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CAUSE  OF  DEATH  FROM  SNAKE-BITES. 
well  emulsed  melted  butter — does  not,  it  might  be  inferred  that 
an  emulsed  oil  would  in  some  cases  agree  with  the  stomach  when 
the  plain  oil  would  not.  I  am  convinced  of  this,  that  the  Glyce- 
Iseum  copaibse,  stiffened  with  powdered  cubeb,  would  form  a  more 
elegant  and  a  more  supportable  electuary  than  the  nasty  and  im- 
perfectly mixed  mass  one  commonly  meets  with. 
The  uses  of  these  bodies  in  the  cosmetic  art  will  not,  I  presume, 
be  lost  sight  of. 
I  have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  it  is  to  the  emulsine 
contained  in  these  oil-seeds  we  must  attribute  the  extraordinary 
emulsive  power  of  these  vegetable  powders.  (Certainly  no  or- 
ganic principle  has  been  more  consistently  named  than  it.)  This 
I  have  proved  experimentally  by  preparing  some  of  the  sub- 
stance and  trying  it  in  its  pure  state.  I  found  that  5  grains 
dissolved  in  one  drachm  of  water  would  emulse  into  a  jelly  four 
drachms  of  olive  oil  (using  the  spatula,  not  the  pestle).  I  pre- 
pared the  emulsine  by  digesting  for  a  few  hours  powdered  almond 
meal  with  tepid  water,  filtered  and  added  to  3  measures  of  the 
filtrate,  5  measures  of  rectified  spirit,  collected  the  precipitate, 
and  dried  it  at  a  temperature  not  exceeding  100°. 
Having  a  few  more  minutes  to  spare,  I  will  say  a  few  words 
about  the  dietetic  use  of  emulsine.  I  wonder  it  has  not  been 
pressed  into  the  service  of  the  infants.  It  is  really  a  vegetable 
albumen,  like  it  it  is  coagulable  by  heat,  and  contains  a  large 
proportion  of  nitrogen  in  a  form  available  for  the  production  of 
fibrin  for  the  blood  and  muscles.  It  is  contained,  it  is  said,  in 
almonds  to  the  extent  of  30  per  cent.,  and  is  easily  extracted 
therefrom.  A  tepid  infusion  of  the  meal,  filtered,  sweetened, 
and  then  evaporated  at  a  temperature  not  exceeding  100°  to  a 
syrup,  would  not  be  unlikely  to  be  a  useful  alimentary  prepara- 
tion.— Cliem.  and  Drug.,  Sept.  14,  from  Trans.  Brit.  Conf.  1867. 
CAUSE  OF  DEATH  FROM  SNAKE-BITES. 
To  the  Editors  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal. 
Gentlemen— Professor  G.  B.  Halford,  M.  D.,  of  the  Mel- 
bourne University,  has  been  investigating  the  cause  of  death 
from  snake-bites,  especially  that  of  the  cobra  de  capello,  and 
