The buttermilk, deprived
of its sharp taste, was drunk with pleasure by men and animals, and
had lost its laxative properties.' By means of lime-wash or
lime-water, he has restored butter so 'far gone' that it could only
have been recovered by melting; but any alkaline lixivium will answer
the same purpose.
I have more than once kept you informed of the inquiry concerning the
effects of iodine on the human system, which has so long engaged the
attention of several eminent chemists on the continent; and now have
to report something further by M. Fourcault, whose communication
thereupon to the Academie is entitled, 'On the Absence of Iodine in
Water and Alimentary Substances, considered as Cause of Goitre and
Cretinism, and on the Means of Preventing the Development of these
Affections.' He has investigated the subject profoundly and
analytically, and concludes that 'the absence or insufficiency of
iodine in water and in alimentary substances, is to be considered as
the primitive cause, special or _sui generis_, of goitre and
Cretinism;' that the existence of the diseases does not depend on the
presence more or less of sulphate of lime or magnesia in the animal
economy; that 'iodine acts in goitre as iron in chlorosis--by
restoring to the system one of its essential principles;' and that
'the most powerful secondary or auxiliary causes are: a coarse and
uniform vegetable regimen; living at the bottom of deep, enclosed
valleys; in low and damp houses, into which air and light penetrate
with difficulty; the alliance of infected families among themselves;
and the want of such employment as would yield a comfortable
subsistence and proper development of the physical forces.
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