apparent anomaly; this distinguished chemist succeeded in separating the Prussic acid from the volatile oil with which it is combined, by agitating the whole in a concentrated solution of potass, and distilling to dryness; the oil volatilized together with the water, while the residuum in the retort was found to contain _cyanide of potassium_. The oil, thus separated from the Prussic acid, is without odour, and heavier than water; its taste is extremely acrid and burning; in order to discover whether it was still poisonous, _M. Vogel_ put a drop of it on the tongue of a sparrow, when it died in a few seconds, after a very violent convulsion; he also poisoned a dog, two months old, with four drops of it; whence he concludes that the volatile oil, divested of its hydro-cyanic acid is still a poison, although less energetic than that which has not undergone such a change. Do there exist then two independent principles of activity in the _bitter almond_? If such a fact were established it would not be solitary, for we shall hereafter shew that the energies of _tobacco_ are dependant upon an analogous arrangement; and that our ignorance of the fact, at first, occasioned apparent anomalies, as embarrassing as those which at present involve the physiological history of the oil of almonds. _Antidotes._ _Orfila_, in his celebrated Toxicology, informs us that vinegar, or the vegetable acids; coffee; a solution of chlorine in water; camphor; emollient drinks; and bleeding, have been successively, but not successfully recommended.[441] With respect to the first of these pretended _antidotes_, it deserves notice, that instead of palliating the symptoms, it actually quickens, and gives more energy to the action of the poison. Coffee, as far as it may stimulate, might be employed with advantage; but its powers are not sufficient to meet the exigency of the case. Bleeding seems decidedly a fatal measure. The authors of the paper on Prussic acid, inserted in the _American Recorder_, consider at length the claims of every substance which has been proposed as an antidote to it; and they conclude by saying that, we are entirely ignorant of a counter-agent of this poison. There is every reason, says _Dr. Granville_, to believe that the Prussic acid taken in large quantities, and in its concentrated state, is partially, if not wholly absorbed ere it _reaches the stomach_;—else how happens it that scarcely a minute after its exhibition, I have, in common with others, been unable to detect its presence within that organ. If so, then all chemical attempts must be nugatory, no decomposition, or fresh combinations can be produced to render it harmless; nor will an emetic, although so much recommended, be of much more service in freeing the system of its presence. But although chemical remedies are thus shewn to be of no avail, we may derive from the class of vital agents some