Supplement to the Edinburgh new dispensatory / by Andrew Duncan.

Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Supplement to the Edinburgh new dispensatory / by Andrew Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    I ON THE CLASSIFICATION 01? TASTES AND SMELLS. 241 agencies, that we are induced to arrange all Smells under the fol- lowing divisions. These divisions, ascertained like those of tastes, are also to be regarded as the heads of so many great families of odours, which combine, ramify, and mutually run into each other. The acidous. The spirituous, as alcohol. . The camphreous, as camphor. The fragrant, as the otto of roses. The somniferous, as opium. The foetid, as sulphuretted hydrogen. The alkaline, as the starch hyacynth and fresh flesh. In following the plan adopted with regard to tastes, we shall give a sketch of each of these great families; mentioning their qualities, the action which they indicate, (where it can be ascer- tained,) and the combinations in which they exist. § OF ACIDOUS SMELLS. This odour is much more frequently found in a compound than in a simple state. However, most of the acid gases afford toler- able instances of it; but in these it is strongly disguised, and very difficultly distinguished on account of the powerful action of these substances upon the organs of respiration. Substances pos- sessing this odour contain generally a volatile principle, which powerfully acts upon the living body. The compounds of this, which we shall mention, are, The empyreumatic, burnt, or flagrant, which is formed of this odour and others, which are various. The rancid consists of the acidous, combined with the foetid. The other compounds of this class must be referred to the other divisions, or described in the arrangement. § OF SPIRITUOUS SMELLS. Alcohol affords the standard of this odour. In ether it is combined with a fragrant odour; and in the different volatile oils it exists, but obscured by various other odours. § OF CAMPHREOUS ODOURS. Camphor is the representative of this family, which is exhibit- ed by a great series of substances that possess a strong stimulating action upon the body. The taste is always compounded with a strong sensation of heat communicated to the organ of tasting. The Ammoniacal is the term by which we would designate odours similar to that of ammonia, which substance when smelled, separated from its common impression of stimulation, and its h h