Lexicon medicum, or, Medical dictionary : containing an explanation of the terms in anatomy, botany, chemistry, materia medica, midwifery, mineralogy, pharmacy, physiology, practice of physic, surgery, and the various branches of natural philosophy connected with medicine : selected, arranged, and compiled from the best authors / by Robert Hooper.

Robert Hooper

Date:: 1832

Credit: Lexicon medicum, or, Medical dictionary : containing an explanation of the terms in anatomy, botany, chemistry, materia medica, midwifery, mineralogy, pharmacy, physiology, practice of physic, surgery, and the various branches of natural philosophy connected with medicine : selected, arranged, and compiled from the best authors / by Robert Hooper. 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.)

Title Page

56/894

$*mmmmmr ALU tated by muriate of barytes ; the sulphate of which, obtained after ignition, weighed 20 parts; indicating in 100 parts 34.:) of dry sulphuric acid. 2d, I i n parts of alum were dissolved in water, and digested with an excess of ammonia. Alumina, well wi burned, equivalent to 10.'IT per cent, was obtained. In another experiment, 10.86 per cent, resulted. 3d, Ten parts of alum dissolved in water, were digested u ith carbonate of slrontites, till the earth separated. The sulphate of potassa, weighed 1.815, corresponding to 0.981 pots 100 parts to 9.81. Alum, therefore, consists of Sulphuric acid 3433 Alumina 10.98 Votas.su 9.81 Water : 45.00 100.00 or, Sulphate of alumina 3C.85 Sulphate of potassa 18.IS Water 45.00 100.00 Thonard's analysis, Ann. de Chimie, vol. 50, or Ni- cholson's Journal, vol. 18, coincides that of Berzelius in the product of sulphate of barytes. From 400 parts of alum, he obtained 490 of the ignited baryticsalt; but the alumina was in tion, equal to 12.54 pet cent, and the sulphate of po- tassa less, or 15.1 in 100 pans. Vauquelin, in his last analysis, found 48.58 water; and by Thenard's statement there are indicated 34.23 dry acid, 7.14 p 12.54 alumina, 46.09 water. 100.00 If we rectify Vauquelin's erroneous estimate of the sulphate of barytes, his analysis will also coincide with the above. Alum, therefore, differs from the simple sulphate of alumina previously described, which consisted of 3 prime equivalents of acid and 2 of earth, merely by its assumption of a prime ol sul- phate of potassa. It is probable that ail the aluminous salts have a, similar constitution. It is to be •moreover, that the number M.'Mi resulting from the theoretic proportions, is, according to Gilbert's re- marks on the Essay of Berzelius, the ju of the dry acid in 1(10 of sulphate ofbarvtes, by a I or- rected analv sis, which makes the prime of barytes 0.57. Should ammonia be suspected in alum, it may b • detected, and its quantity estimated, by mixing quick lime with the saline solution, and exposing ture to heat in a retort, connected with a Woolfe's apparatus. The water of ammonia being afterward saturated with an acid, and e\ a dry salt, will indicate the quantity of pure ammonia in the alum. A variety of alum, containing both po ammonia, may also be found. This will occur where urine has been used, ;is well as muriate of potassa, in its fabrication. If any of these bisulphates of ailu- mina and potassa be acted on in a watery solution, by gelatinous alumina, a neutral triple salt is formed, which precipitates in a nearly insoluble state. When alum in powder is mixed v. ith floui and calcined, it forms the pyrophorusof Hoi Mr. Winter first mentioned, that another \ alum cart be made with soda, instead of potassa. This salt, which crystallizes in octahedrons, has been also made with pure muriate of soda, and bisulpbate of alumina, at the laboratory ot Eluriett, bj Mr. W. Wil- son. It is extremely difficult to form, and effloresces like the sulphate of soda. On the subject of soda-alum, Dr. I/re published a short paper in the Journal of Science for JhIv, 1822. The form and taste of this salt are exactly the same as those of common alum ; but it is less haul, h. crushed between the fingers, to which it im appearance of moisture. Its specific gravity is 1.6. 100 parts of water at 60° F. dis ; forming a solution, whose sp. gravity is 1.296. In li potassa alum is very dilferent. For 100 parts of n tiler dissolve only from 8 to (I parts, foiming a saturated so- lution, the specific gravity of Which is no more than 1.0465. Its constituents are, by Dr. Ure's analysis,— 52 ALU Sulphuric acid 34.00 4 primes, 33.96 Alumina 10.75 3 - 10.82 ■ 6.48 1 — Water 49.00 25 — 48.43 11X1.23 100.00 Or it consists of 3 primes sulpha eof alirminaH-1 sul- of soda. To each of the former, 5 primes of .ml, and to the hitter 10, as in Glauber's salts. The only injurious contamination of alum is sul- phate of iron. It is detected by ferrp-prussiate of fetaSSa. Oxymuriate of alumina, or the chloride, has been proposed by Mr. Wilson of Dublin, as preferable to solution of chlorine, tor discharging the turkey-red die. Alum is used in large quantities in man)- manurac- When added to tallow, it renders it harder. Printer's cushions, and the blocks used in the calico manufactory, 'are rubbed with burnt alum to remove any greasiness, which might prevent the ink or colour from sticking. Wood sufficiently soaked in a solution of alum does not easily take fire; and the same is true of paper impregnated with it, which is litn-i to keep gunpowder as it a > excludes rgoisture. Paper iui- pn limited w kh alum is useful in whitening silver, and in silvering brass without heat. Alum mixed in milk helps the separation of its butter. If added in a very small quantity to turbid water, in a few minutes it it perfectly limpid, without any had taste or quality; while the sulphuric acid imparts to it a very acidity, and does noi precipitate as soon, or so well, ihe opaque earthy mixtures that render it turbid. it K used in making pyrophorus, ih tanning, and in many other manufactories, particularly in the art of dying, in which it is of the greatest and most impor- tant use, by cleansing and opening the pores on the surface of the substance to be died, rendering it fit for receiving the colouring,particles, (by which the alum is generally decomposed,) and at the same time making inn fixed, ('rayons generally consist of the earth of alum, powdered and tinged for the purpose.— C re's ( 7/;». Diet. In medicine it is employed internally as a powerful til in cases of passive hemorrhages from'the womb, intestines, nose, and sometimes lungs. In bleedings of an active nature, i. e. attended with fever, and a plethoric state of the system, i( is highly impro- per. Dr. Percival recommends it in the colica picte- iium arid other chronic disorders of the bowels, at- tended with obstinate constipation. (See Percival's The dose advised in these cases is from 5 to ns to be rep! ated every four, eight, or twelve hours. When duly persisted in, this remedy proves gently laxative, and mitigates the pain. Alum is also powerfully tonic, and is given with this view in the dose of 10 grains made into a bolus three a day, in such cases as requite powerful tonic and astringent remedies. Another mode of ndminis- tering it is in the form of whey made by boiling a drachm of powdered alum in a pint of milk for a few minutes, and to be taken in the quantity of a tea-cup full tin i'. Dr. Cullen thinks it ought to be employed with other astringents in diarrhoeas. In active hemorrhages, as was observed, it is noi useful, though a powerful medicine in those which are pas- It should be given in small doses, and gradually ed. It has been tried in the diabetes without : though, joined with nutmeg, it has been more ii in intermittents, i ise, an hour oralitil: ■ the approach of the pa- roxysm. In gargles, in relaxation of the uvula, and oner swellings of the mucous membrane of the fauces d of acute inflammation, it h ,WI|J a Ivantage. mail/, alum is much employed hy lurgeons as a lotion lor the eyes, and is said to I | , su]. of zinc or acetate of lead drrcia meuibranarum. From two to five grains dissolved iu an oum , ollyrium. It is also applied as a styptit to bleemng vessels, and to '. here there is t< o copious a secretion of pus. It has proved successful in inflammation of the eyes' . bich is made by stirring ting a lump of alum in the whites of two eggs, till they form a eoagulum, which is applied to the eye between two pieces of thin linen rag. Alum$

Licence and re-use

Contents