NN 
SALT. 
120 
40°15 48°78 291°44 
~ 50°40 46°82 262°35 
39°79 45°42 
70°61 44°35 
84°42 42°96 
103°17 42.65 
Hence it appears that the solubility of sulphate 
of soda follows a very singular law. After hav- 
ing increased rapidly to about the temperature 
of 33°, where it is at its maximum, it diminishes 
to 103:17°; and at that point it is nearly the 
same as at 30°5°. 
Solubility of Chloride of Potassium. 
Salt dissolved 
Temperature. in 100 water. 
15°64° 43°50 
49°31 55°63 
14:89 65°51 
105°48 1789 
Solubility of Chloride of Sodium (Common Salt). 
Salt dissolved 
Temperature, in 100 water. 
13°89° 35°81 
16°90 35°88 
59°93 37°14 
109°73 40°38 
Solubility of Sulphate of Magnesia (Epsom Salt). 
Temperature. In 100 water, 
14°58° 103°69 
39°86 178 34 
49°08 212°61 
64°35 295:13 
97:03 644°44 
Solubility of Nitrate of Potash (Nitre). 
Salt dissolved 
Temperature. in 100 water, 
0:00° 13°32 
201 16°72 
11-67 22°23 
17°91 29°31 
24:94 38°40 
39°13 54°82 
45°10 74°66 
54°72 97:05 
65°45 125°42 
19°(2 169°27 
97°66 236°45 
The action of salts on the animal organism is 
very diversified, and in most instances remark- 
able, and in many instances either mightily me- 
dicinal or powerfully poisonous. “ Iodide of 
potassium, sulpho-cyanuret of potassium, ferro- 
cyanuret of potassium, chlorate of potash, sili- 
cate of potash, and all salts with alkaline bases, 
when administered internally to man and ani- 
mals in dilute solutions, or applied externally, 
may be again detected in the blood, sweat, chyle, 
gall, and splenic veins; but all of them are 
finally excreted from the body through the uri- 
nary passages. Hach of these substances, in its 
transit, produces a peculiar disturbance in the 
organism—in other words, they exercise a medi- 
cinal action upon it, but they themselves suffer 
no decomposition. If any of these substances 
enter into combination with any part of the 
body, the union cannot be of a permanent kind ; 
for their re-appearance in the urine shows that 
any compounds thus formed must have been 
again decomposed by the vital processes. Neu- 
tral citrates, acetates, and tartrates of the alka- 
lies, suffer change in their passage through the 
organism. Their bases can indeed be detected 
in the urine, but the acids have entirely disap- 
peared, and are replaced by carbonic acid which 
has united with the bases. The conversion of 
these salts of organic acids into carbonates, indi- 
cates that a considerable quantity of oxygen 
must have united with their elements; and there 
is no evidence presented by the organism itself, 
to which they have been administered, that any 
of its proper constituents have yielded so great 
a quantity of oxygen as is necessary for their 
conversion into carbonates ; so that their oxida- 
tion can be ascribed only to the oxygen of the 
air. During the passage of these salts through the 
lungs, their acids take part in the peculiar pro- 
cess of eremacausis proceeding in that organ. A 
certain quantity of the oxygen gas inspired 
unites with their constituents, and converts their 
hydrogen into water, and their carbon into car- 
bonic acid. Part of this latter product (1 or 2 
equivalents) remains in combination with the 
alkaline base, forming a salt which suffers no 
further change by the process of oxidation; and 
it is this salt which is separated by the kidneys 
or liver. It is manifest that the presence of these 
organic salts in the blood must produce a change 
in the process of respiration. A part of the oxy- 
gen inspired, which usually combines with the 
constituents of the blood, must, when they are 
present, combine with their acids, and thus be 
prevented from performing its usual office. The 
immediate consequence of this must be the for- 
mation of arterial blood in less quantity, or in 
other words, the process of respiration must be 
retarded, Neutral acetates, tartrates, and ci- 
trates placed in contact with the air, and at the 
same time with animal or vegetable bodies ina 
state of eremacausis, produce exactly the same 
effects as we have described them to produce in 
the lungs. They participate in the process of 
decay, and are converted into carbonates just as 
in the living body. If impure solutions of these 
salts in water are left exposed to the air for any 
length of time, their acids are gradually decom- 
posed, and at length entirely disappear. Free 
mineral acids, or organic acids without volatility, 
and salts of mineral acids with alkaline bases, 
completely arrest decay when added to decaying — 
matter in sufficient quantity ; and when their 
quantity is small, the process of decay is pro- 
tracted and retarded. They produce in living 
bodies the same phenomena as the neutral or- 
ganic salts, but their action depends upon a dif- 
ferent cause. The absorption by the blood of a 
quantity of an inorganic salt sufficient to arrest 
the process of eremacausis in the lungs, is pre- 
vented by a very remarkable property of all ani- 
mal membranes, skin, cellular tissue, muscular 
fibre, &c.,—namely, by their incapability of being 
permeated by concentrated saline solutions. 
It 
