zinc, 50 parts; tin, 50 parts. This amalgam reduced to powder and
incorporated with grease can be applied to the rubber of electric
machines.
AMALGAM GOLD PLATING: See Gilding under Plating.
«AMBER:»
«Imitation Amber.»—Melt carefully together pine rosin, 1; lacca in
tabulis, 2; white colophony, 15 parts. {91}
AMBER CEMENT: See Adhesives under Cements.
AMBER VARNISH: See Varnishes.
AMBROSIA POWDER: See Salts (Effervescent).
AMIDOL DEVELOPER: See Photography.
AMETHYST (IMITATION): See Gems, Artificial.
AMMON-CARBONITE: See Explosives.
«Ammonia»
«Household Ammonia.»—(See also Household Formulas.)—Household ammonia is
simply diluted ammonia water to which borax and soap have been added.
To make it cloudy add potassium nitrate or methylated spirit. The
following are good formulas:
I.—Ammonia water 16 parts
Yellow soap 64 parts
Potassium nitrate 1 part
Soft water, sufficient to make 200 parts
Shave up the soap and dissolve it in the water by heating, add the
potassium nitrate and dissolve. Cool, strain, skim off any suds or
bubbles, add the ammonia, mix, and bottle at once.
II.—Yellow soap 10 grains
Borax 1 drachm
Lavender water 20 minims
Stronger ammonia water 6 ounces
Water, enough to make 20 ounces
Dissolve the soap and borax in 5 ounces of boiling water; when cold add
the lavender water and ammonia, and make up to a pint with water.
III.—Methylated spirit 1 gallon
Soft water 1 gallon
Stronger ammonia water 1 gallon
IV.—Ammonia water 5 pints
Distilled water 5 pints
Soap 100 grains
Olive oil 5 drachms
Cut the soap in shavings, boil with the oil and water, cool, add the
ammonia water, and bottle. For use in laundries, baths, and for general
household purposes add one tablespoonful to one gallon of water.
V.—The best quality:
Alcohol, 94 per cent 4 ounces
Soft water 4 gallons
Oil of rosemary 4 drachms
Oil of citronella 3 drachms
Dissolve the oils in the alcohol and add to the water. To the mixture
add 4 ounces of talc (or fuller’s earth will answer), mix thoroughly,
strain through canvas, and to the colate add 1, 2, or 3 gallons of
ammonia water, according to the strength desired, in which has been
dissolved 1, 2, or 3 ounces of white curd, or soft soap.
«Liquor Ammonii Anisatus.»—
Oil of anise, by weight 1 part
Alcohol, by weight 24 parts
Water of ammonia, by weight 5 parts
Dissolve the oil in the alcohol and add the water of ammonia.
It should be a clear, yellowish liquid.
«Violet Color for Ammonia.»—A purple-blue color may be given to ammonia
water by adding an aqueous solution of litmus. The shade, when pale
enough, will probably meet all views as to a violet color.
«Perfumed Ammonia Water.»—The following are typical formulas:
I.—Stronger water of ammonia 6 ounces
Lavender water 1 ounce
Soft soap 10 grains
Water, enough to make 16 ounces
II.—Soft soap 1 ounce
Borax 2 drachms
Cologne water 1/2 ounce
Stronger water of ammonia 5 1/2 ounces
Water, enough to make 12 ounces
Rub up the soap and borax with water until dissolved, strain and add
the other ingredients. The perfumes may be varied to suit the price.
AMMONIA FOR FIXING PRINTS: See Photography.
ANGOSTURA BITTERS: See Wines and Liquors.
ANILINE: See Dyes.
ANILINE IN PIGMENTS, TESTS FOR: See Pigments.
ANILINE STAINS, TO REMOVE: See Cleaning Preparations and Methods. {92}
ANISE CORDIAL: See Wines and Liquors.
ANKARA: See Butter.
ANNEALING OF STEEL, TOOLS, WIRE, AND SPRINGS: See Steel.
ANODYNES: See Pain Killers.
ANT DESTROYERS: See Insecticides.
«Antidotes for Poisons»
«POISON, SYMPTOMS AND ANTIDOTES.»
When a person has taken poison the first thing to do is to compel the
patient to vomit, and for that purpose give any emetic that can be most
readily and quickly obtained, and which is prompt and energetic, but
safe in its action. For this purpose there is, perhaps, nothing better
than a large teaspoonful of ground mustard in a tumblerful of warm
water, and it has the advantage of being almost always at hand. If the
dry mustard is not to be had use mixed mustard from the mustard pot.
Its operation may generally be facilitated by the addition of a like
quantity of common table salt. If the mustard is not at hand, give two
or three teaspoonfuls of powdered alum in syrup or molasses, and give
freely of warm water to drink; or give 10 to 20 grains of sulphate of
zinc (white vitriol), or 20 to 30 grains of ipecac, with 1 or 2 grains
of tartar emetic, in a large cup of warm water, and repeat every ten
minutes until three or four doses are given, unless free vomiting is
sooner produced. After vomiting has taken place large draughts of warm
water should be given, so that the vomiting will continue until the
poisonous substances have been thoroughly evacuated, and then suitable
antidotes should be given. If vomiting cannot be produced the stomach
pump should be used. When it is known what particular kind of poison
has been swallowed, then the proper antidote for that poison should
be given; but when this cannot be ascertained, as is often the case,
give freely of equal parts of calcined magnesia, pulverized charcoal,
and sesquioxide of iron, in a sufficient quantity of water. This is
a very harmless mixture and is likely to be of great benefit, as the
ingredients, though very simple, are antidotes for the most common
and active poisons. In case this mixture cannot be obtained, the
stomach should be soothed and protected by the free administration of
demulcent, mucilaginous, or oleaginous drinks, such as the whites of
eggs, milk, mucilage of gum arabic, or slippery-elm bark, flaxseed tea,
starch, wheat flour, or arrowroot mixed in water, linseed or olive
oil, or melted butter or lard. Subsequently the bowels should be moved
by some gentle laxative, as a tablespoonful or two of castor oil, or
a teaspoonful of calcined magnesia; and pain or other evidence of
inflammation must be relieved by the administration of a few drops of
laudanum, and the repeated application of hot poultices, fomentations,
and mustard plasters.
The following are the names of the substances that may give rise to
poisoning, most commonly used, and their antidotes:
«Mineral Acids—Sulphuric Acid (Oil of Vitriol), Nitric Acid (Aqua
Fortis), Muriatic Acid (Spirits of Salts).»—Symptoms: Acid, burning
taste in the mouth, acute pain in the throat, stomach, and bowels;
frequent vomiting, generally bloody; mouth and lips excoriated,
shriveled, white or yellow; hiccough, copious stools, more or less
bloody, with great tenderness in the abdomen; difficult breathing,
irregular pulse, excessive thirst, while drink increases the pain and
rarely remains in the stomach; frequent but vain efforts to urinate;
cold sweats, altered countenance; convulsions, generally preceding
death. Nitric acid causes yellow stains; sulphuric acid, black ones.
Treatment: Mix calcined magnesia in milk or water to the consistence
of cream, and give freely to drink a glassful every couple of minutes,
if it can be swallowed. Common soap (hard or soft), chalk, whiting, or
even mortar from the wall mixed in water may be given, until magnesia
can be obtained. Promote vomiting by tickling the throat, if necessary,
and when the poison is got rid of, flaxseed or slippery-elm tea, gruel,
or other mild drinks. The inflammation which always follows needs good
treatment to save the patient’s life.
«Vegetable Acids—Acetic, Citric, Oxalic, Tartaric.»—Symptoms: Intense
burning pain of mouth, throat, and stomach; vomiting blood which is
highly acid, violent purging, collapse, stupor, death.
Oxalic acid is frequently taken in {93} mistake for Epsom salts, to
which in shops it often bears a strong resemblance. Treatment: Give
chalk or magnesia in a large quantity of water, or large draughts of
limewater. If these are not at hand, scrape the wall or ceiling, and
give the scrapings mixed with water.
«Prussic or Hydrocyanic Acid—Laurel Water, Cyanide of Potassium,
Bitter Almond Oil, Etc.»—Symptoms: In large doses almost invariably
instantaneously fatal; when not immediately fatal, sudden loss of sense
and control of the voluntary muscles. The odor of the poison generally
noticeable on the breath. Treatment: Chlorine, in the form of chlorine
water, in doses of from 1 to 4 fluidrachms, diluted. Weak solution of
chloride lime of soda; water of ammonia (spirits of hartshorn), largely
diluted, may be given, and the vapor of it cautiously inhaled. Cold
affusion, and chloroform in half to teaspoonful doses in glycerine
or mucilage, repeated every few minutes, until the symptoms are
ameliorated. Artificial respiration.
«Aconite—Monkshood, Wolfsbane.»—Symptoms: Numbness and tingling in the
mouth and throat, and afterwards in other portions of the body, with
sore throat, pain over the stomach, and vomiting; dimness of vision,
dizziness, great prostration, loss of sensibility, and delirium.
Treatment: An emetic and then brandy in tablespoonful doses, in ice
water, every half hour; spirits of ammonia in half-teaspoonful doses
in like manner; the cold douche over the head and chest, warmth to the
extremities, etc.
«Alkalis and Their Salts—Concentrated Lye, Wood-ash Lye, Caustic
Potash, Ammonia, Hartshorn.»—Symptoms: Caustic, acrid taste, excessive
heat in the throat, stomach, and intestines; vomiting of bloody matter,
cold sweats, hiccough, purging of bloody stools. Treatment: The
common vegetable acids. Common vinegar, being always at hand, is most
frequently used. The fixed oils, as castor, flaxseed, almond, and olive
oils form soaps with the alkalis and thus also destroy their caustic
effect. They should be given in large quantity.
«Antimony and Its Preparations—Tartar Emetic, Antimonial Wine, Kerme’s
Mineral.»—Symptoms: Faintness and nausea, soon followed by painful
and continued vomiting, severe diarrhea, constriction and burning
sensation in the throat, cramps, or spasmodic twitchings, with symptoms
of nervous derangement, and great prostration of strength, often
terminating in death. Treatment: If vomiting has not been produced, it
should be effected by tickling the fauces, and administering copious
draughts of warm water. Astringent infusions, such as of gall, oak
bark, Peruvian bark, act as antidotes, and should be given promptly.
Powdered yellow bark may be used until the infusion is prepared, or
very strong green tea should be given. To stop the vomiting, should it
continue, blister over the stomach by applying a cloth wet with strong
spirits of hartshorn, and then sprinkle on one-eighth to one-fourth of
a grain of morphia.
«Arsenic and Its Preparations—Ratsbane, Fowler’s Solution,
Etc.»—Symptoms: Generally within an hour pain and heat are felt in
the stomach, soon followed by vomiting, with a burning dryness of the
throat and great thirst; the matters vomited are generally colored
either green yellow, or brown, and are sometimes bloody. Diarrhea
or dysentery ensues, while the pulse becomes small and rapid, yet
irregular. Breathing much oppressed; difficulty in vomiting may occur,
while cramps, convulsions, or even paralysis often precede death,
which sometimes takes place within five or six hours after arsenic
has been taken. Treatment: Give a prompt emetic, and then hydrate of
peroxide of iron (recently prepared) in tablespoonful doses every 10 or
15 minutes until the urgent symptoms are relieved. In the absence of
this, or while it is being prepared, give large draughts of new milk
and raw eggs, limewater and oil, melted butter, magnesia in a large
quantity of water, or even if nothing else is at hand, flour and water,
always, however, giving an emetic the first thing, or causing vomiting
by tickling the throat with a feather, etc. The inflammation of the
stomach which follows must be treated by blisters, hot fomentations,
mucilaginous drinks, and the like.
«Belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade.»—Symptoms: Dryness of the mouth
and throat, great thirst, difficulty of swallowing, nausea, dimness,
confusion or loss of vision, great enlargement of the pupils,
dizziness, delirium, and coma. Treatment: There is no known antidote.
Give a prompt emetic and then reliance must be placed on continual
stimulation with brandy, whisky, etc., and to necessary artificial
respiration. Opium and its preparations, as morphia, laudanum, etc.,
are thought by some to {94} counteract the effect of belladonna, and
may be given in small and repeated doses, as also strong black coffee
and green tea.
Blue Vitriol, or Blue Stone.—See Copper.
«Cantharides (Spanish or Blistering Fly) and Modern Potato
Bug.»—Symptoms: Sickening odor of the breath, sour taste, with burning
heat in the throat, stomach, and bowels; frequent vomiting, often
bloody; copious bloody stools, great pain in the stomach, with burning
sensation in the bladder and difficulty to urinate followed with
terrible convulsions, delirium, and death. Treatment: Excite vomiting
by drinking plentifully of sweet oil or other wholesome oils, sugar and
water, milk, or slippery-elm tea; give injections of castor oil and
starch, or warm milk. The inflammatory symptoms which generally follow
must be treated by a physician. Camphorated oil or camphorated spirits
should be rubbed over the bowels, stomach, and thighs.
Caustic Potash.—See Alkalis under this title.
«Cobalt, or Fly Powder.»—Symptoms: Heat and pain in the throat and
stomach, violent retching and vomiting, cold and clammy skin, small
and feeble pulse, hurried and difficult breathing, diarrhea, etc.
Treatment: An emetic, followed by the free administration of milk,
eggs, wheat flour and water, and mucilaginous drinks.
«Copper—Blue Vitriol, Verdigris or Pickles or Food Cooked in Copper
Vessels.»—Symptoms: General inflammation of the alimentary canal,
suppression of urine; hiccough, a disagreeable metallic taste,
vomiting, violent colic, excessive thirst, sense of tightness of the
throat, anxiety; faintness, giddiness, and cramps and convulsions
generally precede death. Treatment: Large doses of simple syrup as warm
as can be swallowed, until the stomach rejects the amount it contains.
The whites of eggs and large quantities of milk. Hydrated peroxide of
iron.
«Creosote—Carbolic Acid.»—Symptoms: Burning pain, acrid, pungent taste,
thirst, vomiting, purging, etc. Treatment: An emetic and the free
administration of albumen, as the whites of eggs, or, in the absence of
these, milk, or flour and water.
Corrosive Sublimate.—See Mercury under this title.
«Deadly Nightshade.»—See Belladonna under this title.
«Foxglove, or Digitalis.»—Symptoms: Loss of strength, feeble,
fluttering pulse, faintness, nausea and vomiting and stupor; cold
perspiration, dilated pupils, sighing, irregular breathing, and
sometimes convulsions. Treatment: After vomiting, give brandy and
ammonia in frequently repeated doses, apply warmth to the extremities,
and if necessary resort to artificial respiration.
«Gases—Carbonic Acid, Chlorine, Cyanogen, Hydrosulphuric Acid,
Etc.»—Symptoms: Great drowsiness, difficult respiration, features
swollen, face blue as in strangulation. Treatment: Artificial
respiration, cold douche, friction with stimulating substances to the
surface of the body. Inhalation of steam containing preparations of
ammonia. Cupping from nape of neck. Internal use of chloroform.
«Hellebore, or Indian Poke.»—Symptoms: Violent vomiting and purging,
bloody stools, great anxiety, tremors, vertigo, fainting, sinking of
the pulse, cold sweats, and convulsions. Treatment: Excite speedy
vomiting by large draughts of warm water, molasses and water, tickling
the throat with the finger or a feather, and emetics; give oily and
mucilaginous drinks, oily purgatives, and clysters, acids, strong
coffee, camphor, and opium.
«Hemlock (Conium).»—Symptoms: Dryness of the throat, tremors,
dizziness, difficulty of swallowing, prostration, and faintness,
limbs powerless or paralyzed, pupils dilated, pulse rapid and feeble;
insensibility and convulsions sometimes precede death. Treatment:
Empty the stomach and give brandy in tablespoonful doses, with half
teaspoonful of spirits of ammonia, frequently repeated, and if much
pain and vomiting, give bromide of ammonium in 5-grain doses every half
hour. Artificial respiration may be required.
«Henbane, or Hyoscyamus.»—Symptoms: Muscular twitching, inability to
articulate plainly, dimness of vision and stupor; later, vomiting
and purging, small intermittent pulse, convulsive movement of the
extremities, and coma. Treatment: Similar to opium poisoning, which see.
«Iodine.»—Symptoms: Burning pain in throat, lacerating pain in the
stomach, fruitless effort to vomit, excessive tenderness of the
epigastrium. Treatment: {95} Free emesis, prompt administration of
starch, wheat flour, or arrowroot, beaten up in water.
«Lead—Acetate of Lead, Sugar of Lead, Dry White Lead, Red Lead,
Litharge, or Pickles, Wine, or Vinegar Sweetened by Lead.»—Symptoms:
When taken in large doses, a sweet but astringent metallic taste
exists, with constriction in the throat, pain in the region of
the stomach, painful, obstinate, and frequently bloody vomitings,
hiccough, convulsions or spasms, and death. When taken in small but
long-continued doses it produces colic, called painters’ colic; great
pain, obstinate constipation, and in extreme cases paralytic symptoms,
especially wrist-drop, with a blue line along the edge of the gums.
Treatment: To counteract the poison give alum in water 1 1/2 ounce
to a quart; or, better still, Epsom salts or Glauber’s salts, an ounce
of either in a quart of water; or dilute sulphuric acid, a teaspoonful
to a quart of water. If a large quantity of sugar of lead has been
recently taken, empty the stomach by an emetic of sulphate of zinc
(1 drachm in a quart of water), giving one-fourth to commence, and
repeating smaller doses until free vomiting is produced; castor oil
should be given to clear the bowels and injections of oil and starch
freely administered. If the body is cold use the warm bath.
Meadow Saffron.—See Belladonna.
Laudanum.—See Opium.
«Lobelia—Indian Poke.»—Symptoms: Excessive vomiting and purging,
pains in the bowels, contraction of the pupils, delirium, coma, and
convulsions. Treatment: Mustard over the stomach, and brandy and
ammonia.
«Mercury—Corrosive Sublimate» (bug poisons frequently contain this
poison), Red Precipitate, Chinese or English Vermilion.—Symptoms:
Acrid, metallic taste in the mouth, immediate constriction and burning
in the throat, with anxiety and tearing pains in both stomach and
bowels, sickness, and vomiting of various-colored fluids, and sometimes
bloody and profuse diarrhea, with difficulty and pain in urinating;
pulse quick, small, and hard; faint sensations, great debility,
difficult breathing, cramps, cold sweats, syncope, and convulsions.
Treatment: If vomiting does not already exist, emetics must be given
immediately—white of eggs in continuous large doses, and infusion
of catechu afterwards, sweet milk, mixtures of flour and water in
successive cupfuls, and to check excessive salivation put a half ounce
of chlorate of potash in a tumbler of water, and use freely as a
gargle, and swallow a tablespoonful every hour or two.
Morphine.—See Opium.
«Nitrate of Silver (Lunar Caustic).»—Symptoms: Intense pain and
vomiting, and purging of blood, mucus, and shreds of mucous membranes;
and if these stand they become dark. Treatment: Give freely of a
solution of common salt in water, which decomposes the poison, and
afterwards flaxseed or slippery-elm-bark tea, and after a while a dose
of castor oil.
«Opium and All Its Compounds—Morphine, Laudanum, Paregoric,
Etc.»—Symptoms: Giddiness, drowsiness, increasing to stupor, and
insensibility; pulse usually, at first, quick and irregular, and
breathing hurried, and afterwards pulse slow and feeble, and
respiration slow and noisy; the pupils are contracted and the eyes
and face congested, and later, as death approaches, the extremities
become cold, the surface is covered with cold, clammy perspiration,
and the sphincters relax. The effects of opium and its preparations,
in poisonous doses, appear in from a half to two hours from its
administration. Treatment: Empty the stomach immediately with an
emetic or with the stomach pump. Then give very strong coffee without
milk; put mustard plasters on the wrists and ankles; douche the head
and chest with cold water, and if the patient is cold and sinking,
give brandy, or whisky and ammonia. Belladonna is thought by many
to counteract the poisonous effects of opium, and may be given in
doses of half to a teaspoonful of the tincture, or 2 grains of the
extract, every 20 minutes, until some effect is observed in causing
the pupils to expand. Use warmth and friction, and if possible prevent
sleep for some hours, for which purpose the patient should be walked
about between two persons. Finally, as a last resort, use artificial
respiration, persistence in which will sometimes be rewarded with
success in apparently hopeless cases. Electricity should also be tried.
Cooley advises as follows: Vomiting must be induced as soon as
possible, by means of a strong emetic and tickling the fauces. If this
does not succeed, the stomach pump should be applied. The emetic may
consist of a half drachm of sulphate of zinc dissolved in a half pint
of warm water, of which one-third should {96} be taken at once, and the
remainder at the rate of a wineglassful every 5 or 10 minutes, until
vomiting commences. When there is much drowsiness or stupor 1 or 2
fluidrachms of tincture of capsicum will be found a useful addition; or
one of the formulas for emetic draughts may be taken instead. Infusion
of galls, cinchona, or oak bark should be freely administered before
the emetic, and water soured with vinegar and lemon juice, after the
stomach has been well cleared out. To rouse the system spirit and
water or strong coffee may be given. To keep the sufferer awake, rough
friction should be applied to the skin, an upright posture preserved,
and walking exercise enforced, if necessary. When this is ineffectual
cold water may be dashed over the chest, head, and spine, or mild
shocks of electricity may be had recourse to. To allow the sufferer to
sleep is to abandon him to destruction. Bleeding may be subsequently
necessary in plethoric habits, or in threatened congestion. The
costiveness that accompanies convalescence may be best met by aromatic
aperients; and the general tone of the habit restored by stimulating
tonics and the shower bath. The smallest fatal dose of opium in
the case of an adult within our recollection was 4 1/2 grains.
Children are much more susceptible to the action of opium than of
other medicines, and hence the dose of it for them must be diminished
considerably below that indicated by the common method of calculation
depending on the age.
Oxalic Acid.—See Acids.
«Phosphorus—Found in Lucifer Matches and Some Rat Poisons.»—Symptoms:
Symptoms of irritant poisoning; pain in the stomach and bowels;
vomiting, diarrhea; tenderness and tension of the abdomen. Treatment:
An emetic is to be promptly given; copious draughts containing magnesia
in suspension; mucilaginous drinks. General treatment for inflammatory
symptoms.