92 REPORT—1863. 
Exp. 33.—Man, aged 37, inclined to become very stout, and an imbiber of 
much malt liquor, reduced himself in weight 15 Ibs. in eight months, by small 
doses of the salt, almost constantly taken. 
Of the remaining dozen cases the diminution in weight was mostly a few 
pounds, but they were not good examples of polysarcia as in some of the first 
experiments related. Moderate corpulence or inclination to stoutness were 
the prevailing features, and the quantity of adipose or other matter therefore 
to be got rid of was necessarily not large. In some the weight was increased 
instead of being diminished, which I attributed to increased appetite and the 
consumption of more food. 
The foregoing experiments prove that some peculiar property is possessed 
by the ammonium salt, through the agency of the blood, in resolving some of 
the constituents of the adipose element. Whether this is of a chemical na- 
ture or otherwise I am not prepared to say, but am disposed to favour the 
former, for the potassium salt does not appear to possess this property, else it 
would have attracted attention ere this. And although the ammonium salt 
alone will in some persons absorb fat as an abnormal element, it is ably 
assisted by regulating the diet, and prohibiting such articles of food as keep 
up the tendency to its deposition. Dr. Glover has asserted that the bromides 
of potassium and sodium have little action of a corrosive character, but I will 
say of the bromide of ammonium that it has none at all, and assimilates 
better than either, seldom or never disagreeing even with the food when 
taken immediately before or after meals. Its influence upon the disease of 
the inner coats of the blood-vessels I attribute more to its direct chemical 
agency than to its absorbent powers. Nevertheless, whatever may be the 
rationale of its operation, it is an agent calculated to prolong life to a good 
old age, from the remarkable properties it possesses in this respect. 
It does not cause atrophy of healthy organs, and curiously enough when 
given to thin people in small doses, its tonic properties increase the appe- 
tite, and thus adds to the weight of the body, which some might consider a 
physiological paradox, but the circumstance readily explains itself. 
The use of the Bromide of Ammonium in Medicine.—The length of the pre- 
sent Report will permit of a brief notice only of the value of the salt in the 
treatment of disease. 
As is the case with the salts of iodine in absorbing hypertrophied structure, 
so is it with those of bromine, and the bromide of ammonium is not inferior 
to any other preparation in its powers in this respect. The iodide and 
bromide of ammonium possess this property, and possibly the chloride of 
ammonium hereafter may be found also to possess it; for it is well known 
that between chlorine, bromine, and iodine and their compounds, exact and, 
as it has been said, beautiful chemical relations subsist. With regard to 
chlorine, the fact is deserving of remembrance, that persons employed in 
bleaching-factories lose their fat or other hypertrophied tissues, and become 
thin without impairment of their general health. 
As an absorbent and resolvent, the bromide of ammonium has been used in 
hypertrophy of the tongue, liver, spleen, heart, thyroid and other glands, and 
other parts of the body with fair results, and it is strongly recommended for 
trial, more especially in hypertrophy of the spleen, heart, and early bron- 
chocele. 
In various cerebral or nervous affections, such as epilepsy, some forms of 
mild paralysis, neuralgia, especially of the uterine organs, nervousness, and 
tremors, and mild forms of cervical neuralgia, it will be found to possess 
