ALKALOIDS. 



N 



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70 



SO 



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Ill 



tanned an nUWiW/ir. which consist* of a glass tul* nipported upon 

 foot, and graduated into 100 equal parts, the space between every 

 two uf mich divisions being capable of containing 10 grain* of 

 dutilled water. The upper part ..f tin- instrument in ahaped a* 

 shown in the figure, for the convenient intro- 

 tliK-tion of the tit-acjd and it* subsequent 

 dcli\ crv ill drop*. 



The dilute sulphuric acid, or tout-acid, i- 

 pn'irwl by luiding eight volumes of distilled 

 water to nue volume of concentrated sulphuric 

 acid. After cooling, this mixture might to 

 have a specific gravity f 1T268. In order to 

 ascertain that it ia of the exact strength, 100 

 grains of pure and dry carbonate of potash 

 are to be dissolved in about 4 ounces of 

 boiling water, and the solution tinged blue 

 by the addition of a few drops of infusion 

 of litmus. The olkalimeter must now be 

 till.-.! up to the 65th division with the 

 dilute acid, and afterwards with water to the 

 point of the scale marked 0. The two liquids 

 being then thoroughly mixed by agitation, the 

 contents of the alkalimeter must be gradually 

 added to the hot solution of carbonate of pot- 

 ash until the blue colour changes to red, in- 

 dicating that the acid is then in slight excess. 

 If the acid be of the proper strength, exactly 

 1 00 measures, or the total contents of the alka- 

 linieter, ought exactly to produce this effect, 

 showing that each measure of the acid is 

 equivalent to one grain of carbonate of potash. 

 If less than 100 measures have been required, 

 the acid is too strong; if more than lOti m -i 

 Mires, it is too weak. Let UK suppose that 90 

 s ' measures produced the reddening effect : it is 



evident that in this case the 90 measures are 



equivalent to 100 grains of carbonate of potash, and consequently the 

 acid in jth too strong ; each 90 measures of the original test-acid must 

 therefore be diluted with 10 measures of water. If the acid were too 

 weak, a similar but inverse correction must be had recourse to. The 

 teat-acid having been thus prepared of the proper strength, it must be 

 preserved in well-stoppered bottles for subsequent use. 



To employ it for estimating the amount of carbonate of potash in any 

 sample of pearlash. weigh out 100 grains of the ash, dissolve them 

 in boiling water as above described, filtering if necessary, and tinge blue 

 with infusion of litmus ; then fill the alkalimeter to 65 with the test- 

 acid, diluting with water to 0, and add the diluted acid gradually and 

 cautiously until the reddening effect ia produced. The number of 

 measures of acid required represents the percentage of carbonate of 

 jiotagh in the sample. 



To estimate the amount of potash contained in the sample, either as 

 caustic potash or carbonate of potash, fill the alkalimeter to 49 with the 

 teat-acid, the 100 measures being again made up with water. The 

 number of divisions of this dilute acid required to neutralise 100 grains 

 of the sample will correspond to the percentage of pure potash in the 

 sample. 



For the determination of carbonate of soda, the alkalimeter must be 

 filled to 54-6 with the test-acid, which must then be used as before ; 

 whilst for the estimation of caustic soda, the operator will require to 

 fill the instrument to 23'4. The number of measures required to 

 change the blue of the solution to red, will then in both cases cor- 

 respond to the percentages of caustic or carbonated alkali required. 

 Care must be taken in all cases to have the alkaline solution nearly at 

 the boiling point when the test-acid is added, and also not to confound 

 the port wine red produced by carbonic acid with the bright red result- 

 ing from the slightest excess of sulphuric acid ; the latter tint is of course 

 the one which indicates that the neutralisation has been completed. 



It is obvious that the foregoing method might also be employed for 

 testing the strength of ammonia and its carbonate. 



Fresenius and Will propose to ascertain the value of samples of the 

 carbonates of the alkalies by ascertaining the weight of carbonic acid 

 expelled on neutralining them with sulphuric acid, but the process is 

 more troublesome than the one just mentioned, and as it has not been 

 adopted in this country, it need not be here described. For a description 

 of it. nee Miller's ' Elements of Chemistry,' vol. ii. p. 740. 

 ALKALOIDS. [ORGANIC BABES.] ' 



ALKALOIDS, Mediral Propertia -/. These substances, which 

 modern chemistry has made known, are termed organic alkalies, from 

 requiring, in general, a vital power to effect their formation ; urea is 

 an exception. They possess alkaline proj>ortieii in the lowest degree, 

 and are either tasteless or have a bitter acrid taste, existing generally 

 in a solid, mostly crystalline, form ; some however are amorphous 

 (Aconitina), occasionally in a liquid state (Conia and Nicotina), the' 

 latter very volatile, and readily undergoing decomposition, with an 

 evolution of ammonia, at a moderate temperature. Sometimes one 

 only exists in a plant, sometimes several in the same plant, er. opium 

 Generally tlu-y arc combined with an acid ; most frequently it in a 

 peculiar acid. Many of them arc with difficulty soluble in water, more 



ALLEOLV 



lit 



so in alcohol ; they rarely completely neutralise acids, but the salts 

 which they form are more soluble than the bases; hence various 

 of their salts are used in medicine in preference to the primitive 

 article. Their great characteristic is the extraordinary action most 

 of them hare on the human system in a very small dime, and indeed 

 several of them are, in very minute quantity, deadly p> 

 Having been first detected in plants long used as medicines 

 (I'liu liona), it in chiefly among medicinal plants that they have been 

 sought for and found. By many they are regarded as the active 

 principle of these, and their extraction has bail the great advantage of 

 enabling nicdic.il men to administer their remedies in a smaller bulk 

 and more convenient form. As the most important of them are treated 

 of under the names of the plants which yield them, it is not necessary 

 to notice any of them further here, except to state that chemists have 

 recently rendered a great service in forming a neutral xulph-ite of 

 quinine, which is much more soluble than tin- dir-ulphatc. and called 

 Bullock's Neutral Sulphate of Quinine. 



Al.KARSIN. [CACODYI..] 



ALKERMES is the name of a cordial made in some of the northern 

 countries of Europe. It is made from bay-leaves, mace, nutmegs, cin- 

 namon, cloves, brandy, syrup of kermes, and orange-flower water. The 

 first six ingredients arc distilled, and the last two are employed to 

 give flavour. 



ALLA-BKEVE, in music, an Italian term signifying a quick time, 

 in which the notes take only half their usual length. It is very 

 rarely used in modern music. The fine fugue in the ' Messiah,' ' And 

 with his stripes we are healed,' is an example of this measure. 



ALLAH is the Arabic name of the Supreme Being, which through 

 the Koran has found its way into the language of all nations who have 

 embraced the Mohammedan religion. It is properly a contraction of 

 al-ilah : al is the Arabic definite article, and ilah, which corresponds to 

 the Hebrew words Eloah and Elohim, signifies a deity generally : the 

 prefixed article restricts the meaning, and al-ilah or Allah signifies the 

 True God, as opposed to the deities worshipped by idolaters. The 

 word Allah is frequently met with as a component port of Arabic 

 proper names : for example, ' Abd-allah,' that ia, ' the servant of God.' 

 ' A Hah akbar,' ' God is great,' is the common battle-cry of the Moham- 

 medans. The phrase ' Bism Allah ' or ' Bism-illah,' ' in the name of 

 God,' is invariably uttered by devout Mussulmans before the com- 

 mencement of any undertaking, and before their meals : it is also put 

 at the beginning of their books. 



ALLANTOIN. [URIC ACID, DERIVATIVES OP.] 



ALLANTURIC ACID. [URIC ACID, DERIVATIVES OF.] 



ALLEGATION, ECCLESIASTICAL, was the term applied to the 

 first pleading in testamentary causes in the Courts Christian, whose 

 jurisdiction in these matters is now transferred to the Court of Probate. 

 In criminal proceedings the first plea is called Artieia ; in ordinary 

 causes the first plea is called the Libel. This first pleading in each 

 instance is analogous to a Declaration at common law or to a Hill in 

 equity. The term Allegation ia also applied to every subsequent plea 

 in all causes ; the first by a defendant being called a Responsive Allega- 

 tion, and the plaintiff's answer a Counter Allegation. There are also 

 exceptive allegations, when a witness's credit ia impeached, and these, 

 when admitted, are proceeded upon in the same manner as the others. 



ALLEGIANCE, or LIGEANCE, is the true and faithful obedience 

 of a liegeman or subject to his liege lord or sovereign, " Ligeantia eat 

 vinculum fidci : ligeantia est login essentia." The notion of ligeance, 

 or allegiance, is that of a bond or tie between the person who owes it 

 and the person to whom it is due. (Co. Lit. 129 a.) Allegiance is 

 due from natural-born subjects, and also from those who have been 

 naturalised. 



The allegiance of a subject, according to the law of England, it 

 permanent and universal. He can, by no act of his own as by Ixnng 

 naturalised in a foreign country repudiate the duties which it 

 involves; nor can he by any change of residence escape its legal 

 consequences. 



An alien owes a'temporary allegiance so long as he continues within 

 the dominions of the Queen ; and he may, therefore, be prosecuted for 



tr.-i-.n. 



An usurper, in the undisturbed possession of the crown, is entitled 

 to allegiance. Treason committed against Henry VI. was punished in 

 the reign of his successor, even after parliament had declared the 

 former an usurper. 



An oath of allegiance has, from the earliest period, been exacted from 

 natural-born subjects ; but its form has undergone variation. Anciently, 

 the party promised " to be true and faithful to the king and his heirs, 

 and truth and faith to bear of life and limb and terrene honour, and 

 not to know or hear of any ill or damage intended him without 

 defending him therefrom." The statutory oath, since the Revolution, 

 has been more simple as : " I do sincerely promise and swear that I 

 will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her Majesty Queen Victoria." 

 By the statute 21 ft 22 Viet. c. 48, these words are preserved in the 

 one oath thereby substituted for the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, 

 and abjuration, formerly used. 



The alteration of the form has never, in any degree, varied the 

 nature of the subject's duty, which is owing from him independently 

 of any oath, and although he may never have been called upon to take 

 it. The oath is imposed by way of additional security for the per- 



