t 
POISONING  BY  PHOSPHORUS.  457 
quantity  of  lime.  This  lime  may  be  previously  converted  into 
sucrate  of  lime  by  M.  Peligot's  method,  that  is,  by  crushing  it 
with  a  little  syrup ;  for  1000  lbs.  of  sugar  three  or  four  pounds 
of  lime  are  requisite  in  the  form  of  sucrate. 
M.  Monnier  has  been  at  great  trouble  to  ascertain  whether  the 
sulphurous  acid  gas  thus  used  modified  the  sugar  so  as  to  produce 
a  certain  amount  of  grape  or  non-crystallizable  sugar,  and  he  has 
convinced  himself  that  sugar  bleached  in  this  manner  undergoes 
no  change  whatever.  The  quantity  of  non-crystallizable  sugar 
found  by  analysis  after  the  operation  in  question  was,  in  each 
case,  exactly  equal  to  the  amount  which  the  sugar  contained  be- 
fore being  bleached :  namely,  on  the  average,  about  2*15  per  ct. 
In  all  these  experiments  the  sugar  was  exposed  about  forty-eight 
hours  to  the  bleaching  action. 
The  above  process  gives  most  striking  results  with  exotic 
sugars,  which  are  highly  colored ;  with  lighter  colored  samples, 
the  bleaching  is  not  so  marked  ;  but  in  the  former  case,  two- 
thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  heterogeneous  coloring  matters  are 
eliminated  completely. — Lond.  Chem.  News,  May  15,  1868. 
POISONING  BY  PHOSPHORUS. 
M.  Mialhe,  having  been  lately  engaged  in  a  medico-legal  in- 
vestigation on  a  case  of  poisoning  by  phosphorus,  was  led 
during  the  experiments  he  performed,  to  alter  his  views  in  re- 
lation to  the  absorption  of  this  substance.  Until  now  he  had 
thought  the  absorption  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus  was  solely 
due  to  the  chemical  action  of  the  alkalies  present  in  the  intestinal 
juices.  This  investigation,  the  result  of  which  he  now  details 
(Union  Med.,  June  4),  has  convinced  him  that  such  absorption  is 
especially  due  to  the  fatty  matters  contained  in  the  alimentary 
substances.  These  fatty  matters,  after  affecting  the  solution  of 
the  sulphur  and  phosphorus,  serve  as  the  vehicle  for  their  In- 
troduction into  the  economy.  It  is  even  probable,  at  all  events 
as  regards  phosphorus,  that  their  absorption  as  a  simple  body 
is  the  general  rule,  absorption  in  consequence  of  chemical  re- 
action being  the  exception.  The  proof  that  such  is  the  case  in 
poisoning  by  phosphorus  is,  that  while  abstinence  and  the 
