Zinc, Chlo′′ride of. ZnCl2. Syn. Butter of zinc, Muriate of z.†; Zinci chloridum (B. P., Ph. L.), Z. murias†, L. Prep. 1. By heating metallic zinc in chlorine.
2. (Ph. L.) Hydrochloric acid, 1 pint; water, 1 quart; and zinc (in small pieces), 7 oz.; when the effervescence is nearly finished, apply heat until bubbles cease to be evolved; decant the clear, and evaporate to dryness; fuse the resulting mass in a lightly covered crucible, by a red heat, pour it out on a flat smooth stone, and, when cold, break it into small pieces, or cast it into rods in iron moulds, and preserve it in a well-stoppered bottle.
3. (B. P.) Put 16 oz. of granulated zinc into a porcelain basin, add by degrees 44 fl. oz. of hydrochloric acid previously mixed with 1 pint of distilled water, and aid the action by gently warming it on a sand-bath, until gas is no longer evolved. Boil for half an hour, supplying the water lost by evaporation, and allow it to stand on the cool part of the sand-bath for 24 hours, stirring frequently. Filter the product into a gallon bottle, and pour in solution of chlorine q. s. by degrees, with frequent agitation, until the fluid acquires a permanent odour of chlorine. Add 1⁄2 oz. or a sufficient quantity of carbonate of zinc, in small quantities at a time, and with renewed agitation, until a brown sediment appears. Filter through paper into a porcelain basin, and evaporate until a portion of the liquid, withdrawn on the end of a glass rod and cooled, forms an opaque white solid. Pour it out now into proper moulds, and when the salt has solidified, but before it has cooled, place it in closely-stoppered bottles.
4. (In SOLUTION).—a. (Liquor zinci chloridi—Ph. D.) Hydrochloric acid and water, of each 21⁄2 pints; sheet zinc, 1 lb.; dissolve, filter through calico, add of hypochlorite of calcium, 1 fl. oz., and evaporate, by boiling, to a pint; when cold, pour it into a bottle, add of prepared chalk, 1 oz., and water, q. s. to make the whole measure 1 quart; agitate occasionally for 24 hours, decant or filter, and preserve the liquid in a stoppered bottle. Sp. gr. 1·593. See Solutions.
b. (E. Parrish.) Granulated zinc, 4 lbs.; hydrochloric acid, 4 lbs., or q. s.; water, 9 quarts; dissolve, avoiding excess of acid. The
solution contains 1 in 12 of chloride of zinc. Recommended as of the proper strength for a disinfectant.
Prop., &c. When pure, a colourless, amorphous mass or crystals; generally a whitish-gray, semi-transparent mass, having the consistence of wax; fusible; volatile at strong heat, condensing in acicular crystals; freely soluble in alcohol, ether, and water; highly deliquescent; coagulates albumen and gelatin, and corrodes animal substances. The solution possesses the same properties in a minor degree.
Pur. From the aqueous solution, hydrosulphuric acid or ferrocyanide of potassium being dropped in, a precipitate is thrown down. What is thrown down by ammonia or hydrate of potassium from the same solution is white, and is redissolved by either precipitant in excess. The precipitate thrown down by the carbonate of either ammonium or potassium is (also) white, but is not redissolved when these are added in excess.
Uses, &c. Dry chloride of zinc is chiefly used as a caustic, for which it is highly recommended by Voght, Canquoin, and others. It is more powerful than chloride of antimony, and its action extends deeper than does nitrate of silver, whilst it exercises an influence over the vital actions of neighbouring parts. The sore is generally healthy after the separation of the eschar, and no constitutional disorder ensues. It has been given in scrofula, epilepsy, chorea, &c.; and, combined with hydrocyanic acid, in facial neuralgia.—Dose, 1⁄2 gr. to 2 gr.; externally, as a lotion, 2 to 3 gr. to water, 1 oz. In large doses it is poisonous.
The solution is also used as a caustic, but chiefly as a disinfectant and deodorizer, e.g. as Sir Wm. Burnett’s Fluid and Professor Tuson’s ‘Sporokton,’ of which it is one of the very best, possessing, as it does, the power of rapidly decomposing sulphide of ammonium and of rendering inert the virus of infectious diseases.