sixteen  weeks  ;  a  bottle  of  mixed  specimens,  including 
portions  of  intestine  with  enlarged  glands  ;  a  bladder,  the  inner 
surface  of  which  was  injected ;  a  uterus  and  ovaries  and  a  pan- 
creas, all  of  which  had  been  preserved  lying  close  in  one  bottle 
for  sixteen  weeks  ;  also  a  portion  of  liver,  which  had  been  re- 
moved nearly  three  years  ;  and  a  cancerous  breast,  which  had 
been  removed  by  Mr.  Spencer  Wells  eight  weeks  before.  The 
specimens  all  retain  their  freshness,  and  admitted  of  dissection 
and  examination  as  in  the  recent  state.  The  author  then  de- 
scribed the  method  of  applying  ammonia.  It  was  necessary,  in 
the  first  place,  to  trust  to  the  ammonia  alone  :  specimens  that 
were  exposed  first  to  spirit  and  then  to  ammonia  vapor  were  al- 
ways spoiled.  For  the  preservation  of  fluids,  such  as  blood  or 
milk,  it  was  merely  necessary  to  add  the  alkali  in  solution  in 
proportion,  say  of  twenty  minims,  of  the  strong  solution  to  two 
ounces  of  the  fluid  to  be  preserved.  For  tissues  the  plan  was  to 
place  the  specimen  to  be  preserved  in  a  stoppered  bottle  or 
under  a  bell-jar,  such  as  is  used  for  wax  flowers  and  ornaments, 
