A system of materia medica and pharmacy [electronic resource] : including translations of the Edinburgh, London, and Dublin pharmacopoeias, in two volumes

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43ut it is chiesy as an escharotic that ita is used in modem

The preparation namcd Anunoniuret os Copper Ammoniaretum Cupri, Cuprum Ammoniatum) is the ono usual employed to obtain the action os copper on the System. Itis prepared by triturating sulphate of copper and carbonate of ammonia together, and is either a ternary compound of OXide of coppes, ammonia, and sulphuric acid, or a natat eos sulphate of ammonia, and the compound of ammonia WithoXide of copper. It is sven in opilepsy, in a dose of half a grain t vice a-day, increasing it Madually aS sar as the si mach or System ivili bear it, and continuing it untii the remedylias received a fair triat. It has in sonae caSes proved Auccesssul, though in a disease ariSing DOm Such various causes, and so frequently depending on derangement of organio Structine, any remedy must frequently fail. It has been given ina similis manner With advantage in chorea and do sphagia.

ΓΗΕ name Arsenic used to he alpplied to ivlint has heonnscerta od to be the oXide Dr a peculiar metes, and in Ch micat nomenclature it is to this metui that the naine is no vappropriate i. It occurs Sometimes native, or in the state ofoxide, but more generalty combined with sulphur, forming the ores named Orpiment anil Reaigar ; and frequently also Issocialed with othor metallic sulphureis. It is extracted frona those by sublimation, in the state os an Oxide, itS OXidation bcing essected by tho action of the atmospiterio atrituring the volatiligation ; and Dona this oxide illo arsenio is usualty obtained by cxposing it to heret miXed with a portionoi the blacla flux : the metui is sublimed. Metallic arsenicis Di a durk grey coloui vitii considerabio lustro, whicli is

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action of the air, forming a white vapour Whicli condenses. At α higher temperature it buras, and astutas the Same produci. I his produci used tu he regarded as an Oxide. Be-ing solubie however in Water, cap tu es costalliZing, reddening the insusion os litimus, and combruing with the eskalis, it has been regataed as an acid, and has been named A senibus Acid. Though there is sonte foundation for this conclusion, this substance may perhaps stili be ranked as auoxide ; for it does uot neutraliae the allaesine properties, noraci ou them more Dycibly than many other metallio orides ;it even neutraliges the properties of acidf. By. a hiiser de- ee of oxygenation, it is converted into a Substance of -- doubted acid powers, the arsenic acid. The oXide of argente, or White argento os commerce, is not sornred frona the oxygenation os the metat, but is obta ed by sublimation in the roasting of various metallio ores, particularly those of c ait, in Which it exists. The sublimate, at first impure, is again sublimed, and is thus obtainedin the forin of an opaque White dense calae,iwhicli is reduc-

Solution, on cooling, inording minute crystala : it reddens the colour of li ris. Tlus Substance has been long knowu as the most virulent

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os the minerat pulso . Even in a very sma II quantity, it

occasiuns Vomiting, purging, tremors, and paralysis; in aquantity a litile larger, it excites severe patu in the stomach ivitii a sense of heat extending froin the ceSophagus, extremethirst, violent vomitin g, with great anXiety and depression. The pala exteuds over the abdomen, respiration hecomes

dissiculi, the pulse is smali, quick and irregulis; the vomit

ing is incessant, ac inpavied With tremors, convulsions andia inting ; fhere is a sense of coldness, somelimes With coldS ais, paralysis frequently Supervenes, and the patient dies exl1austed. on dissection, the internat sursace of the si

mach and per part of the intestines is Dund inflamed ; ille

inflammation is usualty confined to the muCous membrane, ich osten assumes a florid red colour, hecomes Sost ruid pulpy, and is eastly delachia; the b Od-vesseis on iis sui face are frequently turgid, and Sometimes there a re sinali spois of extra vasatia bicod; sigiis of putrefaction, it hasbeen said, appear suoner than in other cases of sutaeu death, but this is do tibi fui, as weli as the appearance of livid spoison the stan, Whicli has been suid to occur a the blood is

usual ly in a fluid state, and the body is Dequently s volicd. Ad the effecis of arsenic, it has been oleaarly est lisbed, e produced by iis incautious externat application, and th a ear with great celeri and Violence when tho arsenic is applied to se vomid. Some facts which had been partly kno in vitii regata to this, have lately been confinnod aud illustra ted

by the experiments of Mr Brodie, so aes to lead to a more particular view of iis mode of oporation. Wheu applied externalty to an wound , it occasion8 destili even more specdilythan whon it has been received in to the stomach, and with similar symptonis; vomiting aud purgium in particular, axe produced to as great an Extent, and on dissection the stonaschand intestinus ure Dinad to bu iustumed. This siletus the

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petiisticular dotermination of iis action to these paris ; aud asthe inflammation of the stomach is soland even to procode any pera ance of the inflammation of the 3vound, so that thesernier cannot be considered as connected by sympatheticaction with the lalter, it, as weli as the generat affection os the System, probably arises froni the arsenio bcing received in to the circulation through the dividod blood-vesseis of the wouud. Though tho inflammation of the stomach, whichfollows froni iis interitat administration, may arise Dona iis

direct application, it is also possibie that it may be producedin this in direct modo by iis clitering the circulating mRSS. Though so violent in iis operation, arsenic has been frequently employed in medicat practice; and when propei lyadministered, we obtutu frum it, in certain discases, est thea luantago whicli is derived froni the operation of the most Sase and potvertat tonic. This is weli displayed in iis emcacyin the treatnacut os intermittent laver, the disease in whichit has been principally used . It is employed medicinalty under various fornas. Α preparation os it introduced by Fowler, and analogous to onewhich had been known under the nanae of Tasteless Ague Drop, has been adopted by the London College, and named Liquor Arsenicalis It is prepared by dissolving staty-sour gratiis of the white Oxide, and the fame quantity of Suh-carbonate os potasti, in siXteen o ces of water, assing half an ounce of compound spirit os lavendor. This is givon in a doseos 4 drops, three timos day, whicli is gradualty incremedio d0uble that quantity ; iis administration bcing occasionalty intermitted, not too long persisted ita, and immediately relinquished is it occasion nausea or purging, vertigo, head Cli, or C0ugh, or indoed any particular indication of the Systembemg much uuder iis influence. The arsentate os pol b. prepared by exposing the wllite Oxide os arsenic With an cqual

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of nitre, to a lieat gradually ratSed to reditess, IndcrystalliZing the residuat mass, is unother preparation udii hhas been emplayed, and has been lately sauctioned by the Dublin College. It is used in the sanase mann , in the dom of the eighth pari os a grain of the crystalliZed init. Under the sanae forins arsenic has been given in remitting sever, inperiodic headacti, in that patulat assection of the face nam-ed Tic Douloureux, is an antidote to the polson of Ven ous animais, in hydrophobia, lepra, and elephantiasis; and tu.

Some of these disinses xvith very mar ed aduantam in cases whero other remedi had Dilod. Iis administration iam srequires, laowever, to he conducted with much caro. Ex in the smali doses in whicli arsenio has been administe dmedicinalty, it is liable to exert iis deleterious agency. Itonen excites nausea, pari at Stomach aud purging; SOm times pala in the sorehead, with a sense of tension, a sitimn s of the palpebrae, forenem of the molith, and merease ortho saliva disci arge, and When iis operation proceeds stillsarther, it excites senere symptomatic Cough. These offecisSometunes arise even suom iis eXternat application. Wh-

is not produced by iis action, Whicli it generalty is, musthe immediatoly excited, and as the stomach is highly hri- table in Such cases, ille militer emetius, and cspecialty oi Whicli is supposta to involvo the pateticles of the polson- have

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bubly, Dona iis not mixing eastly with the contents of the Stomach, or the mucus On iis sursace, and there re not uiduigiis rejectiori ; tepid Π ater, or mucilaginous liquors, ought tobe preserred; these too are useful in facilitating vomiti g. I clianco has been placed on solutions os the alhaline sulphureis, or of sulphuretted hydrogen. The lalter appears, froni Renault's experimenis, to have Some p0wer, since, is it wero previousj combined with the arseniolis acid, it render-

senic ivere not dissolved, it seemod to liave littio effica asan antidote, and indeed cannot be expected to have much effeci. Α solution of so has been recommended as usesulfrona iis aikaline matter, and it has the advantage of heuagoasily procured. As the effecis Dom arsenio are thogo de-n ting inflammato action in the system, and as even the inflammation of the stomach and intestines se s to he theconSequeuce of this as much aes of any locat operation of the arsenio itself, blood-letting would appear to he indicated, andiu a case of Auch urgency might proba ly be carried is a considerable extent with a luantage. Di a case related by

evident insummato affection of the stomach, eighteen ouncesor blood were Mawn froin the arm, the patient fainted, and remainod half an hour in a state os insensibility. Tlic violent umection os ille stomach, hora ever, was relieved, and asser a succession Os various symptoms indicating assectionos the nervous as weli as of the vascular system, the patient recovcrod, though with difficulty, and was restored tolaualib. I bo medicat practitioner has somelimes to determine in cases of judiciat investigation, whether a person has been pot-S0ued by RPS 'nio or not. This can scarcoly he inserved xx ith

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ceria ty Dom the sympionis, nor excia Dom the Stato of the stomach ascerta ined by dissoction ; sor although inflammatio iis usuasty present, and has the characters stat d above, it is nos invariably so, or When it has been present, the appea rauce is Sometimes sit t. Recourse theres ore is liud to chemical tosis These can be applied with certainty, only heu a portiolios arsenic has been procured, either frona the contents of thustomuch disci arged by vomit ing, or frona iis contenis care fully collected and examinod aster desili. Any indication oliis presence is scarcoly ever tu bo obta ined by a chemicet. examination of the fluids of the stomach, or of tho quid dis-charged ; more care, there re, iS requisito in collecting unys0lid arsenic, whicli is done by minute inspo tion of the in orsu ace of the stomach, and by Washing it caret utly, and ut lo ving the matter to subside froni tho quid, or Dom ille fluidwhich had been discliarged by vomiting. Tlic arsenio heingos considerable specific gravity, more elisily separates by subsidelice froni the other mattex ; and is a vlay minute quantity be procured, the necessary experimentS may be persoria)ed on it with persect precision, using the precaution Os dividing it, and Opera ting on disserent pomions.

The sirst experiment is in attempt the r duction os illo substance procured to the metallic state. Α lit ilo os it in sy

ci8ive, and the ouly deficiency of the i est is, that it is not

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the most delicato, a grain two of the oxido at least hcingi equirod io operate On.

manently u littoned On the s faces which had been in contataci ivitii the arsenic. To render the white colour more

evident, the sui face should be r hed with a little challa. This test, however, is not a very delicate one. Is a liti te of tho arsenic bo dissolved in h0t water, xviththree times iis woight of carbonate os potasti, ou adding this solution to a warin solution of sulphate os copper, a precipitate os a lively green colour uult be formed. It is necessary to benivare, that the carbonate of potasti alone Will tbrou dorim a precipitate Dona sulphate of copper, but this is of a hJuish-

A test os gresti delicaoy propo sed by Mr Hume, is iliat os

nitrate os silver. Is a sticla of the common fused nitrate, orlunar causiic, be applied to the sui face of a solution of sosmali a quantity as a gram os oxide ost arsenic th a D ainos carbonate of soda in ton Ounces of distilled water, a bright yellow prccipitate is thrown do via. Dr Marcet employed a similar test,-a synag to the sui face os a suid containing oxide os arsenic hi Solution, a glass rod dipi ha water os ammonia, and then another iod di pi in a solution os nitrate of sil-Ver ; a precipitate or a livoly yellow colour salis down: It is necessary to revoid an excess of ammonia, as this retainsit in solution. 'i'he ollior modo has alipeared to me io assorda moro delicate test, and one less likely to sati in common uso. Carbonate of Soda alone, indeed, gives a precipitate u illi ni-

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Tuis metat is of a White colour, With a stiade of yellovi, has a foliated fracturo, is britile, very fusi ble, capabhe of heing volatiliZed, and easib susceptibie of oridaticia. Thoughit has not been received into the Phra macopoeius, it has stolaim to a place in the Materia Medica, as iis οXide, or ra-ther si ib-nitrate, has been employcd with considerable ad-vant age in Castrodynia, Pyrosis, and other assections Connected with debili ty of the digestive organs. Thi S pr 'pa-1stion is obta ined by decomposing the solution os bismuth in nitrio scid by the anusion of watcr ; the sub-nitrate is prccipitat ed, and is Washed sud drisit. It is giveu is a dose

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ΤΗ1s earili is found in nature combined with sulphuric acid, and with carbonic acid. The native carbonate was known to prove polsonous to animais, and the degree of activity whichthis indicated, suggested the application os it to medicinalpurposes. The s m under whicli the barytes has been used, is in combination ivitii the muriatio acid; for the preparation of which two processes are inserted in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia ; one consis is in decomposing the native carbona te by muriatio a id ; the other in decomposing the sul

io the solution obta ined by V ashing the residuat matter xvithwater. The muriate in either case is obtained by crystalli-Zation, and a formula is given for a solution of it to be medicinalty employed, in V hich one part of the sali is dissolv-.ed in three of water. It is a substance of great activib, acting as a polson when given in too large a quantity : it occasions reduction of the force of the circulation, in sensibili-ty and paralysis, and on dissection the stomach is frequently Dund inflamed. The samo essecis arise Dum iis applicationio an wound, and with great rapidity; the symptonas indicate tho brain principalty to be assected, and on dissection, is a large quantity bas been applied, it is found io. bo inflamed ;the motion os ille heari is also dini uished; the stomach is sonae- times, but not always, Stightly inflamed. Medicinalty, barytes