On the physiological and medicinal properties of bromine and its compounds : also on the analogies between the physiological and medicinal properties of these bodies, and those of chlorine and iodine, with their correspondent compounds : being the Harveian Prize Essay for 1842 / by R. M. Glover.

  • Robert Mortimer Glover
Date:
[1842]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the physiological and medicinal properties of bromine and its compounds : also on the analogies between the physiological and medicinal properties of these bodies, and those of chlorine and iodine, with their correspondent compounds : being the Harveian Prize Essay for 1842 / by R. M. Glover. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    curious plienomeuou. I do not allude to the solidification alone, but to the connection of this with effusion of the serum. As these experiments may be supposed to show the analogy of the bromide with the chloride, the following experiments were made with the chloride, in order to elucidate some points of doubt with regard to both salts. Expt. 43^/. Half an ounce of corrosive sublimate was introdu- ced into the stomach of a strong terrier, and the gullet tied. The animal died in an hour. The mucous membrane of the stomach was found of a nearly uniform colour—of a blue slate tint, with scarcely a trace of vital action; but in the duodenum, and still more in the small intestines, where the quantity of the poison was di- minished, there were abundant marks of vital action, i. e. irritation. The heart and about eight ounces of blood carefully collected from the great veins were digested for two days in nitric acid, succes- sive portions of the acid being added. The mass was then set aside for a week, and a fresh digestion made. Then the acid li- quid filtered through asbestos was heated to expel acid, water be- ing repeatedly added. The solution was then carefully neutra- lized by pure caustic potass. When the point of neutralization had been nearly attained, each addition of caustic potass caused a faint lemon-coloured precipitate, Avhich was speedily redissolved. On adding the carbonate instead of the alkali, a distinct red tint was assumed, which disappeared when the effervescence had ceas- ed. I divided the liquid into three portions : one portion was evaporated to dryness,- and strongly heated in a tube of Bohemian glass ; protochloride of tin was added to another portion ; a third portion was exposed to the action of tin-foil, which became dull. Results. The first process gave very faint evidence of the pre- sence of mercury ; the protochloride gave a faint gray ]|recipitate ; the tin-foil on being heated did not give any perceptible mercurial vapour. As the reagents were pure, notwithstanding the imperfect evidence of the reduction test, there could be no doubt that the blood acted on by the nitric acid contained mercury, probably in the state of pernitrate and corrosive sublimate.* Since I gave in my essay containing this fact, for competition for the Harveian prize, M- Orfila has established the absorption of corrosive sublimate in the most satisfactory manner. His memoir is published in the Journal de Chimie Medicale for July; I per- formed the experiment just related in October 1840, assisted by my friend, Dr Embleton. Expt. 44^/i. Ten grains of corrosive sublimate dissolved in half a fluid ounce of water, being thrown into the jugular of a dog, pro- duced almost instant death, the heart's irritability being destroyed. The sub-bromide, like the subchloride, is converted by digestion in nitric acid into the bromide and nitrate, or per-bromidc and pcr-nitrate, according to the no- menclature preferred.