Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 63

=ASTHMA TEA= (Dr Orlen). Recommended for difficulty of breathing, dry coughs, loss of sleep, loss of appet.i.te, &c. Liquorice, 8 parts; marshmallow root, 6 parts; Iceland moss, 5 parts; a sort of buckbean, 2 parts; h.o.r.ehound, 2 parts. (Schadler and Selle.)

=ASTHMATIC PASTILLES= (S. Kittel's, now Daniel White & Co., New York). Set fire to the pastilles and inhale the smoke. An a.n.a.lysis found in 100 parts:--Nitrate of potash, 201 parts; impure resin of scammony, 35 parts; gum and sugar, 35 parts; charcoal, plant-stems, and leaves, 407 parts. (Dr Fleck.)

=ASTRIN'GENT= (-trinje'-). [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ ASTRIN'GENS, L.; ZUSAMMENZIEHEND, Ger. That straitens or causes wrinkling or constriction.

In _pharmacology_, an epithet of substances or agents (ASTRIN'GENTS; ASTRINGEN'TIA, L.) which constrict animal fibre and coagulate alb.u.minous fluids, and thereby obviate relaxation and check excessive secretion or discharges. In modern use, the word, both as an adj. and subst., is chiefly applied to internal remedies, those of a like character, employed externally, being usually termed 'styptics,' 'desiccants,' &c.

The princ.i.p.al astringents are--alcohol, alum, chalybeates (generally), sulphate of copper, sulphate and perchloride of iron, acetate and diacetate of lead, lime, b.i.+.c.hloride of mercury, nitrate of silver, vegetable astringents (see _below_), acetate, carbonate, chloride, oxide, and sulphate of zinc, &c. See DESICCANTS, STYPTICS, TONICS, &c.

=Astringents, Min'eral.= See ASTRINGENT (_above_).

=Astringents, Veg'etable.= Of these the princ.i.p.al are--alkanet, bistort, catechu, the cinchona barks and their alkaloids, dragon's blood, French or red rose, galls, kino, logwood, mastiche, oak-bark, red sanders wood, rhatany, tormentil, tannic acid, gallic acid, and areca nut. (See _above_.)

=Astringent Prin'ciple.= A term formerly restricted to tannin; but now commonly applied to the astringent matter of any vegetable.

=ATMOM'ETER.= _Syn._ ATMIDOM'ETER; ATMOM'ETRUM, &c., L.; ATMOMeTRE, &c., Fr. In _chemistry_ and _meteorology_, an instrument for measuring the rate of evaporation from a humid surface. It is of very simple construction, and possesses some practical value. It consists of a long gla.s.s graduated tube divided into inches, having attached to the bottom a hollow ball made of porous earthenware, similar to that used in water bottles. When used, water is poured in at the top until it rises to the zero point of the scale. The outside of the porous ball being always covered with dew, the more rapidly the evaporation takes place, the more quickly will the water fall in the tube.

=AT'MOSPHERE= (-fere). _Syn._ ATMOSPHE"RA, L.; ATMOSPHeRE, Fr.; ATMOSPHaRE, DUNSTKREIS, Ger. Primarily, a 'vapour-sphere,' appr., the a.s.semblage of respirable gas and aeriform vapours which surround the earth; fig., any surrounding medium or influence.

_Comp., Chem. prop., Pur., Uses, &c._ See AIR (Atmospheric).

_Mechanical properties_ of the atmosphere:--

COLOUR:--The prevailing colour of the atmosphere is blue; at considerable elevations this blue tint is lost, and the sky appears deep black. The prevalence of blue is referred to the greater facility with which the blue and violet rays are reflected, whilst the glowing tints of morning and evening are conceived to arise from the red rays possessing greater momentum than the other rays of the spectrum.

DENSITY:--The density of the atmosphere diminishes with the distance from the earth's surface, and this is the duplicate ratio of the alt.i.tude.

Thus, if at a given alt.i.tude the density of the air is only one half what it is at the level of the sea, at twice that elevation it possesses only one fourth that density. On this fact depends the application of the barometer to the determination of the elevation or depression of any point above or below the level of the sea, taken as a standard.

_Density of the Atmosphere at Different Elevations._ By Prof. GRAHAM.

+----------------------+-------+-------------+ Height above the level Volume Height of the of the Sea in miles. of Air. Barometer. +----------------------+-------+-------------+ 0 1 30 2705 2 15 541 4 75 8115 8 375 1082 16 1875 13525 32 9375 1623 64 46875 +----------------------+-------+-------------+

HEIGHT, &c.:--If the density of the air were uniform throughout its whole extent, the height of the atmosphere, measured by a corresponding column of mercury, would be barely 5-1/4 miles. As, however, its density decreases with the distance from the earth's surface, its real height must be considerably greater. Kepler found that the reflection and refraction of the sun's rays by the atmosphere, producing twilight, ceases when that luminary descends 18 degrees below the horizon, whence it is calculated that the atmosphere cannot have a greater alt.i.tude than 45 miles. On the other hand, there is reason to believe that it cannot be much less than this sum. "With a good air-pump air may be rarefied 300 times; supposing this to be the utmost limit to which rarefaction can be carried, the atmosphere would still extend to an alt.i.tude of above 40 miles." Whether, in a state of extreme tenuity in which its grosser properties are lost, it extends indefinitely into s.p.a.ce, was formerly a subject of controversy.

That its boundaries are limited, and that it belongs exclusively to our earth appears almost certain. "We are warranted in concluding that the atoms of air are not infinitely divisible, and consequently that the atmosphere has a limit; and the limit must be situated at that height above the earth where the gravitation of the atoms is just equal to the force of their repulsion."[100] Under ordinary circ.u.mstances the mercury of the barometer falls about one inch for every 1000 feet of elevation.

[Footnote 100: Brande's 'Dict. of Lit., Sci., & Art.']

PRESSURE:--The weight or pressure of the atmosphere is shown by the rise of water in the barrel of the common 'lifting pump' and the suspension of the mercurial column in the tube of the barometer. The last affords a ready means of determining the actual pressure of the air, the column of mercury, and the column of air by which it is suspended, resembling two weights in equilibrio, at the opposite extremities of the same balance.

The mean height of the barometer at the level of the sea, in England, is 286 inches (= about 33-1/2 feet of water); and as a cubic inch of mercury weighs 342592 gr., or 48956 _lb._, it follows that the weight of a column of mercury whose base is a square inch is 146 _lbs._ avoirdupois.

The pressure of the atmosphere is not merely downwards, but is equally diffused in all directions, and exerts a most powerful effect in the economy of organic beings. On the surface of the body of an adult of ordinary size (say = 15 sq. feet, or 2160 inches), it amounts to the enormous weight of 31,536 _lbs._, which is not sensible, only because it is balanced by the force of the elastic fluids in the interior of the body. Were this equilibrium to be suddenly destroyed, the consequence would be, either that the body would be instantly torn to pieces with explosive violence, or that it would be crushed under the overwhelming weight that would suddenly fall upon it. Even the comparatively slight variations of atmospheric pressure which occur with changes of wind, weather, and season, exercise a perceptible effect on the functions of life.

_Mean pressure of the Atmosphere at the level of the Sea, in different lat.i.tudes, at 32 Fahr., expressed in inches of mercury_.

-----+------------+----------+-----------+-----------+------------ Lat. Height Lat. Height Lat. Height (inches). (inches). (inches).

-----+------------+----------+-----------+-----------+------------ 0 29930 40 30019 54-1/2 29926 10 29975 45 30000 60 29803 20 30064 49 29978 64 29606 30 30108 51-1/2 29551 67 29673 -----+------------+----------+-----------+-----------+------------

TEMPERATURE:--The temperature of the atmosphere, independently of changes arising from variations of lat.i.tude and season, diminishes, like its density, with its elevation. In general, every 100 yards of ascent causes the temperature to fall 1 Fahr. See AIR (Atmospheric), EPIDEMICS, VENTILATION, &c.

=Atmosphere=. In _engineering_ and _pneumatics_, the pressure of a column of mercury at 0 Cent. or 32 Fahr., which is 76 centimetres or 299218 inches high, at the mean level of the sea in lat.i.tude 45, taken as a standard of that exerted by other elastic fluids. In practice this is a.s.sumed to be 15 _lbs_. to the square inch, under a barometrical pressure of 30 inches. Thus, steam or air condensed so as to exert a pressure of 30 _lbs_. per sq. inch is said to be of two atmospheres; at 45 _lbs_., of three atmospheres, &c.

=AT'OM (-um). Atomic Weight, Atomic Theory=. _Syn_. AT'OMUS, L.; ATOME, Fr.; ATOM, UNTHEILBARE THEILCHEN, Ger.

ATOMIC WEIGHT. When the elements unite chemically, they invariably do so in the proportions by weight represented by the numbers attached to them in the following table, or in multiples of these proportions. Dalton accounted for this law by supposing that the const.i.tuent particles of matter are indivisible, and believed that, if it were possible to place such particles in the balance, their relative weights would be found to correspond with the numbers given in the table.[101] In other words, the term _atom_, which is derived from the Greek at???, indivisible, is applied in modern chemistry to the smallest quant.i.ty by weight of an element which is capable of existing in a chemical compound, hydrogen being taken as unity.

[Footnote 101: Strictly speaking, Dalton, the inventor of the Atomic Theory, did not adopt the precise numbers given in the table, but others, which, however, bear a very simple relation to them.]

--------------------+------------+-----------+------------ Name. Symbol. Atomic Atomic weight. volume.

--------------------+------------+-----------+------------ =ALUMINUM= Al 275 ANTIMONY Sb 122 a.r.s.eNIC As 75 1/4 BARIUM Ba 137 BIs.m.u.tH Bi 208 BORON B 11 =BROMINE= Br 80 1 Cadmium Cd 112 2 Caesium Cs 133 =CALCIUM= Ca 40 =CARBON= C 12 Cerium Ce 92 =CHLORINE= Cl 355 1 CHROMIUM Cr 525 COBALT Co 588 =COPPER= Cu 635 Didymium D 96 =FLUORINE= F 19 1 Glucinum G 14 GOLD Au 1967 =HYDROGEN= H 1 1 Indium In 74 =IODINE= I 127 1 IRIDIUM Ir 198 =IRON= Fe 56 Lanthanum L 92 =LEAD= Pb 207 Lithium Li 7 MAGNESIUM Mg 24 =MANGANESE= Mn 55 =MERCURY= Hg 200 2 Molybdenum Mo 92 NICKEL Ni 588 Niobium Nb 976 =NITROGEN= N 14 1 Osmium Os 199 =OXYGEN= O 16 1 PALLADIUM Pd 1065 =PHOSPHORUS= P 31 1/4 PLATINUM Pt 1974 =POTa.s.sIUM= K 39 RHODIUM Rh 104 Rubidium Rb 855 Ruthenium Ru 104 Selenium Se 79 1 =SILICON= Si 285 =SILVER= Ag 108 =SODIUM= Na 23 STRONTIUM Sr 875 =SULPHUR= S 32 1 Tantalum Ta 1375 Tellurium Te 128 Thallium Tl 204 Thorium Th 2315 TIN Sn 118 t.i.tANIUM Ti 50 TUNGSTEN W 184 URANIUM U 120 Vanadium V 512 Yttrium Y 68 =ZINC= Zn 65 2 Zirconium Zr 90 --------------------+------------+-----------+------------

ATOMIC VOLUME. The volume or s.p.a.ce occupied by the atomic weights of gases at a temperature of 60 F., and under a pressure of 30 inches of the barometer, compared with that occupied by one part by weight of hydrogen under the same conditions.

In the same table the most important elements are distinguished by the largest type, those next in importance by medium type, and those of rare occurrence, or of which we know but little, by the smallest type.

=ATOMIC WEIGHTS.= See ATOM.

=ATON'IC.= _Syn._ ATON'ICUS, L.; ATONIQUE, Fr.; ATONISCH, SCHLAFF, Ger.

Weak; debilitated; deficient in tone or strength. In _pathology_, applied to diseases or conditions of the body (ATONIC DISEASES; ATONY) in which debility is the leading feature. In _pharmacology_, ATONICS are agents which relax or lower the tone of the system.

=AT'ONY.= _Syn._ ATO'NIA, L.; ATONIE, &c., Fr., Ger. In _pathology_, loss of tone, relaxation, morbid diminution of vital energy or power; commonly applied to debility of any kind.

=AT'ROPHY= (-fe). _Syn._ ATRO'PHIA, L.; ATROPHIe, &c., Fr.; ATROPHIE, Ger.

In _pathology_, wasting or emaciation, with loss of strength, and unaccompanied by fever or other sensible cause; defective nutrition; decline.

_Cla.s.sif., Causes, &c._ It is either local, as in the case of a limb which is small, imperfectly developed, or withered; or general, affecting the whole body. GEN'ERAL ATROPHY appears to depend on deficient nutrition, arising from a want of due balance between the functions of a.s.similation and absorption, or from profuse evacuations draining off the materials necessary for the support of the body. In the former case only may it be regarded as an independent disease. LO'CAL ATROPHY commonly arises from some cause which lessens the normal circulation of blood in the part; or from a diminution of the nervous influence, as in paralysis. General atrophy is most frequent in infancy, childhood, and old age. In the first two it may be often traced to bad nursing, worms, or a scrofulous taint; and not unfrequently to continually inhaling impure or damp air. In adults, the causes are impaired digestion and imperfect action of the chyliferous organs, and sometimes diseased action of the liver. In many cases it results from the use of tobacco.

_Treatm._ This consists in a close attention to diet (which should be liberal and nutritious), exercise, clothing, ventilation, warmth, &c., with gentle stimulants, and chalybeate tonics where not contra-indicated; and, in the case of adults, the moderate use of pure generous wine or malt-liquor. Among special remedies, both in this disease and anaemia, may be mentioned pure sweet cod-liver oil, which seldom fails to arrest or greatly r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of the disease, and in very many cases effect an entire cure. When this affection is symptomatic of any other disease, as worms, stomach or liver complaints, &c., the removal of the latter must of course be first attempted. See ANaeMIA, CHLOROSIS, TABES, &c.

=ATRO"PIA= (trope'y'a). C_{34}H_{23}NO_{6}. [L.; B. P.] _Syn._ AT'ROPINE (-pin; sometimes atro'pine), Eng., Fr.; ATROPI'NA, ATRO"PIUM*, L. An alkaloid discovered by Brandes in _at'ropa belladon'na_ or deadly nightshade.

_Prep._ 1. (B. P. Process.) Take of belladonna-root, recently dried, and in coa.r.s.e powder, 2 _lbs._; rectified spirit, 10 _pints_; slaked lime, 1 _oz._; diluted sulphuric acid, carbonate of potash, of each a sufficiency; chloroform, 3 _fl. oz._; purified animal charcoal, a sufficiency; distilled water, 10 _fl. oz._ Macerate the root in 4 pints of the spirit, for 24 hours, with frequent stirring. Transfer to a displacement apparatus, and exhaust the root with the remainder of the spirit by slow percolation. Add the lime to the tincture placed in a bottle, and shake them occasionally several times. Filter, add the diluted sulphuric acid in very feeble excess to the filtrate, and filter again. Distil off three fourths of the spirit, add to the residue the distilled water, evaporate at a gentle heat, but as rapidly as possible, until the liquor is reduced to one third of its volume and no longer smells of alcohol; then let it cool. Add very cautiously, with constant stirring, a solution of carbonate of potash so as nearly to neutralise the acid, care, however, being taken that an excess is not used. Set to rest for six hours, then filter, and add carbonate of potash in such quant.i.ty that the liquid shall acquire a decided alkaline reaction. Place in a bottle with the chloroform; mix well by frequently repeated brisk agitation, and pour the mixed liquids into a funnel furnished with a gla.s.s stop-c.o.c.k. When the chloroform has subsided, draw it off by the stop-c.o.c.k, and distil it on a water-bath from a retort connected with a condenser. Dissolve the residue in warm rectified spirit; digest the solution with a little animal charcoal: filter, evaporate, and cool until colourless crystals are obtained.

2. Expressed juice of belladonna is evaporated over a water-bath to the consistence of an extract, and then triturated in a marble or porcelain mortar with a strong solution of caustic pota.s.sa; the resulting ma.s.s is digested and well agitated for some time, at the temperature of 75 to 80 Fahr., with benzole, q. s.; and, after repose, the benzole-solution is carefully separated, and its volatile hydrocarbon is distilled off by the heat of a water-bath; the residuum in the retort is now exhausted with water acidulated with sulphuric acid, and the resulting 'acid-solution,'

after filtration, precipitated with carbonate of soda; the precipitate is crude ATROPIA, which is collected on a filter, pressed between folds of bibulous paper, and dried; after which it is purified by one or more re-solutions, in alcohol, and crystallisations, which may or may not be modified in the manner noticed. The proportion of pota.s.sa should be about 1 dr. to every quart of the expressed juice. An excellent and economical process. The product is 03 to 4% of the weight of the plant from which the juice has been obtained.

3. (Mein and Liebig.) Belladonna-root (fresh-dried and coa.r.s.ely powdered) is exhausted by alcohol (sp. gr. 0822); slaked lime (1 part for every 24 of the dried root employed) is then added to the tincture, and the whole digested, with agitation, for 24 hours; sulphuric acid is next added, drop by drop, to slight excess, and, after filtration, rather more than one half the spirit is removed by distillation; a little water is now added to the residue, and the remainder of the alcohol evaporated as quickly as possible by a gentle heat; after again filtering, the liquid is reduced by further evaporation to the 1/12th part of the weight of the root employed, and a concentrated solution of pota.s.sa dropped into the cold liquid (to throw down a dark greyish-brown matter), carefully avoiding excess or rendering the liquid in the slightest degree alkaline; in a few hours the liquid is again filtered, and carbonate of pota.s.sa added as long as a precipitate (ATROPIA) falls; after a further interval of from 12 to 24 hours, this precipitate is collected and drained in a filter, and after pressure between folds of blotting-paper, dried by a very gentle heat. It is purified by making it into a paste with water, again squeezing it between the folds of blotting-paper, drying it, re-dissolving it in 5 times its weight of alcohol, decolouring it with pure animal charcoal, distilling off greater part of the alcohol, and evaporation and crystallisation by a very gentle heat; or only about one half the spirit is distilled off, and 3 or 4 times its volume of water gradually agitated with it, the resulting milky liquid being then heated to boiling, and allowed to cool very slowly, when nearly the whole of the ATROPIA crystallises out after a few hours. The same may be effected by at once agitating 6 or 8 volumes of water with the alcoholic solution, and setting aside the mixture for 12 to 24 hours, by which time the crystallisation will be completed. This process originated with Soubeiran, was improved by Mein, and subsequently, with slight modifications, adopted by Liebig. The product is about 03% of the weight of root operated on.

4. (Bouchardat and Cooper.) The filtered tincture is precipitated with iodine dissolved in an aqueous solution of iodide of pota.s.sium, the resulting ioduretted hydriodate of atropia, decomposed by zinc-and-water, the metallic oxide separated by means of carbonate of pota.s.sa, and the alkaloid thus obtained dissolved in alcohol and crystallised.

5. (Mr Luxton.) The dry leaves of belladonna are gently boiled for 2 hours in distilled water just sufficient to cover them, and the resulting decoction is strained through a coa.r.s.e cloth into a large precipitating jar; this process is repeated with a second quant.i.ty of distilled water, and the two decoctions mixed; concentrated sulphuric acid is now added in the proportion of 2 dr. to every pound of leaves operated on, by which the vegetable alb.u.men of the decoction is precipitated, and the liquid becomes clear and sherry-coloured; the clear liquor is now decanted or syphoned off, and, if necessary, filtered; the filtrate is now decomposed by either pa.s.sing a stream of gaseous ammonia through it, or by suspending in it a lump of carbonate of ammonia. The effect is that the liquid turns black, and crystals of ATROPIA are slowly formed and deposited. At the expiration of a day or two, the supernatant mother-liquid is removed with a syphon, and the crystals thrown on a filter to drain and dry.[102] It may be purified by re-solution and crystallisation. 1 lb. of leaves yields 40 gr.; or at the rate of fully 57%.

[Footnote 102: 'Pharm. Journ.,' 1854-5, p. 209{?}.]

6. (Rabourdin.) To the crystallised juice of the plant (previously heated to coagulate its alb.u.men, filtered, and allowed to cool), 1 quart, is added of caustic pota.s.sa 1 dr., and afterwards of chloroform 1 oz.; the whole is then agitated well, and after half an hour's repose, the supernatant liquor is poured from the discoloured chloroform, which, after being washed with distilled water as long as it gives any colour to that liquid, is placed in a small retort, and the chloroform distilled off by the heat of a water-bath; the residuum is dissolved in a little water acidulated with sulphuric acid, and precipitated with carbonate of pota.s.sa, in slight excess; the precipitate is redissolved in alcohol, and the solution, by spontaneous evaporation, yields crystals of ATROPIA.

7. (Ure.) From the expressed juice of the fresh, or the watery extract of the dry plant, by treating it with caustic soda, in slight excess, and then agitating the mixture with 1-1/2 times its volume of ether; the ATROPIA taken up by the ether is again deposited after repose for some time, and is then purified by repeating the treatment with fresh ether as often as necessary.

8. Freshly precipitated hydrate of magnesia is added to the coagulated and filtered expressed juice, and the mixture evaporated to dryness, as quickly as possible, in a water-bath; the residuum is pulverised and digested in strong alcohol, and the clear liquid allowed to evaporate spontaneously. The crystals may be purified by repeated re-solutions in alcohol.

_Prop., Tests, &c._ The crystals obtained from hot concentrated solutions, colourless, transparent, silky prisms; from solutions in dilute spirit, silky needles, like those of disulphate of quinine. It is colourless; has a bitter, acrid, and somewhat metallic taste; dissolves in 200 parts (300 parts--Thomson) of cold and 50 to 54 parts of boiling water, in 1-1/2 parts of cold alcohol, and in 25 parts of cold, and 6 parts of boiling ether; it has an alkaline reaction, fuses at about 194 Fahr., is slightly volatile at common temperatures, and freely rises in vapour at 212 Fahr.; at higher temperatures it volatilises with partial decomposition; with the acids it forms salts, of which several are crystallisable.