Volume 1

Animal chemistry : with reference to the physiology and pathology of man / by Franz Simon ; translated and edited by George E. Day.

  • Johann Franz Simon
Date:
1845-1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animal chemistry : with reference to the physiology and pathology of man / by Franz Simon ; translated and edited by George E. Day. 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.

    116/430 (page 92)
    If the fluid be very viscid and tenacious, mucus-corpuscles are sure to be detected by the microscope: should it yield an ammoniacal odour as if decomposition were going on, the viscidity may be due to the action of the ammonia that has been formed. 4. If the fluid have an acid reaction, a free acid must be present. In most cases this is lactic,’ occasionally however acetic acid. The latter acid may be recognized by the pe- culiar odour evolved on the application of heat. It may also be recognized (if the fluid be not very deeply coloured) by the blood-red tint that is produced by the addition of the perchloride of iron, after the free acid has been thoroughly neutralized by ammonia. If acetic be the only free acid, by the time the fluid has been evaporated nearly to dryness, all acid reaction will have disappeared; if however free lactic acid be present, the residue which is left after evaporation will still have an acid reaction. If the fluid have an alkaline reaction, either a free alkali or an alkaline carbonate must be present. Free ammonia may be recognized by its peciiliar odour, and by the vapoui’ which is developed on the approximation of a glass rod moistened with hydrochloric acid. 5. If the fluid have a sweetish taste, it contains sugar. The sweetness is however sometimes not preceptible until the fluid has been evaporated to the consistence of a syrup, or even till the syrup has been treated with alcohol of ’900, and the alcoholic solution evaporated. When the presence of sugar is suspected, the various tests mentioned in page 6/, more especially Trommer’s test, should be applied. If the fluid has a bitter taste, more or less resembling that of bile, it contains either bilin or the products of its metamorphosis. The indica- tions afforded by a well-marked saline or acid taste are sufficiently obvious. 6. If the fluid be of a blood-red colour, we may conclude that haematin is present; and if blood-corpuscles are detected by the microscope, we have certain proof of the existence of hajmatin, globulin, and albumen. Globulin and haematin may ' [The presence of this acid in the animal fluids has been recently disputed by Liebig and Enderling; there arc, however, too many chemists who assert that they have detected it, to allow us to regaid the question as settled in the negative.]