Lectures on some of the applications of chemistry and mechanics to pathology and therapeutics / by H. Bence Jones.

  • Jones, Bence, 1814-1873.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on some of the applications of chemistry and mechanics to pathology and therapeutics / by H. Bence Jones. 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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    were mixed and filtered after cooling, neutralized with caustic soda, and repeatedly shaken up with their own bulk of ether. The residue left after evaporation of the ether was taken up by dilute sulphuric acid, filtered, and tested for fluor- escence. The pig that had taken no quinine, had each organ treated in a precisely similar way. To our great disappointment, at first, we found that not only had the pig that had taken quinine a fluorescent substance in the textures, but that an almost exactly similar substance was extracted from the organs of the pig that had taken no quinine. Every texture was examined, and in every one this fluorescent substance occurred. We then endeavoured, in every possible way, to find a means of separating the natural from the induced fluor- escence. And as every method failed, and we were compelled to recognize the close similarity of the sub- stance that exists in the textures to quinine itself, we for a time dropped the original inquiry, and proceeded to a more complete investigation of the natural fluorescent substance in animals. Without any preparation this substance can be shown to exist in the living and in the dead textures. There is one transparent substance which is, above all, most suited for this inquiry. Here are some lenses removed from the eyes of bullocks, guinea-pigs, and man. You see how clear, white, and trans- parent these substances are; and if I take a bullock's eye, which by gentle pressure has been flattened so that the structure can be distinctly made out, there is plainly no colouring matter. As in quinine, nothing is seen until the blue rays of the electric light fall on the lenses ; then look at the splendour of the reaction. Here, with the guinea-pig's lenses, the same is seen; and here, with the flattened bullock's eye. You might be tempted to think that this is a post- mortem change, a result of decay; but here is a fresh bullock's eye, look at this blaze of bluish-green light; but still more full of suggestion is an experiment with a dilated pupil in a