NIT 
exydated. It is faid to combine with potafh and foda, form- 
ing peculiar compounds. 
r. Prieftley, who difcovered this gas in 1776, declares it 
unrefpirable, and the Dutch chemifts, who afterwards ex- 
amined it, coincide with him in this opinion. We are in- 
debted to fir Humphrey Davy for many additional facts re- 
lative to it, among which he found that, to a certain extent, 
it is re{pirable, under which it produces effects on the fyftem 
not much unlike intoxication : the le effe cts are, however, 
ve o the ti time it 
is gs aiteey Some become highly eviilaiated. “exhibiting 
unufual motions and geftures, with incoherent la anguage, an 
at the fame time unconfcious of all arqund them. On re- 
turning con{cioufnefs, they defcribe fome extravagant ae 
which they relate as a dream, but in which the impreffions 
have been more vivid. Others are very differently affected, 
The countenance 
afterwards. During the rage for ¢ 
held up as promifing great ee ee in certain difeafes. 
This idea has been fome time abandoned, with little hope of 
its revival. 
NITRUM is ufed by the pve: Martial to exprefs that 
fort of foulnefs in cryftal, which Pliny, and others o 
i ancient Roman authors, diftinguithed by the name of 
Nitrum neigh in Natural Hiflory, a name given 
a peculiar fpecies of neutral falt, which he 
boo 
by Dr. Lifter 
firft publicly defenbed in his the me ictnal waters 
of England 
has none of the properties or qualities of nitre, but only a 
ort of general refemblance in its externa . 
ferves rea this falt, erat very little known, was a abun 
ral ee in general ; a fays its cryftals were long and 
flender, and confifted of four fides, and were terminated 
a point compofed of two triangular planes. He ne 
that this falt doubtlefs had its origin from a mixture of 
= — of fulphur and a calcareous earth of an alee 
“Thi falt i is found i in almoft all the mineral waters of Ger- 
mann to be of 
this, that it is aoe inflammable, nor will yield ve. by 
diftillation. It feems, indeed, true Glauber’s falt, 
pofed of the acidof vitriol, or fulphur, for this is in ia 
the fame, and of that alkaline fone which is the bafis of 
fea-falt : 
ifter, was the 
Hoffmann, Opera, tom. v. 
P The medicinal waters in the neighbourhood of Paris 
contain it ae ina very confiderable a aa though lefs 
than this. is the opinion of Ho n, that when an 
water before ianpegeatcd with a atcole per in its current 
under Bete paffes over this calcareous earth, it as readily 
a part of it with it, as the vitriolic —_ does with the 
fea-falt, for its bafis, in making the common Glauber’s 
» and thence produces a bitter ie op falt, of a 
fame nature with that; and, indeed, if the acid of fulphur 
f upon the application 
NIT 
be mixed with any alkaline fubftance, a bitter neutral falt 
is produce : Somewhat — to this, and to the 
Glauber’s 
of nitre to a lixivium of 
rating it to a pellicle, and fetting it by to {- 
tals formed by this liquor are perfectly ciegua: in their figure, 
but they will be of an acid tatte. 
; This” preparation of nitre is a good medicine in burning 
evers 
Nirrum Purificatum, purified nitre, is thus prepared: 
take nitre, or common fal 
* a 
ao 
int 
ala dried in a colander are fit 
for ufe. See Nitrat ,, Por 
This is the beft of all as bree dations of nitre, for medi- 
cinal ufe, in it. native form. It diffolves immediately on 
entering the body, where it wonderfully cools, and seal pe 
ood, giving it a fine florid colour. In all inflam 
difeafes attended with condenfations of the blood, this “fall 
the dofes {maller, and oftener repeated. 
the {mall-pox, and fuppreflions of urine. 
be given by many in hemorrhages with fuccefs, 
be any cafe in which caution is required, it is in a confump- 
tion where the lungs are ulcerated. Of this purified nitre, 
a fafe and powerful alte is jens and eafily Sie oar in 
the following manner : take an e of the nitre ey and tw 
{cruples of cochineal, in fine aude: boil thefe in five or 
fix ounces of water ; filter the li 
en produced, fit to be given 
» pills, powder, &e. 
“Nir om Vegetane, 2 a name given by the chemitts to a pre- 
paration of nitre, which — readily fhoots out into beautiful 
cryftallizations. If, in making Glauber’s {pirit of nitre, 
there are ufed four parts of nitre, and one of oil of vitriol, 
and the fpirit be entirely driven off, the white falt remaining 
dry in the retort, on being expofed to the open air, will foon 
be covered with a thick and long down, as if it grew ; . if 
this falt be diffolved in water, and then ftrained, and e O- 
rated to a drynefs, in a cylindrical glafs, and kept expofed to 
the open air, its upper furface will often appear covered wi 
beautiful branching little prants, ry which will diffolve away 
of heat, ave the furface even 5 
ow 
Some. chemifts have formed feveral fables upon fome fuch 
bafis as this; and = probably the whole fecret of their 
operations was no m re than a alaiencae fraud of this kind, 
this hla nothing i a with ba 
RUM Vitriolatum, a preparat oF nitre made as fol- 
lows : aiffolve the mafs left in the eer after diftillation of 
a fpirit of nitre, in about a times its weight of pl ; 
