Note 330 — MINERAL POISONS. (continued 2)

A new alkali has been lately discovered in a mineral called Petalite, by M. Arfwedson, a young Sweedish chemist, but as the extreme rarity of the substance will prevent its ever becoming an object of forensic interest, we shall pass it over without further notice. Some new alkaline principles have also been developed by the French and German chemists, in the analysis of certain vegetables, but as these bodies have a physiological action, which is wholly independent of their alkalinity, they will be more properly noticed under the history of the vegetables which contain them.