584-

Alkalies and Neutral Salts.

part ni.

Drop the acid gradually into the alcohol. Digest the mixturein a covered vessel with a very gentle heat for three days ; thenadd of cinnamon bark, bruised, one ounce and a half ; gingerroot, bruised, one ounce. Digest again in n closed vessel forsix days; then filter through paper placed in a glass funnel."

This preparation is generally regarded as an imperfect ether;but we are of opinion that the reciprocal action of the acid andalcohol during the digestion is scarcely sufficient to producesuch an effect; and the acid undoubtedly very much predomi-nates. It is therefore a simple alcoholic solution of sulphuricacid, holding dissolved, also, the essential oils of cinnamon andof ginger.

Qualities. — The odour is peculiar and aromatic; the tastegratefully acid. It is limpid, and of a brownish colour.

Medical properties and uses. — This is an agreeable mode ofexhibiting sulphuric acid in dyspepsia, chronic asthma, andmost of the complaints for which the diluted acid has beenfound serviceable. The dose is from nvx. to w\xxx. in anyconvenient fluid vehicle, given three or four times a-day.

ALKALIES' and NEUTRAL SALTS.,

The general term Alkali comprehends under it substancespossessed of very important chemical properties, and capableof producing very powerful effects on the animal ceconomy.They have an acrid, urinous taste; are caustic, or dissolveanimal matter; change the blue vegetable colours to green;serve as the means of combining oil and water; are capable ofbeing fused and volatilized by a strong heat; have a greataffinity for water; and combine with acids, forming neutralsalts, in which the qualities of both the components are lost.The discoveries of Sir H. Davy have clearly established thatthe greater number of them are compound bodies, with metallicbases. They are affected by the air, and require to be pre-served in well-stopped glass bottles.

' The words Kali and Alkali are of Persian origin, and derived from the termsuli and ■ g — I! • or Kalla and Alkalia, signifying the ashes of marine plants.Vide Good's"Nosology, Prelim. Disc. p. xcv. The Rev. YV. Palmer, the professorof Arabic at Cambridge gives the following as the origin of the term. " From the

Arabic root «Jj (Kala), to dress any thing by fire, is derived the substantive

\j {Kilyon), the ashes produced by burning the Salicornia or any other plant

of the same nature. Hence Kali, and with the article, Al-kali.''

4 The title of this section in the London Pharmacopoeia is Alkalies and thei rSalts ; but as these salts cannot be termed Salts of alkalies, in strict language, weprefer to translate the phrase Neutral Salts.