Physiological chemistry / by C. G. Lehmann ; translated by George E. Day.

  • Lehmann, Carl Gotthelf, 1812-1863.
Date:
1851-1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physiological chemistry / by C. G. Lehmann ; translated by George E. Day. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    36/496 page 20
    Sulphocyanide of potassium never occurs in the saliva except in very small quantity. Jacubowitsch found 0'006^- of this salt in his own saliva; and in analysing my saliva I found it to vary between 0-0046 and 0-0089{f; according to Wright it ranges in human saliva from 0‘51 to 0'98{b which is obviously far too high. Although we have already spoken (in the first volume) of the existence of sulphocyanide of potassium in the saliva, yet the very dogmatical assertions of Strahl,* who denies that the presence of sulphocyanogen can be demonstrated, and applies to the experi- ments of his predecessors, such terms as lc deficient, irregular, and ill-judged,” (notwithstanding that Gmelin has exhibited pure sulphocyanogen in very large quantity from the saliva by distilla- tion,) compel us to refer to the admirable memoirs of Jacubowitsch and Tilanus,t who have demonstrated beyond all doubt the presence of sulphocyanogen by the simplest and most unques- tionable chemical experiments ; Frerichs J has also established the proof of the existence of sulphocyanide of potassium in the saliva. Moreover, it was formerly shown by Marchand,§ and it has been more recently demonstrated by Wohler and Frerichs, || by direct experiments, that sulphocyanide of potassium does not possess any poisonous properties. Local stimulation of the salivary glands, the internal use of prussic acid and the salts of cyanogen, and especially of sulphur, increase, according to Wright, the quality of sulphocyanogen in the saliva. In mixed or ordinary saliva the ptyalin is mixed with mucus, so that its properties do not appear to be altogether identical with those which we have described, and its accurate quantitative deter- mination is impossible, independently of the considerable amount of salts contained in the aqueous extract. The aqueous extract, consisting chiefly of ptyalin, was found by Berzelius to amount to 40'8-g- of the solid residue of the saliva, while Gmelin fixed it at 20’0%, and Van Setter^ at 15‘62^. The determinations of the organic matter soluble in water and in alcohol, are very uncertain ; indeed, little or nothing is known regarding this substance. * Med. Zeitg. v. d. Yer. f. Preussen, 1847. Nr. 2] u. 22. t De Saliva et Muco ; dissert, inaug. Amstelod. 1849. t Op. cit. p. 764. § Lehrb. d. Phys. Ch. 1844, S. 410. II Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 65, S. 344. IT Op. cit. p. 24.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3