In this manner a large yield of perfectly colourless nicotine is obtained. In order to obtain the pure alkaloid, caustic baryta is added to the solution, the latter evaporated to dryness, and the pure nicotine extracted with ether.
To estimate nicotine, weigh out 15 gr. of tobacco, digest for twenty-four hours with alcohol of 85 per cent. acidified with 15 drops of sulphuric acid, so as to make 150 cubic centimètres. Evaporate 50 cubic centimètres of the filtered liquid, and add iododydrargyrate of potassium to the residue. The number of cubic centimètres employed, multiplied by 0·00405 (0·001 of the equivalent of nicotine), gives the quantity of alkaloid contained in 5 grams of tobacco. (Linoffsky.)
Prop., &c. Nicotina is a colourless, volatile liquid; highly acrid and pungent; smelling strongly of tobacco; boiling at 375° Fahr. (482°—Pereira); soluble in water, ether, alcohol, and oils; and combining with the acids, forming salts, many of which are crystallisable. It is a frightful poison; 1⁄4 of a drop will kill a rabbit; a single drop will kill a large dog. Nicotina is the substance which was employed by the Count Bocarmé for the purpose of poisoning his brother-in-law, Gustave Fougnies, the particulars of which were developed in the celebrated trial, in Belgium, of that nobleman, in 1851. Good Virginia and Kentucky tobacco, dried at 212° Fahr., contain from 6% to 7% of nicotina; Havannah tobacco (cigars) less than 2%. (Schloesing.)
NIGHT′MARE. Syn. Incubus, Ephialtes, L. The common causes of nightmare are indigestion and the use of narcotic and intoxicating substances. Its prevention consists in the selection of proper food, and in duly attending to the state of the stomach and bowels. Heavy and late suppers should be particularly avoided, as well as all articles of diet that are of difficult digestion, or apt to induce flatulency. When it arises from strong drink, tobacco, or opium, these should be abandoned, or employed in smaller quantities. A teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia, magnesia, or bicarbonate of soda, taken in a glass of cold water on going to bed, is a good and simple preventive. In cases accompanied by restlessness, a few drops of laudanum or tincture of henbane may be added. An occasional aperient is also excellent. See Chamomile.
NIGHT′SHADE (Deadly). Syn. Belladonna (B. P., Ph. L. E. & D.). “The leaf, fresh and dried (leaves and root—Ph. D.), of Atropa belladonna, Linn.” “The fresh leaves and branches to which they are attached; also the leaves separate from the branches, carefully dried, of Atropa belladonna, gathered, when the fruit has begun to form, from wild or cultivated plants in Britain” (B. P.). “Oval,
acute, very perfect, glabrous, when bruised, exhaling a disagreeable odour. The herb which grows spontaneously in hedges and uncultivated places is to be preferred to that which is cultivated in gardens.” (Ph. L.)
Belladonna is a powerful narcotic, and is used as an anodyne, antispasmodic, and discutient, in a variety of diseases,—neuralgia, arthritic pains, migratory rheumatic pains, spasmodic rigidity and strictures, angina pectoris, hooping-cough, fevers, phthisis, &c.; also as a prophylactic of scarlet fever, as a resolvent in enlarged and indurated glands, to produce dilatation of the pupil, &c., &c.—Dose. Of the powder, commencing with 1 gr., gradually and cautiously increased until dryness of the throat or dilation of the pupil occurs, or the head is affected. See Atropia.
NIGHTSHADE (Woody). Syn. Bittersweet; Dulcamara (B. P., Ph. L. E. & D.), L. The “new shoots (caules) of Solanum Dulcamara, Linn.” “The dried young branches of the Solanum Dulcamara (Bittersweet) from indigenous plants which have shed their leaves” (B. P.). “It is to be collected in autumn, after the leaves have fallen.” (Ph. L.) Diaphoretic, diuretic, and (in large doses) narcotic. See Infusion of Dulcamara.
NIO′BIUM. See Tantalum.
NIP′PLES (Sore). The most common form of this affection is that termed “chapped nipples” by nurses. As a preventive measure, the part may be moistened morning and evening, for some weeks before the period of lactation, with a little rum or brandy, which is more effective if slightly acidulated with a few drops of dilute sulphuric acid. Some persons employ tincture of tolu, or compound tincture of benzoin (Friar’s balsam) for this purpose.