CERVUS ELAPHUS. ]5 



may be distinguished by their greater brittleness. When burnt 

 to whiteness in the open air, they yield the comu ustum, or burnt 

 hartshorn, of the former editions of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia. 

 During the combustion, the gelatin of the horn is decomposed, 

 and the phosphate of lime, which is the product of the process, 

 remains ; but the powder usually sold under the name of burnt 

 hartshorn, for polishing silver, and some other useful purposes, 

 is prepared from the bones of various animals. When harts- 

 horn is exposed to heat, in close vessels, a large quantity of the 

 carbonate of ammonia is disengaged, along with the other products 

 that are usually obtained from the destructive distillation of animal 

 matters, an empyreumatic oil, and carburetted hydrogen ; a por- 

 tion of carbonaceous matter remaining along with the earthy 

 matter of the horns. Ammonia, both in a liquid and solid state, 

 is still obtained from bones and other animal substances ; but the 

 horns of the Stag were formerly so much used for this purpose, 

 that it was commonly called Salt or Spirit of Hartshorn. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Hartshorn shavings boiled 

 in a proper quantity of water, afford, when the decoction cools, a 

 transparent colourless jelly, which, rendered grateful by orange 

 juice, sugar, and a little wine, is used in diarrhoea and dysentery, 

 as a demulcent and as a light nutritious article of diet for the sick. 

 Burnt hartshorn, which was formerly introduced into medical 

 practice as an antacid in the diarrhoea of children connected with 

 imperfect digestion and the formation of acid in the stomach, and 

 as a remedy in molities, ossium, and ricets, is a substance 

 apparently altogether inert; but the finely levigated powder is 

 sometimes employed as a dentrifice. The volatile liquor, or 

 spirit of hortshorn, is given internally, in a dose from ten to 

 twenty drops, diluted with water, as a powerful stimulant in 

 hysteria, gout of the stomach, and spasms, or in languors and 

 faintness, and sometimes as an antacid. Externally, it is applied 

 to the nostrils in syncope and asphyxia, and mixed with oil or 

 with soap linament as an embrocation in chronic rheumatism and 

 cynanche tonsillaris, and to parts affected with deep-seated in- 

 flammation. The oil, which rises in the distillation of volatile 

 liquor of hartshorn, purified by repeated distillations, forms the 



