November 25,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
421 
NITRITE OF AMYL.* 
BY ALFEED B. TANNER. 
Nitrite of amyl is a comparatively recent addition 
to our materia medica; so far as I can discover 
no notice of its employment therapeutically in this 
country occurs previously to September, last year 
(1870), when Dr. Richardson—in an editorial paper 
in the Medical Times and Gazette , and which was 
subsequently copied into the other Journals, the 
Pharmaceutical included—gave some very interest¬ 
ing results of his experiments with nitrite of amyl, 
and quoted several cases of its successful employ¬ 
ment in a very distressing disease, called angina 
pectoris. It, however, appears to have had a very 
limited use in medicine until quite recently, when 
Dr. Talfourd Jones published a paper in the Prac¬ 
titioner , and also one in the British Medical Journal , 
describing the very great success he had met with in 
the employment of it in certain spasmodic diseases, 
besides the one previously mentioned, and in asthma 
and complaints of an allied character. It is not my 
intention to enter fully into the therapeutical portion 
of the subject, as I think this scarcely our province; 
my intention more particularly is to describe its phy¬ 
sical properties, together with the method and diffi¬ 
culties of its preparation in a pure state and fit for 
medicinal use; still I think it desirable that we 
should know somewhat of its action and effects on 
the system also. 
The earliest observed action on the system of this 
remarkable substance is due to F. Guthrie, in 1858, 
who specially observed that on inhaling its vapour, 
it caused flushing of the face and strong pulsation 
of the carotid arteries, with a much increased action 
of the heart; these effects led him to the supposition 
that it would be a valuable restorative in cases of 
drowning, suffocation and suspended animation 
generally. Dr. Richardson also showed that the in¬ 
halation of its vapour was followed by an increase 
of the heart-action to a much greater extent than 
could be produced by any other known agent, also 
that the face and surface generally became deeply 
flushed; when the inhalation had been carried to a 
considerable extent, the breathing became excited 
and breathlessness was produced, like that caused 
by violent exertion as running, rowing, etc. In 
no case was anaesthesia produced by it. Its use in 
angina pectoris was first advocated by Dr. Lauder 
Brunton. The latest investigations into its use in 
disease are those before referred to by Dr. Talfourd 
Jones, who seems to have used it extensively; he 
states that it may be administered by the mouth, by 
inhalation or by subcutaneous injection, but that the 
safest method is inhalation ; he used five drops on a 
piece of lint and held close to the nostrils for ten or 
twenty seconds, or until acceleration of the pulse 
and flushing of the face commences. His paper is 
a most interesting one, and may be found in the 
Practitioner for October this year; in the same 
paper, also, occur some suggestions for its employ¬ 
ment as an antidote to counteract the effects of an 
overdose of such medicines as chloral, ergot, etc. 
But by far the most important suggestion for its em¬ 
ployment, is that by the same author, given in the 
British Medical Journal for September 30,1871, and 
which, if realized, will go far to make it one of the 
* Read at a meeting of the Liverpool Chemists’ Association, 
November 9th, 1871. 
Third Series, No. 74. 
most remarkable and beneficial medical discoveries 
ever made,—it is its employment as a remedy for 
the collapse and cramps of cholera. No experiments 
in this direction appear yet to have been made, but 
from the very able and lucid arguments brought 
forward in his paper, there appear every probability 
of its being the true remedy for this dreadful disease. 
It is, undoubtedly, a remedy of great power, and 
will, doubtless, come into pretty extensive use. 
Having given this slight sketch of its therapeutical 
employment, I will now proceed to a description of 
its physical qualities and method of its preparation. 
Nitrite of amyl, like most other substances of its 
class, was known to the chemist long before it was 
made use of in medicine; to M. Balard, hi 1844, is due 
the discovery of this substance. 
It is an amber-coloured liquid, with a taste and 
smell reminding one something of ripe pears; but it 
is remarkable that nearly all the compounds of the 
amyl group possess something of this peculiar odour. 
Its formula is C 5 H U N 0. 2 , and it is a corresponding 
compound to nitrite of ethyl, C 2 H 5 ,N 0 2 , which is 
contained in the spirit of nitrous ether of the Pharma¬ 
copoeia. When pure and perfectly dry, nitrite of 
amyl has a boiling-point of 99° C.; when containing 
moisture, as it usually does, the boiling-point will be 
some few degrees lower, say about 96°, and this is 
the figure given by Balard. Another authority 
(Riecklier) states its boiling-point to be 91° C., and 
these discrepancies are, doubtless, owing to the fact 
before mentioned, viz. the presence of moisture ; this 
being supposed to diminish the cohesion between the 
liquid and the glass, and so cause the ebullition to 
take place at a lower temperature, which is tli e case 
with almost all liquids,—their boiling-points being 
higher when boiled in glass vessels than when boiled 
in metallic ones, on account of the increased cohesion, 
owing to the extremely smooth surface which glass 
vessels present in comparison with metallic ones. 
The sp. gr. of pure nitrite of amyl is '877 ; it is almost 
insoluble in water, but freely so in ordinary alcohob 
ether, chloroform, benzole, etc.; it is itself a solvent of 
fats, oils and fatty acids; sulphur and phosphorus are 
but sparingly dissolved by it. Unlike the nitrite of 
eth} T l, it does not appear to be decomposed or suffer 
any change by keeping; I have some which I pre¬ 
pared some twelve months since, and which appears 
as unchanged as when it was prepared, and is 
neutral to test-paper. Nitrite of amyl is usually 
prepared by passing nitrous gas into purified amylic 
alcohol, at a temperature of 132° C., the boiling- 
point of the amylic alcohol. This process is a very 
tedious and unsatisfactory one, as was pointed out 
in a recent number of the Pharmaceutical Journal,. 
by Mr. J. M. Maisch. Five ounces and a half of 
purified amylic alcohol require from eight to nine 
hours before becoming completely saturated with the 
gas; in addition to which, the product very im¬ 
pure and small in quantity; fractional distillation 
being necessary to get anytliing like a pure product. 
The impurities are for the most part ethyl-amylic 
ether, amylic aldehyd and very considerable quan¬ 
tities of hydrocyanic acid, all formed during the de¬ 
composition of the amyl alcohol by the nitrous gas. 
The nitrous gas is produced by reducing H N 0 3 by 
means of starch in a glass-flask and conveying^the 
vapours into the amylic alcohol heated to 132 C. 
The process first suggested for its formation by 
Balard, in 1844, consists in introducing into a capa¬ 
cious glass-retort, capable of holding at least mur 
