482 NITROUS OXIDE. 



remain a subject of mere curiosity or merriment. Differing from 

 every other stimulus, in not producing depression correspondent to 

 the excitement; why should it not be employed as a general tonic and 

 as a comforting reviving remedy ? In cases of great debility, it clear- 

 ly ought not to be used in such doses, as to produce violent effects, 

 but rather such as are gentle and longer continued, which might then 

 be more frequently renewed. It would be proper to begin with di- 

 luting the gas one half or more, with common air, and the strength 

 and quantity might thus be graduated to the state and strength of the 

 patient. A larger gasometer being employed, the desired dose 

 might be drawn off into a smaller one, and the gases being used over 

 the same water, there need be no loss by absorption. In the Ameri- 

 can Journal, Vol. V, p. 196, may be seen an account of a person 

 whose health of body and mind was restored by the respiration of this 

 gas; and although it was attended by the singular circumstance, 

 that he had acquired suddenly such a taste for sweets, that he cra- 

 ved sugar and molasses on all his food, even that of an animal kind, 

 and this taste was freely indulged, still his health was permanently 

 invigorated, and the acquired taste gradually left him.* 



* Apparatus for evolving and preserving nitrous oxide gas. Dr. Hare. 



A, represents a copper vessel of about 18 inches in height, and nine inches in 

 diameter, which is represented as heing divided longitudinally in order to show the 

 inside. The pipe, B, proceeds from it obliquely, as nearly from the bottom as possible. 



Above that part of the cylinder from which the pipe proceeds, there is a diaphragm 

 of copper, perforated like a cullender. A bell glass is surmounted by a brass cock, 

 C, supporting a tube and hollow ball, from which proceed, on opposite sides, two 

 pipes, terminating in gallows screws, D D, for the attachment of perforated brass 

 knobs, soldered to flexible leaden pipes communicating severally with leathern bags, 

 F F. The larger bag, is capable of holding about fifty gallons, the smaller one 

 about fifteen gallons. 



The beak of the retort must be long enough to eriter the cylinder, so that the gas 

 in passing from the mouth of the beak, may rise under, and be caught by the dia- 

 phragm. This is so hollowed as to cause it to pass through the perforations already 

 mentioned, which are all comprised within a circle, less in diameter, than the bell 

 glass. The gas is, by these means, made to enter the bell glnss, and is, previously 

 to its entrance, sufficiently in contact with water, to be cleansed from the acid vapor 

 which usually accompanies it. On account of this vapor, the employment of a 

 small quantity of water to wash the gas, is absolutely necessary ; and for the same 

 reason, it is requisite to have the beak of the retort so long, as to convey the gas into 

 the water, without touching the metal; otherwise, the, acid vapor will soon corrode 

 the copper of the pipe, B, so as to enable the gas to escape. But while a small 

 quantity of water is necessary, a large quantity is productive of waste, as it absorbs 

 its own bulk of the gas. On this account, I contrived this apparatus, in preference 

 to using gazometers or air holders, which require larger quantities of water. 



The seams of the bags are closed by means of rivets, agreeably to the plan of 

 Messrs. Sellers & Pennoch for fire hose. The furnace is so contrived, that the coals, 

 being situated in a drawer, G, may be partially, or wholly removed, in an instant. 

 Hence the operator is enabled, without difficulty, to regulate the duration or the de- 

 gree of the heat. This control over the fire, is especially desirable in decomposing 

 the nitrate of ammonia, as the action may otherwise become suddenly so violent, as 

 to burst the retort. The iron netting, represented at N, is suspended within the 

 furnace, so as to support the glass retort, for which purpose it is peculiarly adapted. 

 The first portions of gas which pass over, consisting of the air previously in the re- 



