On the presence of sulphocyanides in the blood and urine / by Arthur Leared.

  • Arthur Leared
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the presence of sulphocyanides in the blood and urine / by Arthur Leared. 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.

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    saliva, I was led to study one of its components, sulphocyanide of potas- sium, in relation to its presence and action in the system, in a way that J has not hitherto been done, | Treviranus, in 1814, discovered that saliva became reddened by a per- ! salt of iron in solution ; and the reaction was afterwards stated by Tiede- ■ mann and Gmelin to be due to the presence of sulphocyanide of potas- sium*. Al strange difference of opinion has nevertheless prevailed on the subject. Thus the reaction has been supposed to be caused by a taint of the saliva from carious teeth ; whilst Bernard states that he found it took place only in the saliva of tobacco-smokers. It is unnecessary to produce here the arguments on both sides of the question ; the weight of authority is altogether in favour of the existence of the salt in saliva. By. some of thos^, however, who have admitted that it is an ingredient of the secretion it has been regarded as a curiosity rather than as playing any part in the economy. I have made numerous experiments for the purpose of satisfying myself as to the constancy with which a sulphocyanide exists in human saliva. For this end a solution containing twenty grains of perchloride of iron in an ounce of distilled water was employed. Such a solution is of a light- yellow colour, but it acts better than the paler solution of the persulphate of iron. The mode of procedure was very simple. The saliva to be tested was ejected on a surface of white porcelain, or upon a piece of white paper, and a drop of the test-solution added. The colour which the saliva assumed was compared with a scale of four shades of red on paper, re- sembling those produced by the sulphocyanide of iron. These shades were labelled “very marked,” “marked,” “faint,” “a trace,” and cor- responded approximately with the colours struck by iron in solutions of sulphocyanide of potassium of the relative strength of of J a grain to the ounce of distilled water. ■ Such a scale is appended herewith. An examination of the saliva of fifty persons taken consecutively, half being males and half females, and of ages ranging from under one year to 65 years, gave the following results :— Very marked. Marked. Faint. A trace. None. 25 Males .... 0 17 4 3 1 25 Females.... 1 10 8 2 4 As regards the influenee of age and other practical points, the numbers * Rocherchos oxp6rimontales, Pliysiologiques ct Chimiquos sur la Digestion. Pari.s, 1827.
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