A portion of raw, and one of boiled muscular fibre from bullock’s heart, were on March 8th, 1854, placed with water upon a microscope slide, and covered with thin glass, which was closed with sealing wax around the edge to prevent evaporation. This was repeatedly observed during the year, and the attention was directed at times to particular fibres the better to watch any change. At the commencement of the experiment, the cross-markings of the fibre were distinct and the fibre itself was of a delicate rose-colour. I find in my notes of April 8th, and May 11th, that no change presented itself in either the raw or in the boiled fibre, except that the cross-markings were more distinct. On December 6th, 1854, but very little change was noticed, (the raw fibre was whiter,) the cross-markings in both were more distinct than ever; by high powers an amorphous precipitate was discovered in the neighbourhood of some of the fibres—about one third of the water had evaporated.
A. On November 14th, 1853, 100 grammes of cheese were placed in a loosely stoppered bottle, and covered with distilled water, a portion of the same cheese being reserved for comparison: the water was renewed as it evaporated.
Ba. On November 19th, 1853, one half of a bullock’s heart, weighing 673 grammes, was placed, covered with Schuylkill water, in a wide-mouthed stoppered bottle.
Bb. The remaining half of the heart, weighing 816 grammes, was covered with mineral water with lemon syrup. It was intended to use plain mineral water in this experiment, that is, Schuylkill water saturated with carbonic acid, but the former was sent by a mistake, which was not discovered until too late. In these cases the fat was partially removed from the heart, but not to any great extent.
C. Boiled six eggs, removed the shells from two, which weighed then 88 grammes; ran pin-holes to the centre in two, which weighed 97 grammes, and left the shells upon the remaining two, which weighed 96 grammes; these were together placed in a glass-stoppered bottle, and covered with water. These different substances did not delay to decompose and give out offensive odours, and the eggs especially maintained their proverbial character in this respect; in fact, on the approach of the cholera season I was obliged to place the bottle of eggs on a plate, cover it with a large inverted beaker glass, and heap the rim of the beaker with hypochlorite of lime. With regard to the heart, the contents of the bottle containing mineral water, as might be expected, preserved their lively red colour for a longer time than in the case of the bottles containing river water.
The appearance of these bottles, on December 13th, 1854, was as follows:—
The cheese A was converted into a white, thick, grumous mass, lighter than water, and which when diluted with a little water, presented the appearance of pus; under the microscope with moderate power, angular transparent fragments constituted the principal part, and among these, polarized light showed many broken blade-shaped crystals without a play of colours; a few globules of oil were also seen. The material A was removed to a glass-stoppered bottle, more water added, and was set aside. A portion of the cheese used in this experiment had been preserved in paper; it was found hard, and on the surface oily. It was placed aside in a cork-stoppered bottle.
B. The bullock’s heart had been so divided, that each half contained an auricle and ventricle, which were placed in the bottles, (a) with water, (b) with carbonic acid water. The appearance of the contents of these bottles at present is similar, though (a) seems to be more disintegrated. In both of these, the cavities and valves of the heart maintain, in a measure, their form, and the chordæ tendineæ are in perfect preservation: the serous covering of the heart is consistent; and in (b) it is, in parts, quite black from sulphuret of iron. The fluid in both bottles reacts strongly alkaline; when the mass of the heart is cut open, the muscular fibre appears of a dirty, yellowish-red colour, and when examined under the microscope, shows the fibre, but without any of the cross-markings in (b). In (a), which was more disintegrated, by the addition of water and a power of 700 diameters, the fibre could be seen broken in small portions, and giving evident traces of both longitudinal and cross-breaking up of the sarcous substance. The fibres of (a), treated with hot and cold alcohol evinced no change; with hot acetic acid they shrunk in dimensions. The weight of (a) dripping with liquid was 330 grammes, that of (b) 275 grammes.
C. The Eggs.—The water was strongly alkaline; the shelled eggs were seen in broken, yellowish-white lumps, and a thick deposit at the bottom of the bottle, gave no evidence of crystallization under the microscope with polarized light. The liquid from the eggs and from the two heart experiments emitted rather a disagreeable odour, which was mingled with an aldehyde smell.
As decomposition had not advanced to its full extent in these bottles, I preferred setting them aside for a future research, when both the solid and the liquid contents will be examined. Braconnot’s[8] analysis of bullock’s heart is as follows:—