Qualities. Taste, moderately bitter, and acrid, leaving in the mouth a painful sensation of heat and roughness, followed by numbness in the gums and lips which continues for two or three hours. Odour, faint and narcotic; their peculiar properties are considerably deteriorated by drying. Chemical Composition. M. Brandes has ascertained that the narcotic principle of this plant is a peculiar alkali, to which he has given the name Aconita.[[356]] Solubility, water and alcohol only imperfectly extract their virtues. Medicinal Uses. It is narcotic, and occasions, in over-doses, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, hyper-catharsis, cold sweats, convulsions, and death; effects which entirely depend upon its action on the brain. It was first administered in 1702, by Stöerk, of Vienna, in chronic rheumatism, gout, schirrus, and paralysis; more lately it has been employed in scrofula, cancer, and intermittents, and it is said with much effect. On account of the variable strength of the leaves they can hardly be given with safety and effect; the extract (which see,) presents the more eligible form of exhibition. The leaves are, however, sometimes given in the form of powder, generally combined with some mercurial alterative, or with antimonials, camphor, and other diaphoretics. Dose gr. i-x. Officinal Prep: Extractum Aconiti. L.E.
ADEPS PRÆPARATA. L. Adeps Sui Scrofæ, vulgo Axungia Porcina. E. Adeps Suillus Præparatus. D.
Prepared Hog’s Lard. Fat. Axunge.[[357]]
Qualities. Consistence, soft or nearly semifluid. Odour and Taste, none; at 97° it melts. Chemical Composition. It consists of two distinct bodies which appear to exist together in a state of mechanical mixture, viz. Stearin, (from στεαρ tallow) which is white, brittle, and in appearance somewhat resembling wax; and Elain (from ελαὶον, oil) very similar to vegetable oil in appearance, and is liquid at 59°. According to the experiments of Braconnot, the proportion of Elain is to that of Stearin, in hog’s lard, as 62:38. Solubility. It is insoluble in water and alcohol; with the alkalies it unites and forms soaps. Incompatible Substances. Extracts, Spirituous Preparations, Tinctures, and Infusions, are incapable of uniting perfectly with lard, without some intermedium; the following substances on the contrary are capable of contracting with it a most intimate union. 1. All dry powders, whether of a vegetable or mineral nature. 2. Fixed and Volatile Oils. 3. Balsams. 4. Camphor. 5. Soaps. It is principally employed in the formation of ointments, plasters, and liniments.
ÆRUGO. L. D. (Sub-acetas Cupri Impura.) Sub-acetis Cupri. E.
Verdigris.
Qualities. Form, a dry mass composed of minute crystals, not deliquescent; Colour, bluish green. Chemical Composition. Several constituents enter into its composition, viz. Acetate and sub-acetate of copper, carbonate of copper, and copper partly metallic and partly oxidized; it contains also the stalks of grapes and other extraneous substances. Solubility. Boiling water dissolves it in part, and produces in it a chemical change, by transforming one portion of the sub-acetate into the soluble acetate, and another into an oxyd of copper, which is precipitated; with cold water this substance demeans itself differently, the acetate is dissolved by it, whilst that portion which is in the state of sub-salt remains suspended in the form of a fine green powder. Vinegar converts all the Ærugo into a soluble acetate, this liquid therefore ought never to be employed for favouring vomiting in cases where an overdose has been swallowed, for the reasons stated in the first part of this work, p. 136. Sulphuric acid poured on powdered verdigris decomposes it with effervescence, and vapours of acetic acid are disengaged. It appears from the experiments and observations of Duval and Orfila, that sugar exercises a chemical action on it, by which its solubility is diminished, and that on this account it acts as a specific against its poisonous effects. Uses. It is so uncertain and violent in its operation that it is rarely employed, except externally,[[358]] when it acts as a powerful detergent, and mild escharotic; and in the form of ointment, is a valuable application for many cutaneous affections, especially the aggravated kinds of Tetter. Officinal Preparations. Ærugo Præparata, D. Linimentum Æruginis. L. D. Adulterations. There is a spurious article sold under the name of English Verdigris, which consists of sulphate of copper, triturated with acetate of lead; and to make the fraud still more complete, the soft mass is mixed with the stalks of Raisins.
ÆTHER SULPHURICUS RECTIFICATUS. L.
Rectified Sulphuric Æther.
Qualities. A colourless liquid of specific gravity 739°. Odour, pungent and fragrant; it is highly volatile, and when perfectly free from alcohol it boils at 98°; it is extremely inflammable, a circumstance which should be remembered when it is poured from one vessel to another by candle light. Chemical Composition. When pure it consists of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon; the rectified æther however still contains some water and alcohol, for Lovitz obtained an æther of 632. Solubility. One part requires for its solution ten of water; with alcohol and ammonia it unites in every proportion. Solvent Powers. It is one of the most powerful solvents known in vegetable chemistry, as it dissolves balsams, resins, gum-resins, wax, camphor, extractive, &c.; it takes up about a twentieth of its weight of sulphur, but it exerts no solvent power upon the fixed alkalies. Forms of Exhibition. In any liquid vehicle, if in decoctions or infusions, they should be previously cooled. See Formulæ 20, 22, 23. Medical Uses. It is highly valuable as a diffusible stimulant, narcotic, and antispasmodic. Dose, fʒss to fʒij, which, in order to produce the full effect of the remedy, must be repeated at short intervals. Æther, independent of such virtues, has another valuable property consequent upon its rapid evaporation, that of producing cold and dryness; it is therefore, when externally applied and allowed to evaporate, a most powerful refrigerant, and has proved valuable in scalds or burns, in facilitating the reduction of strangulated hernia, and in diminishing excessive circulation in the brain; if however it be so confined, that its rapid evaporation is prevented, a very opposite effect is produced, and it proves stimulant, rubefacient, and even vesicatory. With regard to the other property incidental to it, that of producing dryness, I am not aware that it has hitherto been applied to any pharmaceutical purpose; the fact may be satisfactorily shewn by a very simple experiment,—by rincing a phial with æther, to the interior of which drops of water obstinately adhere, when by exposing it to a current of air, it will be completely dry in a few minutes. It may be noticed in this place that a mixture of sulphuric and muriatic æthers evaporates instantaneously, and produces a degree of cold considerably below 0 of Fahrenheit. Officinal Preparations. Spiritus Æther: Sulph: L. Spir: Æth: Sulph: comp: L. Spir: Æth: Aromat: L. Adulterations and Impurities. Its specific gravity affords the best indication of its purity; Sulphuric Acid may be detected by a precipitation on the addition of a solution of baryta, and by its reddening the colour of litmus; Alcohol, by its forming with phosphorus a milky instead of a limpid solution. M. Gay Lussac has observed that when kept for a considerable time without disturbance, it undergoes spontaneous decomposition, and that acetic acid, perhaps some alcohol, and a particular oil, are produced from it.