■StilpJiate of 



3j:edicines.] 



AnTIMONII SuLPnUBETUM- 



Antimony. 



Medicinal Uses. — Alterative and vermifuge ; 



but of very little effect. Much used amongst 



grooms, combined with sulphur and nitrate of 



potash. Dose from half an ounce to one ounce. 



AiifTiMONii Taetaeizatum — Tartarised Anti- 

 onony — Emetic Tartar. 



Medicinal Uses. — Febrifuge in doses of half 

 a drachm to two drachms, generally in combi- 

 nation with nitre, &e. Large doses will not, in 

 the horse, produce nausea, even to the quantity 

 of an ounce. 



AKCHUSiE Eadis — Alkanet Root. 



The root of a perennial plant, growing in the 

 south of Europe. 



Medicinal Uses. — Merely used for the sake 

 of its colouring matter, which it readily yields 

 to oils, fats, spirits, &c. ; but not to water. 



Argenti Niteas — Nitrate of Silver — Lunar 

 Caustic. 



Lunar caustic is the old name for nitrate of 

 silver, melted and cast into cylindrical pieces 

 about the size of small black-lead pencils, for 

 the use of surgeons. 



Take Silver 1 oz. 



„ Nitric Acid . . . . 1 11 „ 

 „ Distilled Water . . . 2 fl „ 

 Mix the nitric acid with the water, and dissolve 

 the silver with the mixture on a sand-bath ; 

 then gradually raise the heat until the nitrate 

 of silver becomes dry ; melt this in a crucible 

 over a slow fire until ebullition ceases; then 

 pour into moulds. 



Decomposition. — Nitric acid is composed of 

 oxygen and azote ; and when the silver is dis- 

 solved, a portion of the acid is decomposed, its 

 azote escaping into the air with the oxygen, 

 which forms with it fumes of red nitrous acid 

 gas. The oxygen of the decomposed acid 

 unites with the silver to form into an oxide, 

 whilst the undccomposed acid dissolves, and 

 converts it into nitrate of silver. 



Medicinal Uses. — Caustic. This appears to 

 have given place to less expensive preparations, 

 such as the nitric acid, and the sulphate of 

 copper. It is, liowever, much to be preferred 

 to the hot iron, or to any acid, for destroying 

 350 



THE HOESE, AND 



[ilEDICIJfES. 



the part in the horse, bitten by a mad dog. 

 Next to the butyr of antimony, it is the best 

 application for the removal of fungus ex- 

 crescences. 



BoLiJS Armenia — Armenian Sole. 



In mineralogy, bole is a mineral, found chiefly 

 in Italy, Silesia, and the isle of Lemnos. It is 

 generally of a dusky yellow or brown colour, 

 of an earthy texture, and acquires a polish 

 by friction. It has a greasy feel, and adheres 

 strongly to the tongue. On being put into 

 water it absorbs a little, and breaks into small 

 fragments with a crackling noise. 



Medicinal Uses. — Slightly astringent and 

 absorbent. It is chiefly used for colouring 

 ointments and powders, and for lowering the 

 effect of other active remedies, as sulphate of 

 copper and alum, when used as astringent 

 powders, in case of grease, &c., &c. 



Camphoeje — Camphor. 



This concrete juice is extracted from the 

 wood of the laurus ca7nphora. Pure camphor 

 is white and pellucid, unctuous, of a bitterish 

 aromatic taste, and of a fragrant smell. It is 

 extremely volatile and combustible. 



The roots of zedoary, thyme, rosemary, sage, 

 the linula Jiellenium, the anemone, the pasque 

 flower, or pulsa tilla, and other vegetables, give 

 camphor by distillation. It is observable, that 

 all these plants afford a much larger quantity 

 of camphor when the sap has been suffered to 

 pass to the concrete state by several months' 

 drying. Thyme and peppermint, slowly dried, 

 yield much camphor; but the roots and 

 branches of the camphor tree are its most 

 natural produce. 



Camphor is not soluble in water in any per-* 

 eeptible degree, though it communicates its 

 smell to that fluid, and may be burned as it 

 floats on its surface. Alcohol, ethers, and oils, 

 dissolve it. 



The addition of water to the spirituous or 

 acid solutions of camphor instantly separates it. 



Camplior has long been a valuable article in 

 the materia medica, being one of the most effi- 

 cacious diaphoretics, and much esteemed for its 

 use in malignant fevers and epidemical diseases. 

 Camphoric acid is the result of the change 

 effected on camphor by repeatedly distilling 

 nitric acid from it. 



