The Thruston speech upon the progress of medicine, delivered in the chapel of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, at the Wendy Commemoration, on May 11, 1869 / by Arthur Ransome.

  • Ransome, Arthur.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Thruston speech upon the progress of medicine, delivered in the chapel of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, at the Wendy Commemoration, on May 11, 1869 / by Arthur Ransome. 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.

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    Here then is a wide field of research opened up by- chemists ; but very recently other important discoveries have been made in physiological chemistry proper. Fore- most amongst them are the labours of Alexander Schmidt and Professor Briicke*, on the substances (fibrino-plastic and fibrino-genic) which bring about the clotting of blood, the observations of PettenkofFer and Voit, on the absorption of oxygen and the expiration of carbonic acid gas, at different periods of the day; and the exhaustive researches of Dr Schunck^ and Dr Thudichum^ on the chemistry of the urine. Within the last few years also the field of experimental operations has been greatly enlarged, by the introduction of new instruments and methods of enquiry. By the aid of the telescope, astronomers have resolved the gyrations of nebulae, and have brought the moon within a few miles of the earth; with the microscope, anatomists have unravelled all the most delicate textures of the body ; and now, by means of tests of marvellous delicacy, chemists daily perform equal, if not greater, wonders. First amongst these arms of precision must rank the spectroscope, and the Nessler test for ammonia. The spectroscope will give evidence of the presence of the 18o,ooo,oooth part of a grain of sodium* the 72,000,000th of a grain of lithium'\ The Nessler test will show i part of ammonia in 20,000,000 parts of water®. By means of an ingenious adaptation of this latter test, Messrs Wanklyn and Chapman have shown how to deter- mine with facility, the quantity of albuminous (organic) matter in potable water; and by the same method they can discover minute quantities of albumen set free by ^ Proceedings of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, May 23, 1867. Proc.of Roy. Soc, No. 95, 1867. ^ Report to medical officer of the Privy Council, Qj'c. * Elementary Chemistry. Roscoe, p. 230. jst Edit. Croonian Lectures, Bence Jones, p. 180. ^ The Laboratory, p. 256. 1-5