MEDICINAL USES 369 



of nitrous ether should be kept in a cool, dark place, and 

 in small bottles. 



PROPERTIES AND TESTS. Sweet spirit of nitre is a limpid 

 liquid with a very slight yellow tinge ; it is inflammable, 

 has a peculiar, penetrating, apple-like odour, and a sweetish, 

 cooling, sharp taste. Specific gravity '838 to '842. It 

 should not effervesce, or only feebly, when shaken with 

 sodium bicarbonate. A good, freshly-prepared specimen 

 should yield seven volumes of nitric oxide gas, and, even 

 when kept, should yield not less than five times its volume. 

 It should contain between 2| and If per cent, of ethyl nitrite. 

 Many veterinarians obtain from the wholesale chemist 

 nitrous ether of guaranteed strength, and dilute it, as required, 

 with spirit of such sort and strength as they desire. 



ACTIONS AND USES. Sweet spirit of nitre conjoins the 

 actions of the alcohol and ethyl nitrite of which it consists. 

 It is hence a general stimulant, and a relaxer and paralyser 

 of non-striped muscle. It relieves acute fever, and the 

 difficult breathing of bronchitis and asthma. It is anti- 

 spasmodic, diaphoretic, and diuretic. Large doses are 

 narcotic. 



MEDICINAL USES. Consisting of an irritant-alcohol and a 

 vaso-dilator, ethyl nitrite, when swallowed it stimulates the 

 circulation of the stomach and intestines ; is hence stomachic, 

 carminative, and antispasmodic, and is prescribed to animals 

 in indigestion, tympanites, and colic. It is quickly absorbed, 

 and, on account of its contained alcohol, proves a valuable 

 cardiac and general stimulant, serviceable in cases of prostra- 

 tion and convalescence from debilitating disorders. But its 

 properties as a diffusible nitrite, relaxing spasm of involun- 

 tary muscles, also come into operation. It dilates arterioles, 

 thus decreases arterial tension, and hence is of special value 

 in the acute stages of fever, whether depending upon specific 

 conditions or local inflammation where the heart is over- 

 burdened. It relaxes the muscular fibres of the bronchial 

 tubes, and thus relieves the .spasmodic contraction and 

 difficulty of breathing which characterise catarrh, bronchitis, 

 and some forms of asthma. It is specially indicated when 

 there is difficulty of breathing, as in influenza of horses. 

 During excretion, notably by the skin and kidneys, its 



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