AMERICAN DROPS FOR TOOTHACHE (Majewsky, Warsaw) have been found of various composition. Some which profess to have taken a prize at the Vienna Exhibition were composed of French brandy, containing common salt, and coloured with cochineal. The first was a spirituous solution of an ethereal oil with some oil of cloves, coloured rather reddish; No. 2 was a similar solution with some oil of peppermint and tincture of rhatany; and No. 3 was merely a diluted solution of No. 2. (Hager.)
AMERICAN UNIVERSAL BLOOD-PURIFYING HERB TEA (Dr Kuhr), for women’s diseases, hysteria, nervous debility, epilepsy, stomachic complaints, asthma, hæmorrhoids, gout, rheumatism, worms, and much besides. White horehound, marsh mallow, liquorice wood, and sassafras, of each, 10 parts; anise, coriander and fennel, of each, 5 parts; red poppy petals, 4 parts; lavender flowers, 2 parts; senna, peppermint, millefoil flowers, and valerian root, of each, 1 part. (Kuhr and Selle.)
AM′ETHYST (-thĭst). Syn. Purple rock-crystal; Améthyste, Fr.; Amethys′tus, L. A beautiful sub-species of quartz or rock crystal, of a violet-blue colour of varying intensity, in great request for cutting into seals, brooches, and other like articles of ornament. It was known and prized in the earliest ages of antiquity. Among the ancients, cups and vases were made out of this mineral; and it was an opinion of the Greeks and Persians, that an amethyst bound on the navel would counteract the effects of wine, and that wine drank out of an amethystine vessel would not intoxicate. See Gems.
Amethyst. In chromation, dyeing, &c., a rich variety of deep violet colour. Hence, AMETHYST′INE (ĭn), &c.
Amethyst, Orient′al. A rich violet-blue variety of transparent, crystallised corundum.
AM′IANTH (-e-ănth). Syn. Amianth′us, Amian′tus, L.; Amiante, Fr. The whiter and more delicate varieties of asbestos, particularly those which possess a satiny lustre.
AM′IDIN (-e-dĭn). [Eng., Fr.] Syn. Am′ydine; Amidi′na, L. A substance noticed by Saussure in starch-paste, when long kept. According to Caventou, it is formed at once by the action of boiling water on starch. It forms the interior substance of the starch-grains, and its properties are intermediate between those of starch and gum. It is, indeed, the soluble part of starch, of which a perfect solution can only be obtained by prolonged ebullition in a large quantity of water.
AMID′OGEN. NH2. Literally, the generator of amides; in chemistry, the name given by Kane to an hypothetical body, composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of nitrogen. It forms AMIDES by combining with other bodies.
Amidogen Ba′ses. In chemistry, ‘amines’ in which only one equiv. of hydrogen is replaced by an organic radical; and hence called PRIMARY MON′AMINES.
AMMONIA. NH3. Syn. Ammonia gas, Ammoniacal gas, Anhydrous ammonia, Terhydride of nitrogen; Ammoniaque, Fr.; Ammoniak, Ger. At the present day the ammonia of commerce is chiefly prepared from the ammoniacal liquor of the gas-works and the manufactories of ivory black, animal charcoal, &c. Lant or stale urine is also an important source of ammonia. In these places a large quantity of crude ammoniacal liquor is produced; to which either sulphuric or hydrochloric acid is added, by which it is converted into a salt, which may be obtained nearly pure by evaporation, and one or more crystallisations, and, in the case of the hydrochlorate and carbonate, subsequent sublimation. Other sources and processes have been sought out and occasionally adopted for the preparation