Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 42

=AMMONI'Ac.u.m.= _Syn._ GUM AMMONIAc.u.m, G. AMMO"NIAC; GOMME AMMONIAQUE, Fr.; AMMONIAK, Ger. A gummy-resinous exudation from the stem of _dorema ammoniac.u.m_, in tears and ma.s.ses, of a pale cinnamon colour, brittle, and when broken has a white and shining surface. Collected in Persia and the Punjaub. (B. P.)

Gum ammoniac.u.m has an unpleasant odour, especially when heated, and a nauseous and slightly bitter taste. It is a mild, stimulating expectorant and emmenagogue; and its effects on the system resemble those of a.s.saftida except in being weaker. Externally, it is resolvent.--_Dose_, 10 to 30 gr. in pills or emulsion.

_Doses for Animals._ HORSE, 2 to 4 drachms. CATTLE, 2 to 4 drachms. SHEEP, 1/2 to 1-1/2 drachm. PIG, 1/2 to 1-1/2 drachm. DOG, 10 to 20 grains.

Either by bolus or emulsion.

=Ammoniac.u.m, Strained'.= _Syn._ PREPARED AMMONIAc.u.m; AMMONI'Ac.u.m PRaePARA'TUM (Ph. L.), L. _Prep._ (Ph. L. 1851.) Boil ammoniac.u.m in water just sufficient to cover it; strain the mixture through a hair sieve, and constantly stirring, evaporate in a water bath, until, on cooling, it becomes hard. The product, owing to a loss of volatile oil, is much weaker than the unprepared gum-resin. The process is only necessary with rough lump ammoniac.u.m.

=Ammo"niated.= _Syn._ AMMONIA'TUS, L. In _pharmacy_, _perfumery_, &c., applied to preparations containing ammonia.

=AMMO'NIO-, Ammon'ico-.= In _chemistry_, a common prefix to double salts containing ammonia; as ammonio-citrate, a.-chloride, or a.-tartrate of iron, &c. See the respective metals.

=AMONTILLADO.= [Sp.] See SHERRY and WINE.

=AMORPH'OUS= (-morf'-us). _Syn._ AMORPH'US, L.; AMORPHE, INFORME, DIFFORME, Fr.; AMORPHISCH, MISGEBILDET, MISSGESTALTET, Ger. Shapeless. In _chemistry_ and _mineralogy_, applied to substances devoid of regular or crystalline form; as a lump of chalk, the majority of precipitates, &c.

The corresponding substantives are AMORPH'ISM, AMORPH'OUSNESS*

(_amorphis'mus_, L.; _amorphisme_, Fr.).

=AMPHIB'IA= (fib'-y'a). [L. pl.; prim. Gr.] _Syn._ AMPHIB'IANS (-yanz), AMPHIB'IALS (-y'alz). Animals that possess the faculty of living both in water and on land. In _modern zoology_ it is restricted to those animals which possess both gills and lungs; as the _batrach'ia_ or frog tribe. The term is also often applied, colloquially, to otters, seals, walruses, crocodiles, &c., none of which can breathe under water, although, from the languid nature of their circulation, they are able to remain a long time in it.

=AMPHIB'IOUS= (y'us). _Syn._ AMPHIB'IUS, L.; AMPHIBIE, Fr.; BEYDLEBIG, Ger. In _botany_ and _zoology_, having the faculty of growing or living both on land and in water. See AMPHIBIA.

=AM'PHITYPE= (-fe-). See PHOTOGRAPHY.

=AMYGDALIN.= C_{20}H_{27}NO_{11}.3Aq. This substance exists in bitter almonds. It crystallises in pearly white plates, which are odourless and almost tasteless. It is nearly insoluble in hot and cold water and in cold alcohol, but soluble in boiling alcohol. To prepare amygdalin, boil well-pressed cake of bitter almonds twice in strong alcohol; strain through linen, and press the residue; remove any oil that may appear, heat the liquid again, and filter. In a few days part of the amygdalin crystallises out. Concentrate the residuary liquor to a sixth part, and add ether, which will throw down the amygdalin. Press it between blotting paper, wash it with ether, and set aside to crystallise.

=AMYG'DALOID= (-loyd). _Syn._ AMYGDALOID'AL; AMYGDALO'DES (-dez), L.; AMYGDALODE, Fr. Almond-shaped. In _mineralogy_, amygdaloid is 'toadstone.'

=AMYKOS= (Galen, Upsala). A cosmetic and mouth-wash. Claims to be prepared according to an English patent. It is an aqueous extract of 420 grms.

cloves, boiled in a gallon of water, in which 420 grms. of pure glycerine are dissolved, and to which 210 grms. of borax are added. (Hager.)

=AMYKOSASEPTIN= is linen saturated with a hot solution of borax.

(Nystrom.)

=AMYLA'CEOUS= (am-e-la'-sh'us). _Syn._ AMYLA'CEUS, L.; AMYLACe, Fr. Of or like starch; consisting of or abounding in starch; starchy. See FOOD, NUTRITION, STARCH, &c.

=AM'YL= (-il). C_{5}H_{11}. The radical of the fusel-oil compounds (AMYL-SERIES).

=Amyl, Acetate of.= C_{5}H_{11}C_{2}H_{3}O_{2}. _Syn._ PEAR-OIL. _Prep._ From fusel-oil, 1 part; acetate of pota.s.sa (dry), 2 parts; concentrated sulphuric acid, 1 part; distilled, with the usual precautions, from a gla.s.s retort into a cool receiver. The distillate is purified by washing it with very dilute solution of pota.s.sa, and redistilling it from fused chloride of calcium. A little litharge added to the liquid in the retort, before rectification, will remove any sulphurous odour, should it be present.

_Prop., &c._ Liquid, limpid, colourless; insoluble in water; soluble in alcohol; boils at 272 Fahr.; alcoholic solution of pota.s.sa converts it into an acetate of that base, with reproduction of fusel-oil.

_Obs._ The odour and flavour of this preparation are those of the Jargonelle pear. It is now extensively manufactured, and, after dilution with alcohol, is sold under the name of ESSENCE OF JARGONELLE PEAR, for flavouring liqueurs and confectionery.

=Amyl, Vale'rianate of.= C_{5}H_{11}C_{5}H_{9}O_{2}. _Syn._ APPLE-OIL, A.-ESSENCE, &c. This compound is abundantly formed during the preparation of valerianic acid from potato oil, and is recognised by the offensive odour of rotten apples evolved during the process. By treating the crude product of the distillation with a weak solution of pure pota.s.sa, the valerianic acid is removed, and the volatile oil obtained nearly pure.

Dissolved in rectified spirit it forms the 'APPLE-ESSENCE' now so much employed as a flavouring ingredient for confectionery and liqueurs. See FRUIT ESSENCES, VALERIANIC ACID, &c.

=AMYL NITRITE.= _Syn._ AMYL NITRIS, B. P. Produced by the action of nitric or nitrous acid on amylic alcohol.--_Dose._ By inhalation, the vapour of 2 to 5 minims. To be used with caution. It may be produced by pa.s.sing a stream of nitrous acid gas through purified amylic alcohol at a temperature of 132 C.

For other methods of preparing it consult 'Wood and Bache's United States Dispensatory, 1877.' Mr Umney ('Pharm. Journal') says that true nitrite of amyl should be made by pa.s.sing nitrous acid into amylic alcohol which has been previously submitted to a fractional distillation, until the portion retained for use has a boiling point of 132 C. A nitrate so prepared, when deprived of any excess of acid it may contain by rectification over fused carbonate of potash, will have a boiling point of 98-99 C.

=AM'YLENE= (-e-lene). C_{5}H_{10}. [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ AM'ILENE*; AMYLE'NA, AMYLE'NUM, L. A peculiar volatile, liquid hydrocarbon, discovered by Cahours.

_Prep._ From fusel-oil repeatedly distilled along with either anhydrous phosphoric acid, or a concentrated solution of chloride of zinc; the product being repeatedly rectified at a low temperature, until the boiling point sinks to 102 Fahr.

_Prop., Uses, &c._ An ethereal liquid, lighter than water, having an aromatic odour, slightly alliaceous. Sp. gr. of vapour, 268. Its vapour was several times successfully employed, by the late Dr Snow, as a subst.i.tute for ether and chloroform in producing anaesthesia, being, though less agreeable, also less pungent, and consequently easier to breathe, than either of them; but its use has since been given up owing to doubts as to its safety, two or three deaths having followed its inhalation.

=ANADOLI= (Kreller, Nuremburg). An oriental tooth-powder. Powdered soap, 42 parts; starch powder, 44 parts; levantine soapwort, 12 parts; oil of bergamot and lemon to flavour. (Wittstein.)

=ANaeMIA.= Deficiency of blood.

=ANaeSTHE'SIA= (an-ez-the'-zh'a; -sh'a; -theze'y'ar). [L.; prim. Gr.]

_Syn._ ANESTHeSIE, Fr. In _pathology_, diminished or lost sense of feeling.

In _surgery_ and _obstetrics_, the production of temporary anaesthesia, for the purpose of rendering operations painless, relieving the pangs of childbirth, &c., is effected by the use of--

=ANaeSTHET'ICS.= _Syn._ ANaeSTHET'ICA, L.; ANESTHeTIQUES, Fr. In _pharmacology_ and _surgery_, substances or agents which diminish or destroy sensibility, or which relieve pain. In its full extent this term includes both anodynes and narcotics; but it is now more generally confined to those substances which greatly diminish common sensibility, or entirely remove susceptibility to pain. Among the most useful, safe, and powerful of this cla.s.s are chloroform, ether, nitrous oxide, and intense cold; besides several chlorinated compounds, such as the bichlorides of ethylen, methylen, and carbon.

More than 1500 years ago the Chinese are said to have used a preparation of hemp, or _ma-yo_, to annul the pain attendant upon cauterisation and other surgical operations. Mandragora (mandrake) was employed for a similar purpose by the Greeks and Romans; and we learn that as early as the thirteenth century the vapour from a sponge filled with tinctures of mandragora, opium, and other sedatives was used for a similar purpose.

Baptista Porta, in his work on natural magic printed in 1597, mentions a quintessence extracted from medicines by somniferous menstrua, of the nature of which he leaves us in ignorance. This quintessence was to be preserved in leaden vessels very perfectly closed, lest the aura should escape, for the medicine would vanish away. Furthermore, he adds, "when it is used, the cover being removed, it is applied to the nostrils of the sleeper, who draws in the most subtle power of the vapour by smelling, and so blocks up the fortress of the senses, that he is plunged into the most profound sleep, and cannot be roused without the greatest effort." Dr Iron suggested that the volatile substance was sulphuric ether, which he says had been described more than fifty years before Porta wrote his book. In the year 1800 Sir Humphry Davy suggested the employment of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, as it was then termed, for minor operations in surgery, and in 1828 Dr Hickman proposed carbonic acid as an anaesthetic. The vapour of sulphuric ether had been used in his practice by Dr Pearson as early as 1795, for the relief of spasmodic asthma. The fact that sulphuric ether was capable of producing insensibility was demonstrated by American physicians; viz. by G.o.dwin in 1822, Mitch.e.l.l in 1832, Jackson in 1833, and Wood and Bache in 1834; but the first pract.i.tioner to employ it to prevent the pain of an operation was Dr Morton, a Boston dentist, who successfully used it for this purpose in 1846. On the 19th of December of the same year Mr Liston, of University Hospital, London, and Mr Robinson, a dentist, operated upon patients who had been rendered insensible by means of the inhalation of the vapour of ether.

Throughout the year 1847 ether was employed as an anaesthetic both in England and France, but towards the end of that year the anaesthetic properties of chloroform were pointed out by Flourens. The first, however, to introduce this agent into surgical and obstetric practice was Dr I. T.

Simpson, of Edinburgh. In 1849 a work on the inhalation of ether was published by Dr Snow, who afterwards introduced a new anaesthetic, viz.

amylene, which was capable of producing effects similar to those of chloroform; but as two patients out of but a small number who inhaled the vapour of amylene died, this latter soon fell into discredit, and consequent disuse.

Except in dental practice, in which nitrous oxide gas is the anaesthetic invariably employed, chloroform is almost universally used in surgical operations, one advantage it possesses over ether being its much more rapid action, although this latter property must be regarded as one which const.i.tutes the risk which, although very slight (when the exceedingly small per-centage of deaths resulting from its administration is taken into account), undoubtedly attends its inhalation.

Dr Sansom says of chloroform:--"The cause of its danger is its power of paralysing the cardiac and other motor sources of circulation. This property resides in large and sudden doses of its vapour." He strongly recommends its dilution by air and alcohols. He further remarks that all anaesthetics modify the endosmotic condition of the blood discs, and contends that they affect the supply of arterial blood by altering the calibre of the channels which convey it. He advocates the subst.i.tution of one anaesthetic for another during the inhalation.

Methylene dichloride, introduced by Dr B. W. Richardson, is said to possess the disadvantage of causing considerable depression.

The mode of administering these agents is by causing the patient to inhale their vapour mixed with air.

Sometimes they are poured on to a sponge or a handkerchief, or piece of lint, either of which is then applied to the mouth and nostrils of the patient in such a manner that the air which pa.s.ses into his lungs is saturated with the vapour. Except in extemporised cases, however, this method is pretty well abandoned, a proper apparatus having supplanted the sponge or handkerchief, &c. Part of the apparatus consists of a graduated bottle containing the anaesthetic, by means of which the operator is enabled to tell how much of this latter is being consumed, and thus to regulate the quant.i.ty inhaled.

The first effect that results from the administration of anaesthetics is a form of intoxication, caused by the action of the anaesthetic agent on the cerebral lobes, and as this action extends to the cerebellum, the patient becomes incapable of directing his movements--an effect like that caused by intoxication from alcohol.

In the next stage the spinal cord is attacked, unconsciousness supervenes, and all powers of motion and sensation are lost. The individual is now said to be in a state of anaesthesia; but the heart continues to beat, respiration is not impeded, and the other essential functions of the body go on as usual.

Should, however, the exhibition of the anaesthetic agent be incautiously continued too long, the bodily temperature falls, the movements of respiration and circulation become impaired, the heart ceases its action, and death finally ensues. The introduction of anaesthetics into surgical practice has been of great and invaluable service to the operator. The patient being motionless and free from pain, the surgeon is enabled to perform the operation at his ease, and consequently more efficiently; moreover, in the reduction of dislocations and of hernia, the muscles being flaccid, the obstacle produced by their contraction is removed. M.

Velpeau endeavoured to produce local anaesthesia, or insensibility of the part of the body to be operated upon, by means of a freezing mixture composed of ice and salt; this method, however, was found impracticable, and was soon abandoned. Since then local anaesthesia as introduced by Dr Richardson, when had recourse to, is effected by means of a spray of ether directed on the part, the intense cold produced by the rapid evaporation of the ether entirely depriving the part of sensation. It is said that the pain resulting from the application of this method is a great barrier to its use.

Amongst anaesthetics, nitrous oxide gas occupies an important place, its use, as before stated, being almost wholly confined to operations in dental surgery.[55] As in the case of ether, the American pract.i.tioners were the first to employ nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic. Attention was directed to its anaesthetic properties in 1844 by Mr Horace Wells, an American dentist, but little interest seems to have been awakened by his application of it, since it was not until 1863 that Dr Cotton, of New York, drew attention to the subject by performing an operation on a patient under its influence.

[Footnote 55: The 'British Medical Journal' for 1868 states it was used successfully at the Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields.]

In March, 1868, Dr Evans, residing in Paris, after a visit from Dr Cotton, directed the attention of medical men in England to the value of nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic in dental surgery, and shortly afterwards it was first employed to produce anaesthesia at the Dental Hospital. Nitrous oxide is obtained from nitrate of ammonia, and the particulars of its preparation may be found by referring to the article NITROUS OXIDE.