Phosphates : their chemical composition and uses in the different tissues of the body / by M.F. Anderson.
- Anderson, M. F. (Mark French)
- Date:
- 1877
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Phosphates : their chemical composition and uses in the different tissues of the body / by M.F. Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
24/34 page 24
![As regards tlie use of pliosjdiorus, I caiinot see the advantage, vY utility, of presciibiug free phosphorus. If it is only of use as a phosphate, why necessitate its oxidation in the system ? This lu'ocess can he far better carried on outside than inside the body; even when oxidised and converted into phosphoric acid it is left to chance to find the proper bases with which to unite to form the true x^hosphatic constituent of the tissues (tribasic phGsphate)i 'hhis last objection applies also to phosjihoric acid. The hypox3hosx)hites contain bases which may he useful in the formation of tissue x^hosx^hate ; but the acid is not the acid that enters into cax^illary formation; nor io it with certainty converted into x^hosx^horic acid. All the hypophosphites, or, at least, those x^i’escrihed in medicine, are soluble, and hypophosphorous acid does not possess the property of formmg compound salts, in the way that phosphoric acid does. The hypophosphites may he in certain cases useful in furnishing bases instrumental in the formation of tissue phosphate ; hut in order to do this must part from the acid, which is useless except as a carrier of the base. The'phosphates in such a combination as that of Parrish’s serve as a usefiil medicine in many cases. Parrish’s compound syrup of j^hosphates contains, amongst other phosphates, ])hosphate of lime in a state readily available for hone formation,- and for this reason is a very valuable medicine for children, in whom hone formation and development is a matter of great importance, hut it is not well adapted for the formation of tissue' phosphate. All these x>rex3arations of x)hosx)horus have been largely used in medicine without x^roducing any of the marked effects on the capillaries, which, I believe, a x^roper combination of acid and bases may he made to produce, for the reason that in the different forms and proportions hitherto -prescribed they are not eix^able of formin-r the material which in many cases of disease is the one compound we ought to produce, -viz., a compound tribasic or tissue x3hosx)hate. In looking at the composition of the tissues, as regards the comparatively small quantity of inorganic material entering into their structure, it may appear that the quantity of inorganic material is too small to play such an important part as my argu-- ments suggest. A more attentive consideration will show that the quantity of inorganic matter is large enough to {day a very important part in capillary nutrition. The brain contains in 100 parts of fresh cerebral matter -728 parts of phosphoric acid, and *651 parts of bases ; in all, 1*379 parts of mineral matter. Eighty per cent, of cerebral matter is water, so that the remain-- ing 20 per cent, of solids contains the whole of the m-inerarl](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2231605x_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
