reached this country: the importation of others we have long and anxiously anticipated.

The French Dictionary of Medical Sciences is the joint undertaking of a Society of Physicians and Surgeons. An enumeration of fifty-eight members of this Society, all, we believe, distinguished in their respective departments, is presented upon the title page. Many among them, whose reputation shall only perish with the science which they have arisen to illumine and adorn, we most joyfully recognise. With the enlightened and philosophic of our own isles, the names of Alibert, Boyer, Chaussier; of Cuvier, Gall, and Hallé; of Larrey, Le Gallois, Petit; of Pinel, of Richerand, and Spurzheim, must be held in pleasing remembrance. We cannot let them pass, without offering to their talents this feeble tribute of our applause and veneration.

To those who may withhold the tribute of respect and veneration at the shrine of French medical genius, we beg leave to recommend the frequent recollection of a few not very despi cable names: the great Desault, the zealous Vicq-d'Azyr, the learned and philosophic Cabanis, the memorable Bichat, over whose untimely grave the lament of science shall long be heard. We would have them remember that, in addition to the enlightened phalanx, whose labours are now before us, France also boasts her Corvisart, her Portal, her Sabatier; besides numerous other men, whose talents and productions shed no feeble light upon the various paths of medical improvement, to which their inquiries have been directed. Were farther proof of the justice of our eulogies wanting, it might be aptly educed from many luminous and finely-written articles in the volumes now under consideration. Those on medical police, on medicine, as connected with the science of war, and on every branch of natural philosophy, in which medicine is interested, generally exhibit, in our opinion, features of distinguished excellence.

Amid the varied reflections, to which our perusal of the French Dictionary of Medical Sciences has given rise, we must not forget to mention, that the editors propose its completion in twelve closely-printed octavo volumes. Those which

we have already received contain each, upon the average, about 600 pages. The work is written, as its title indicates, in alphabetic order; and, at the close of the fourth volume, the letter C is scarcely half completed.

Experiment on Respiration, which had nearly proved fatal. Beneficial Effects of Oxygen Gas in restoring suspended Animation; by SAMUEL WITTER, Esq. Dublin.

The following case occurred very lately in the laboratory of the Dublin Society, and excited considerable interest.When a mixture of carbonate of lime and zinc, or iron filings, is exposed to an intense heat, the peculiar gaseous substance named carbonic oxide is disengaged, which has been stated to bear the same relation to carbonic acid that nitrous gas does to nitric acid. But agreeably to the striking observations of Mr. Higgins, professor of chemistry to the Dublin Society, in his work recently published, wherein his claim to the discovery of the atomic system is unequivocally established, it would appear that, in the combination of oxygen with different gases, it is the atom of oxygen only that is found multiplied, as is beautifully exemplified in all the metallic oxides, acids, and gases. An apparent anomaly has been noticed with respect to nitrous oxide, which the experiments of Mr. Higgins on the composition of nitrous gas tend to obviate, and sanction a comparison of the proportions of carbon and oxygen in carbonic oxide with those of azote and oxygen in nitrous oxide, rather than the atomic coincidence of carbonic oxide and nitrous gas. Carbonic oxide was discovered and described by Mr. Cruickshank in 1801; it is highly combustible, burning with a fine blue flame, but is utterly incapable of supporting animal life.

The diversified experiments of Sir H. Davy on the respiration of nitrous oxide and some other gases, so interestingly described in his scientific researches in 1800, in a great measure dissipated the general apprehensions of fatality resulting from the inhalation of compound gases, and satisfactorily de

monstrated that many of the aërial fluids, before considered as destructive to vitality, might be breathed with perfect safety.

Desirous of witnessing the progressive effects of carbonic oxide when freely respired, with a view to comparative analogy in reference to nitrous oxide, I was tempted a few days ago to inhale a portion of it as copiously as possible. The consequence had very nearly proved fatal to me. A considerable quantity of the gas having been carefully prepared by Mr. S. Warmby, the very ingenious and able assistant to Mr. Professor Higgins, a series of experiments on its respiration were proposed. Mr. Warmby first noticed some points of resemblance it bore to the nitrous oxide, particularly the singularly sweetish taste, and, having made two or three inspirations, was seized with a degree of convulsive tremor and giddiness that nearly overpowered sensibility. These violent effects were but transient, though considerable languor, headache, and debility, remained for many hours afterwards. Anxious to pursue the experiment still further, I next made three or four hearty inspirations of the gas, having first exhausted my lungs of common air as completely as possible. The effects were an inconceivably sudden deprivation of sense and volition. I fell supine and motionless on the floor, and continued in a state of total insensibility for nearly half an hour, apparently lifeless, pulsation being nearly extinct. Several medical men being present, various means were employed for my restoration, without success; when the introduction of oxygen gas by compression into the lungs was suggested, the effects of which may be fairly contrasted with those of the carbonic oxide. A very rapid return of animation ensued, though accompanied by convulsive agitations, excessive headache, and quick irregular pulsation; and, for some time after mental recovery, total blindness, extreme sickness, and vertigo, with alternations of heat and shivering cold, were painfully experienced. These unfavourable spasms were succeeded by an unconquerable propensity to sleep, which, as might be expected, was broken and feverish. An emetic of tartarised antimony finally removed these alarming symptoms, and the only unpleasant effects felt on the ensuing day were those occasioned by the fall.

I very much regret that the confusion arising from the idea

of my death, so disturbed the arrangement, that no accurate determination could afterwards be made, either of the quantity of gas respired, or the change it underwent in the process; and the experiment is rather too hazardous for repetition. Nevertheless, the extraordinary efficacy of oxygen gas in cases of suspended animation produced by carbonic acid, choke damps, and other suffocating gases, is fairly deducible, and, I conceive, cannot be too forcibly recommended to the faculty, in such instances. I therefore sincerely hope that the results of this experiment may be of practical utility in those cases, which are so frequently occurring, and are often so awfully fatal; it being the decided opinion of the professional gentlemen present on this occasion, that the free use of the oxygen gas was solely instrumental in restoring me to life.

Mr. Higgins himself had nearly once fallen a victim to a similar experiment with sulphuretted hydrogen, the effects of which, after recovering from a death-like insensibility, were painful and oppressive for many days.-Philosophical Journal.

M. Bucholz has recently analyzed a new bitumen found in the environs of Halle in Saxony, which he thinks strongly resembles the resino asphaltum described by Mr. Hatchett some years ago in the Philosophical Transactions. According to M. Bucholz, that which is found at Halle is composed of two resins, one of which is very soluble in alkohol, and approaches to the vegetable resins, forming 91 parts of the bitumen; while the other, which forms nine parts, has some analogy to amber.

The following are a few of the most characteristic marks of this substance: It is found in balls the size of an apple, enveloped in gray crystallized gypsum; in colour it is brownish, or pale yellow; fracture glossy, and very brittle: it does not become soft under the fingers; it even does not melt so easily as other resins, but while melting it exhales an agreeable smell, something like that of animal resin and styrax. M. Bucholz remarks that, as Mr. Hatchett could dissolve only 55 parts of the bitumen examined by him, while the former dissolved 91, it is extremely probable that this difference was occasioned by Mr. Hatchett's using common alkohol.

The nine grains which were insoluble in alkohol were dissolved, but with much difficulty, in boiling oil. It was fusible in a strong heat, and gave out the smell of common resin.

The 91 parts above mentioned, when separated from the alkoholic solution, were dissolved by ether, and formed a brownish tincture, while ether of a specific gravity of 0.710, rectified over muriate of lime, made scarcely any impression. Oil of turpentine and rectified petroleum have little or no effect upon this resin. Caustic potash dissolved in two parts of water does not dissolve this resin; but, when the lixivium is decanted, the residue of the resinous principle is dissolved in water, from which we can separate the resin by the addition of muriatic acid.-London Medical and Physical Journal for July, 1814.

Royal Society.-On Thursday, the 12th of May, a paper by Dr. BENJAMIN HAYNE on the Indian method of oxydizing silver by means of the juice of jatropha cureas, and on the milk of plants, was read. A piece of silver is heated to redness, wrapped in the leaves of any kind of tree, and then quenched in the juice of the jatropha moluccana. This process is repeated about twenty times, taking care never to fuse the silver. The metal becomes quite brittle, and crumbles to powder between the fingers. Dr. Hayne tried the same process, substituting water instead of the vegetable juice, and a similar effect was produced. From Dr. Hayne's account of the above process, Dr. Thomson suspects that the silver is not oxydized, but merely rendered brittle, and reduced to a fine powder; probably by combining with something which exists in the vegetable juice employed, or rather in the cow-dung in which the silver is heated. The only known oxide of silver is a dark greenish brown powder, which is reduced to the metallic state by a very moderate heat. If the vegetable juice merely communicated oxygen, it is obvious that that principle would be driven off every time the metal was heated to redness, so that the process would never advance; but if the vegetable juice or cow-dung employed, supplied sulphur, or any analogous principle, we can see how the repeated heatings would facilitate the combination, and how fusion would retard it.—Ibid.