AMMONIA. 
123 
§§ I0I-I03.] 
without exception, the result of accident. Two cases of death are re¬ 
corded, due to an attempt to rouse epileptics from stupor, by an 
injudicious use of strong ammonia applied to the nostrils. In another 
case, when hydrocyanic acid had been taken, there was the same result. 
An instance is also on record of poisonous effects from the breaking of a 
bottle of ammonia, and the sudden evolution in this way of an enormous 
volume of the caustic gas. Lastly, a man employed in the manufacture 
of ice, by means of the liquefaction of ammonia (Carre’s process), breathed 
the vapour, and had a narrow escape for his life. 
§ 101. Symptoms. —The symptoms observed in the last case may well 
serve as a type of what may be expected to occur after breathing 
ammonia vapour. The man remained from five to ten minutes in the 
stream of gas ; he then experienced a feeling of anxiety, and a sense of 
constriction in the epigastrium, burning in the throat, and giddiness. He 
vomited. The pulse was small and frequent, the face pale, the mouth 
and throat strongly reddened, with increased secretion. Auscultation 
and percussion of the chest elicited nothing abnormal, although during 
the course of four days he had from time to time symptoms of suffocation, 
which were relieved by emetics. He recovered by the eighth day. 1 
In experiments on animals, very similar symptoms are produced. 
There is increased secretion of the eyes, nose, and mouth, with redness. 
The cry of cats becomes remarkably hoarse, and they generally vomit. 
Great'difficulty in breathing and tetanic convulsions are present. When 
the animal is confined in a small closed chamber, death takes place in 
about a quarter of an hour. 
On section , the bronchial tubes, to the finest ramifications, are found 
to be filled with a tenacious mucus, and the air-passages, from the glottis 
throughout, reddened. The lungs are emphysematous, but have not 
always any special colour ; the heart contains but little coagulated 
blood ; the blood has a dark red colour. 
§ 102. The chronic effects of the gas, as shown in workmen engaged in 
manufactures in which the fumes of ammonia are frequent, appear to be 
an inflammation of the eyes and an affection of the skin. The latter is 
thought to be due to the ammonia uniting to form a soap with the oil 
of the lubricating skin glands. Some observers have also noticed deaf¬ 
ness, and a peculiar colour of the skin of the nose and forehead, among 
those who work in guano manufactories. Its usual action on the body 
appears to be a diminution of the healthy oxidation changes, and a 
general lowering of bodily strength, with evident anaemia. 
§ 103. Ammonia in Solution.—Action on Plants. — Solutions of 
strong ammonia, or solutions of the carbonate, act injuriously on vege¬ 
table life, while the neutral salts of ammonia are, on the contrary, 
excellent manures. A 30 per cent, solution of amnionic carbonate kills 
1 Schmidt’s Jahrbuch, 1872, i. 30. 
