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.)
134/504
![the rest of the water into the receiver, annex the retort so that the gas may be absorbed bv the water, iand distil to dryness. land.— Chloride of sodium, dried fbij.; sulphuric acid, |xx.; distilled water, fgxxiv.; add the sulphuric acid, first mixed with fgxij. of the water to the chloride of sodium put into a glass retort, pour what remains of the water into a receiver, and, the retort being fitted to it, let the acid distilled from a sand biith, pass over into this water, the heat being gradually increased. Edin.—Purify muriate of soda by dissolving it iti boiling water, concentrating the solution, skimming off the crystals as they form on the surface, draining from the adhering solution, and washing the crystals slightly with cold water; take of this salt previously well dried, of pure sulphuric acid, and of water, equal weights ; put the salt into a glass retort, and add the acid previously diluted with a third part of the water, and allowed to cool ; fit on a receiver which contains the rest of the water, d'stil with a- gentle heat by means of a sand bath, or a naked coal-gas flame, so long as any liquid passes over, preserv- ing the receiver cool by snow or a stream of cold water. Physical Properties.—A limpid colourless liquid, with a yellowish tinge when not quite pure, having a suffocating odour, and an intense- ly acid, disagreeable taste. The specific gravity of the liquid acid of the [U. S.] Dublin and London Pharmacopoeias is 1160, that of Edinburgh, 1170. Chemical Properties.—It is a solution of muriatic acid gas (HC1.) in water ; the Dublin and London preparation contains about 32 per cent of real acid, the Edinburgh about 34 per cent. Exposed to the air muriatic acid emits suffocating fumes which become white in con- tact with the vapour of ammonia; it possesses the usual characteris- tics of a strong acid. Adulterations.—It should be of the prescribed density, that being a perfect test of its strength ; it is frequently contaminated with iron and with chlorine, to the presence of either or both of which, is due the yellow colour of the impure acid ; the former may be detected by solution of ferrocyanate of potash producing a blue precipitate with the neutralized acid ; the latter by the acid dissolving leaf gold. The presence of sulphuric acid, an occasional impurity, is indicated by the solution of nitrate or muriate of baryta occasioning a white precipitate in the acid previously diluted. Therapeutical Effects.—As a caustic, muriatic acid has been used with much success to destroy the false membranes which are formed in diphtheritis, to check the spreading of the mortification in cancrum oris, to obstinate ulcers of the tongue, and in phagedenic ulceration of the tonsils. It has been also employed as an external application in hospital gangrene. It may be applied by means of a piece of sponge attached to a bit of whalebone. In cases of poisoning with this acid, the antidotes are chalk, and magnesia or its carbonate, combined with demulcent [and emollient drinks. Acidum Nitricum, [U. S.] D. L. E.—Nitric acid. Preparation.—Dub.—Nitrate of potash, 100 parts ; commercial sulphur- ic acid, 97 parts; mix in a glass retort and distil into a receiver fitted with an apparatus for receiving the elastic gas, until the residuum in the retort concretes and again liquefies. Lond.— Nitrate of potash, dried; and sulphuric acid, of each, foij.; mix in a glass retort, then let the acid distil in a sand bath. Edin.— Purify nitrate of potash, if necessary, by two](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0134.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
