8 ON SPIRIT OF NITROUS ETHER AND NITRITE OF SODA. 
be very large, for that the spirits being strong and the vapours plentiful, and 
withal coming, hastily forth, they would break all to pieces, if they had not 
room to expatiate in. § 10. This spirit, from its coming forth in red vapours, 
is by some authors called the Salamander''s Blood , and being thus at first freed 
from its ;;flegm, will act with so much the more force. §11. This spirit will 
dissolve or rather corrode all metals, except gold, into which it cannot enter 
alone by reason of the smallness of the pores of that metal; but if you add to 
it a fourth part of its weight of sal armoniack, or of sea salt, or of sal gem, it 
will give a new form to its particles, shaping them into more subtil points 
capable of entering into the pores of the gold, and to penetrate and dissolve its 
substance.” 
At p. 54, we have “ Spiritus nitri dulcis, dulcified spirit of nitre. Bates). 
Spirit of nitre p. j, alcohole of spirit of wine p. ij. Digest till they are 
joined, and distil in sand, cohobating twice, S. A. Salmon). § 1. This pro¬ 
portion of 1 to 2 is that which is observed by Le Mort, Maets, and Margrave ; 
but Bolfincius, Chirras, and Lemery make the mixture in equal parts of each. 
§ 2. In mixing them you must be very cautious, and do it leisurely and by 
degrees ; you must not put the spirit of wine to the spirit of nitre, for then you 
will set it all on a flame. § 3. But you must put in the spirit of nitre gradatim 
into the spirit of wine, so you will prevent the flaming, but the mixture will 
grow so hot, that you will scarcely be able to hold your hand on the outside of 
the vessel. § 4. Being mixed together, digest for seven days, then put the 
mixture into a glass retort, and distil in sand, first with a gentle heat, and 
afterwards with a stronger, to driness. § 5. The receiver let be very large, and 
the neck of the retort fit for it, and so enter a good way in, and the juncture 
to be well luted, for otherwise you will lose much of your spirit. § 6. It is 
necessary that the spirit should be coliobated twice at least, some authors advise 
thrice; for the oftener it is cohobated the sweeter it is. § 12. In this mixture 
the spirit of nitre joyns itself to the sulphur of the wine, and both being admi¬ 
rably volatile, they strive to mount upwards, whereby the mixture is put into 
that mighty motion and effervescency; and from whence results a complicate 
spirit, being most fragrant, and having the greatest volatility. § 14. Bolfincius, 
in Chemia, lib. 3, sect. 1, art. 4, cap. 11, advises after four days digestion to 
distil it in an alembick, so, says he, will the spirits in this operation be united, 
and contract a violet kind of odour or smell, and asubdulce and grateful taste.” 
Now this process, of acting upon spirit of wine by nitric acid, has been handed 
down in the various editions of our Pharmacopoeias with very little alteration, 
except in the. employment of more definite materials, until within comparatively 
a few years since. The nitric acid and rectified spirit have varied in their pro¬ 
portions in the different Pharmacopoeias, from one of acid and three of spirit to 
one of acid and seventeen and a quarter of spirit. The product has been vari¬ 
ously designated as spiritus nitri dulcis, spiritus setheris nitrosi, spiritus eetheris 
nitrici, spiritus sethereus nitrosus ; the more common commercial terms however 
have been, spirit of nitre, sweet spirit of nitre, or sometimes simply nitre. 
In 1826 the Dublin College introduced nitrous ether into their list of prepa¬ 
rations. The process consisted in submitting to distillation a mixture of dry 
nitrate of ^potash 24 oz., of strong sulphuric acid 16 oz., and rectified spirit 
19 fl. oz. The acid and spirit being first mixed together and allowed to cool 
before addition to the nitrate of potash. The distillation is ordered to be slowly 
and carefully conducted, and the uncondensed vapours passed into another vessel 
through 16 oz. of spirit kept cold. This ethereal liquid is then to be purified 
by agitation with dry carbonate of potash. If required very pure it is to be 
redistilled by a water-bath at 140° F. until cne-half has passed over. It has 
a specific gravity *900. The process is stated to be that of Wolfe, and has been 
found by Pelletier to succeed better than any other. 
