Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan.
- John Neligan
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
129/504
![Therapeutical Effects.—An active saline cathartic, increasing remarkably the intestinal secretions; in its mode of operation it re- sembles sulphate of magnesia, and may be used in the same cases ; in consequence, however, of its more disagreeable taste and its tendency in some habits to produce griping, it is not so frequently employed as that salt. Dose and Mode of Administration.—3v. to 3x. dissolved in from two of four ounces of water ; ten or twelve drops of dilute sulphuric acid added to the solution, conceal to a great extent its disagreeable taste. The effloresced salt is about twice as active as the crystals. Incompatibles.—Carbonate and bicarbonate of potash ; the salts of lime, and of baryta ; the acetate and diacetate of lead ; acetate of pot- ash ; and nitrate of silver, if the solution be strong. Sulphur sublimatum, D. L. Sulphur, [U. S.] E. Sublimed Sulphur. Sulphur or Brimstone. An elementary substance found in large quantities in an impure state, in the neighborhood of volcanoes ; it is also found combined with metals in many parts of the earth; and with hydrogen in many mineral waters. Crude sulphur is imported into Britain from Italy and Sicily. Preparation.—Sublimated sulphur is an article of the Materia Medica in the Dublin and London Pharmacopoeias; in the Edinburgh it is directed to be prepared by subliming sulphur in a proper vessel, washing the powder thus obtained with boiling water in successive portions till the water ceases to have an acid taste, then drying the sulphur with a gentle heat. Physical Properties.—Two kinds of sulphur are commonly met with, Roll-sulphur or Brimstone, and Flowers of sulphur or Sublimed sulphur. Roll-sulphur is in cylindrical pieces from two to three inches long, and nearly an inch in diameter, obscurely crystallized in the centre, crackling when held in the warm hand, very friable, and break- ing with a shining crystalline fracture. Sublimed, sulphur is in the form of fine powder, which when examined by the microscope, is seen to be composed of crystalline grains ; both kinds are of a bright, yellowish-green colour, with an almost imperceptible taste, and a faint peculiar odour when rubbed. Sp.gr.T98. Atomic weight, 16 119. Chemical Properties.—Sulphur is a simple substance, insoluble in water and in alcohol. It fuses at 226°, and between that temperature and 280°, it forms a clear liquor of an amber colour ; at 320Q it thick- ens, assumes a reddish tint, and if the heat be continued, becomes a thick tenacious mass ; from 482° to its boiling point 601a, it becomes again more fluid, and finally rises in vapour before it is completely fused- Sulphur, if ignited, burns with a lambent blue flame, and is converted into sulphurous acid gas. Adulterations.—Flowers of sulphur seldom contain any impurities ; those of a fixed nature may be detected by subliming ; if any adhering sulphuric acid be present, distilled water agitated with the sulphur reddens litmus paper. Roll-sulphur usually contains a large quantity of orpiment (sesquisulphuret of arsenicum), and therefore should not be used in medicine. Therapeutical Effects.—In large doses, sulphur acts as a mild cathartic, producing its effects by stimulating the muscular coat of the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0129.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
