Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 29

2. (Dr Tweedy.) As the last, but using tincture of ginger (prepared with rectified spirit), 1-1/2 pint, instead of the spirit there ordered.

=Liquor of Soap.= _Syn._ LIQUOR SAPONIS, L. See TINCTURE.

=Liquor, Styp'tic.= _Syn._ LIQUOR STYPTICUS, L. _Prep._ (Ph.

Slevico-Holsat. 1831.) Alum and sulphate of copper, of each 1-1/2 oz.; sulphuric acid, 1 oz.; water, 1 lb.; dissolve, and filter.

=Liquor of Tarax'ac.u.m.= _Syn._ FLUID EXTRACT OF DANDELION; EXTRACTUM TARAXACI FLUIDUM, LIQUOR TARAXACI, L. _Prep._ 1. Dandelion roots (dried), 28 lbs., are rinsed in clean cold water to remove dirt, and then sliced small, and macerated in enough cold water to cover them for 24 hours; the liquid is next pressed out, and after the fecula has subsided the clear portion is decanted, and heated to 180 or 190 Fahr., to coagulate the alb.u.men; the liquid is then filtered while hot and evaporated by steam, or preferably by a current of warm air, until it is reduced to 22-1/2 lbs.; to this rectified spirit, 6 lbs., is added, and after thorough agitation the vessel is set aside for a week or a fortnight, after which the clear portion is gently poured from the sediment and preserved in well-closed bottles in a cool place. A very fine article. It represents an equal weight of the root.

2. The expressed juice of dandelion is heated to near the boiling point, strained, and evaporated, as the last, to a proper consistence; 1/4th or 1/5th of rectified spirit is then added, and the liquid is otherwise treated as before. Very odorous and pale coloured.

3. Dried root (coa.r.s.ely powered), 1 lb.; water, 1-1/4 pint; rectified spirit, 1/2 pint; digest a week, express the liquor, pa.s.s it through a hair sieve into a bottle, and in 10 days decant the clear portion.

4. (Ph. Bor.) Extract of dandelion, 3 parts; water, 1 part (or q. s.); triturated together.

5. (W. Procter.) Fresh root, 2 lbs., is sliced and reduced to a pulp, and macerated with 1/6th of its bulk of rectified spirit for 24 hours; it is then subjected to strong pressure, the marc is treated with water containing a little spirit, 1 pint, and the liquid is again expressed; the mixed product is evaporated to 12 fl. oz., and when cold, rectified spirit, 4 fl. oz. is added, and the whole filtered.

_Obs._ Liquor of taraxac.u.m has a very large sale. The dose is 1 to 2 fl.

dr. See EXTRACT.

=Liquor of Valer'ian.= See EXTRACT OF VALERIAN (Fluid).

=Liquor of Vanil'la.= _Syn._ FLUID EXTRACT OF VANILLA; LIQUOR VANILLae, EXTRACTUM V. FLUIDUM, L. _Prep._ 1. Vanilla (sliced), 1 lb.; rectified spirit, 3 pints; prepare a tincture either by displacement or maceration, and reduce it, by distillation at the lowest possible temperature, to 1-1/2 lb.; put this into a strong bottle whilst hot, add of white sugar candy (in powder), 1/2 lb., cork down, and agitate the whole until it is nearly cold. Very fine. Used chiefly for its odour and flavour. It represents half its weight of vanilla.

2. (W. Procter.) Vanilla (cut into thin transverse slices), 1 oz.; sugar, 3 oz.; triturate until reduced to fine powder, put it into a strong pint bottle, along with syrup, 1/2 pint; water, 2 oz.; tie down the cork, and set the bottle for half an hour in boiling water; cool, strain, and treat the residue in a like manner with a mixture of water, 6 fl. oz., and rectified spirit, 1 fl. oz.; lastly, mix the two products. Greatly inferior to the last.

=LIQ'UORICE.= _Syn._ STICK LIQUORICE; LIQUORITIA, GLYCYRRHIZae RADIX (B.

P.), GLYCYRRHIZae RADIX, GLYCYRRHIZA (Ph. L. & D.), G. GLABRA (Ph. E.), L.

"The root or underground stem of the _Glycyrrhiza glabra_, fresh and dried, cultivated in Britain." "The recent and the dried root of _Glycyrrhiza glabra_," or common liquorice. "The fresh root is to be kept buried in dried sand for use." (Ph. L.) It has a sweetish taste, and is slightly aperient, expectorant, and diuretic. It is a popular demulcent and pectoral. Its extract and solution are much used as a domestic remedy for cough. As a masticatory it allays thirst and irritation.

Composition of the fresh root of liquorice:

Glycyrrhizin 860 Gum 2660 Matter soluble in alcohol, chiefly resin 075 Alb.u.men 097 Starch 2291 Woody fibre 1336 Moisture 2681 Ash, 307 per cent. -- ------ 10000 (Ha.s.sALL.)

Roussin a.s.serts that the sweetness of liquorice root is not due to glycyrrhizin, as has been hitherto a.s.sumed, but to an ammoniacal compound of that substance. Glycyrrhizin, when purified four successive times by dissolving it in alcohol, and precipitating the foreign matter accompanying it by ether, is a yellowish substance, insoluble in cold water, and almost tasteless. Treated with dilute solution of potash or soda, it rapidly develops a sweet taste. In liquorice root, however, it is not contained in combination with either of these two alkalies, but appears to exist as an ammoniacal compound, for solutions of potash and soda liberate ammonia, both from the root and the extract. In its compounds with the alkalies glycyrrhizin plays the part of an acid, as it forms true salts capable of undergoing decomposition with most of the metallic salts, and also with the salts of the organic alkaloids. With ammonia it forms two compounds, a basic salt, which yields a deep yellow solution, and another containing less ammonia, the solution of which has an amber colour. The former is produced by dissolving glycyrrhizin in water with an excess of ammonia. Upon evaporating the resulting deep yellow solution to dryness it leaves a yellowish, scaly, s.h.i.+ning, brittle, non-hygroscopic residue, which const.i.tutes the second ammoniacal compound.

This is readily soluble in cold water, to which it imparts a pale yellow colour and a very sweet taste. The solution turns deep yellow on the addition of a few drops of solution of ammonia, owing to the formation of the basic compound. The pale yellow solution possesses, in a marked degree, the taste of liquorice root, which, indeed, owes its sweetness to this glycyrrhizate of ammonia, or ammoniacal glycyrrhizin, as the author prefers to call it. One gram of this compound imparts the sweet taste of the root to two litres of water.

The author gives the following process for the preparation of the ammoniacal glycyrrhizin in the pure state: The carefully-selected roots, freed from all portions presenting a dark fracture, are sc.r.a.ped, and then well pounded, so as to reduce them to a kind of stringy tow. This substance is macerated in cold distilled water for some hours, pressed, and treated a second time in the same manner. The two liquors are mixed and allowed to stand for some time to deposit the starch. The supernatant liquor is then boiled and filtered, to separate the coagulated alb.u.men.

After cooling, sulphuric acid diluted with its weight of water is added gradually, with brisk stirring, until a precipitate is no longer formed.

The precipitate, at first gelatinous and flocculent, after standing some time, forms a compact semi-solid ma.s.s at the bottom of the vessel. The supernatant liquor is rejected, and after roughly was.h.i.+ng the precipitate several times with pure water it is finally kneaded repeatedly in distilled water until all trace of acidity has disappeared. The ma.s.s is then well drained and agitated in a flask with three times its weight of 90 alcohol until dissolved, when a similar quant.i.ty of 96 to 98 alcohol is added to the syrupy liquid so produced. A little pectic acid is thus precipitated, which is removed by filtration. Ether is then added to the alcoholic liquor as long as a precipitate is formed. After standing twenty-four or even forty-eight hours a blackish pitchy substance is deposited, which adheres to the gla.s.s, and allows of the clear liquor being decanted. To this clear liquor is added, in small quant.i.ties at a time, alcohol of 90 charged with gaseous ammonia, which determines the formation of a yellow, rather heavy, flocculent precipitate of glycyrrhizate of ammonia. This precipitate is washed rapidly on a fine cloth with a mixture of equal parts of alcohol and ether, pressed and dried in a current of warm air, or over sulphuric acid.

The author suggests the addition of ammoniacal glycyrrhizin to pill ma.s.ses, powders, or mixtures, and states that its power of masking the taste of nauseous medicines is equal to 100 times its weight of sugar.

Sulphate of quinine, sulphate of magnesia, iodide of pota.s.sium, and ipecacuanha, lose much of their taste by such an addition.

A dose of cod-liver oil or syrup of iodide of iron is rendered more palatable by being preceded by a small dose of the solid ammoniacal glycerin.[21] Its extract is the common LIQUORICE, SPANISH LIQUORICE, or SPANISH JUICE, of the shops. See EXTRACT, &c.

[Footnote 21: 'Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie,' xii 6-11.]

=LISBON DIET DRINK.= 1. (Foy.) _Prep._ Guaiac.u.m wood, rasped, 1 oz.; sarsaparilla, bruised, 3 oz.; mezereon, sliced, 1/2 oz.; crude antimony (in a rag), 2 oz.; water, 12 pints. Boil down to 8 pints, and add--red sanders, rasped, white sandal, rasped, of each 3 oz.; rosewood, rasped sa.s.safras bark, sliced, of each 1 oz.; liquorice root, sliced, 1/2 oz.

Infuse for four hours, strain, and add syrup according to taste.--_Dose_, 1 to 2 pints a day.

2. (Pearson.) Sarsaparilla, bruised, 4 oz.; dried walnut peel, 4 oz.; guaiac.u.m, rasped, 1-1/2 oz.; crude antimony (in a rag), 1/2 oz.; water, 4 pints. Boil down to 3 pints.

=LIST.= The border or selvage torn off a piece of cloth. It is used by the French polishers and law stationers to form their rubbers, and for numerous other purposes.

=LITH'ARGE.= _Syn._ SEMI-VITRIFIED OXIDE OF LEAD; PLUMBI OXYDUM (Ph. L.), PLUMBI OXYDUM SEMI-VITREUM (Ph. D.), LITHARGYRUM (Ph. E.), L. The litharge of commerce is semi-vitrified protoxide of lead, obtained chiefly by sc.r.a.ping off the drops that form on the surface of melted lead exposed to a current of air (dross of lead; plumb.u.m ustum), and heating it to a full red, to melt out any undecomposed metal. The fused oxide, in cooling, forms a yellow or reddish semi-crystalline ma.s.s, which readily separates into scales; these, when ground, const.i.tute the 'powdered litharge' of the shops. Litharge is also prepared by exposing red lead to a heat sufficiently high to fuse it, and 'English litharge' is obtained as a secondary product, by liquefaction, from argentiferous lead ore, when it is often called 'silver stone.'

_Pur._ "Entirely, or almost entirely, soluble in dilute nitric acid. This solution is blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen. Pota.s.sa throws down a white precipitate, which is redissolved by adding the same in excess. If sulphate of soda be added to 100 gr. of this oxide dissolved in nitric acid, 135 gr. of sulphate of lead is precipitated." (Ph. L.) "50 gr.

dissolve entirely, and without effervescence, in 1-1/2 fl. oz. of pyroligneous acid, and the solution precipitated by 53 gr. of phosphate of soda remains precipitable by more of the test." (Ph. E.) The solution in both acetic and nitric acid should be colourless. It is of great importance to the pharmaceutist to obtain pure litharge, as the slightest impurity will often colour and spoil his lead plaster (EMP. PLUMBI), and solution of diacetate of lead (LIQ. PLUMBI DIACETATIS).

_Uses._ Litharge is employed in pharmacy, to make plasters and several other preparations of lead; by painters as a 'drier' for oils; and for various other purposes in the arts.

_Obs._ The litharge of commerce is distinguished by its colour as LITHARGE OF GOLD (LITHARGYRUM AURI, L. AURIUM, L. CHRYSITIS), which is dark coloured and impure, and LITHARGE OF SILVER (SILVER STONE; LITHARGYRUM ARGENTI, L. ARGENTUM, L. ARGYRITIS), which is purer, and paler coloured.

The dark colour of the former is generally said to be owing to the presence of red lead. Foreign litharge generally contains copper and iron; and, not infrequently, a little silver and silica. These are readily detected by the usual tests. In grinding litharge, about 1 lb. of olive oil is usually added to each 1 cwt. to prevent dust. The best solvents of litharge are nitric acid and acetic acid. As it slowly absorbs the carbonic acid of the air, it generally effervesces slightly when treated with acids, and this effervescence is stronger in proportion to its age.

See LEAD.

=LITH'IUM.= Li. The metallic base of LITHIA, first obtained by Sir H. Davy by exposing hydrate of lithium in contact with mercury to galvanic action, and decomposing the resulting amalgam by distillation. It is now obtained by fusing pure chloride of lithium in a small, thick, porcelain crucible, and decomposing it while in a fused state by a current of electricity. It is a white metal, like sodium, very oxidisable, fusing at 356, and having a sp. gr. of 59. It is the lightest metal known. It belongs to the 'alkaline group,' of which pota.s.sium, sodium, caesium, and rubidium, are the other members.

Lithium forms salts a.n.a.logous to those of sodium, but usually somewhat less soluble. They can be distinguished from those of pota.s.sium and sodium by the phosphate and carbonate, being only sparingly soluble in water,--from those of barium, strontium, and calcium, by forming crystallisable and soluble salts with sulphuric acid and oxalic acid,--and from those of magnesium, by the solution of its carbonate exhibiting an alkaline reaction. Heated on platinum, they tinge the flame of the blowpipe carmine red. The salts of lithium may generally be formed by dissolving the hydrate or carbonate in dilute acids.

=Lithium, Benzoate.= LiC_{7}H_{5}O_{2},H_{2}O. (Paris Pharm. Society.) Benzoic acid, 122 grams; lithium carbonate, 37 grams. Suspend the benzoic acid in 10 parts of water, add the lithium carbonate, and heat. Solution takes place with effervescence, and upon evaporation, handsome, much flattened, more or less elongated prismatic crystals are obtained.

Lithium benzoate is very soluble in water. One grain of the salt calcined, and then treated with slight excess of sulphuric acid, and heated to redness should give 0376 gram of lithium sulphate.

=Lithium, Bromide of.= LiBr. To 37 grams of carbonate of lithium suspended in 200 grams of distilled water, 80 grams of bromine are added. A current of sulphuretted hydrogen is then pa.s.sed through the mixture until the whole of the bromide has disappeared. Hydro-bromic acid is thus formed, which decomposes the carbonate of lithium, bromide of lithium being produced and sulphur set free. The mixture is then gently heated to drive off the excess of sulphuretted hydrogen and to agglutinate the sulphur.

After filtration the liquor is concentrated, and if it be desired to obtain the bromide in crystals, the desiccation is finished under a bell jar by means of sulphuric acid.

=Lithium, Car'bonate of.= Li_{2}CO_{3}. _Syn._ CARBONATE OF LITHIA; LITHIae CARBONAS (B. P.). _Prep._ To an aqueous solution of sulphate of lithium add a strong solution of carbonate of ammonium, collect the precipitate, drain, and press, wash with a little rectified spirit, and dry. By dissolving it in boiling water, and slowly evaporating the solution, crystals may be obtained.

_Prop., &c._ It resembles carbonate of magnesium in appearance; is soluble in about 100 parts of cold water, and in considerably less of boiling water, and is insoluble in alcohol. The tests for its purity given in the B. P. are--in giving no precipitate with oxalate of calcium or lime water, and leaving, when 10 grains are neutralised with sulphuric acid and ignited, 1486 grains of dry sulphate. It has been proposed by M.

Lipowitz, Dr Garrod, and others, as a solvent for uric acid calculi.

According to Bisw.a.n.ger, 1 part of carbonate of lithia in 120 parts of water takes up, at blood-heat, nearly 4 parts of uric acid. Mr Alexander Ure recommends a dilute solution of this substance as an injection in lithic calculus, as it is a better solvent of uric acid than either borax or the alkaline carbonates. "Of all the various menstrua hitherto recommended, none appear to promise more favorably than the carbonate of lithia." "If by means of injections" (of this solution) "we can reduce a stone at the rate of a grain or more an hour, we shall not merely diminish the bulk of the calculus, but further loosen its cohesion, disintegrate it, so to speak, causing it to crumble down, and be washed away in the stream of urine." (Mr A. Ure.)--_Dose_, 2 to 5 gr., twice or thrice a day; as an injection, 1 gr. to water, 1 fl. oz.

=Lithium, Citrate of.= Li_{3}C_{6}H_{5}O_{7}. _Syn._ LITHIae CITRAS (B.

P.). A white deliquescent amorphous powder, made by acting on 50 grains of lithium carbonate with 100 of citric acid, and is readily soluble in 2-1/2 parts of water.

_Tests, &c._ 20 grains burnt at a low red heat until white leave 106 grains of carbonate of lithium. Its medical properties are similar to those of the carbonate.--_Dose_, 5 to 16 grains, largely diluted.

=Lithium, Citrate of, Effervescing.= (Paris Pharm. Society.) Citric acid, 40 grams; sodium bicarbonate, 50 grams; lithium bicarbonate, 10 grams. Mix the powders and place them in a flat-bottomed vessel having a large surface; heat to about 100 C., stirring the powder continually until it takes the granular form, then by means of appropriate sieves obtain granules of suitable and uniform size, and preserve the preparation in well-closed bottles.

=Lithium, Oxide of.= Li_{2}O. _Syn._ LITHIA. An alkaline earth found in petalite, &c., and in small quant.i.ties in most mineral waters.

_Prep._ Petalite (a silicate of aluminum and lithium) in powder mixed with twice its weight of fluor spar is heated with strong sulphuric acid as long as acid vapours are given off. The residue is treated with ammonia, boiled, and filtered, evaporated to dryness, and heated to redness. The residue consists of sulphate of lithium, from which the oxide is obtained by decomposing it with acetate of barium, filtering and heating after having evaporated the solution to dryness.

This yields the so-called oxide, which is in reality the hydrate, LiHO, and is a white, non-volatile, soluble, caustic solid. The true oxide is a white powder decomposed by water forming the hydrate, and obtainable by igniting the metal in oxygen.

=Lithia, Effervescing Solution of.= _Syn._ LIQUOR LITHIae EFFERVESCENS.

_Comp._ Water charged with carbonic acid and holding in solution carbonate of lithium. 10 fl. oz. contain 5 grains of the carbonate.--_Props._ Colourless liquid, possessing powerful diuretic properties.--_Use._ Antilithic, for dissolving calculi of uric acid.--_Dose_, 5 to 10 fl. oz.

=LITHOFRACTEUR.= See BLASTING POWDERS.