Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 69

_Uses, &c._ It is freely soluble in the acids, and is chiefly employed to prepare the salts and other compounds of nickel.

=Nickelous Chlo"ride.= NiCl_{2}. _Syn._ NICKELII CHLORIDUM, L. _Prep._ From nickelous carbonate and hydrochloric acid, as the acetate. Small green crystals, of the formula NiCl_{2},9Aq., which are rendered yellow and anhydrous by heat, unless they contain cobalt, when the salt retains a tint of green.

DOUBLE CHLORIDES. Nickelous chloride unites with the chlorides of ammonium, pota.s.sium, and sodium, to form pale green crystallisable salts, which have been used for depositing nickel in iron, lead, copper, &c.

=Nickelous Hy'drate.= Ni(HO)_{2}. By precipitating a soluble salt of nickel with caustic pota.s.sa. Hydrated. An ash-gray powder, freely soluble in acids, forming the ordinary salts of nickel.

=Nickelous Ox'alate.= NiC_{2}O_{4}. _Syn._ NICKELII OXALAS, L. _Prep._ By adding a strong solution of oxalic acid to a like solution of nickelous sulphate, and collecting the pale bluish-green precipitate which forms after a time. Used to prepare both metallic nickel and its oxide.

=Nickelous Oxide.= NiO. _Syn._ PROTOXIDE OF NICKEL. _Prep._ 1. By heating the nitrate, carbonate, or oxalate, to redness in open vessels. Anhydrous.

=Nickelous Sulphate.= NiSO_{4}. _Syn._ SULPHATE OF NICKEL. _Prep._ Dissolve nickelous carbonate or oxide in dilute sulphuric acid, evaporate down, and crystallise. Pale green prismatic crystals, and of the formula NiSO_{4},7Aq., or small pale green octahedrons, when crystallised at a higher temperature, containing NiSO_{4},6Aq.

=Nickelous and Pota.s.sium Sulphate.= NiSO_{4} K_{2}SO_{4},6Aq. _Syn._ DOUBLE SULPHATE OF NICKEL AND POTa.s.sIUM. _Prep._ By crystallising a mixture of nickelous and pota.s.sium sulphates. Pale green crystals, readily soluble in water. Sodium and ammonium sulphates form similar compounds with nickelous sulphate.

=NICK'EL SIL'VER.= See GERMAN SILVER.

=NIC'OTINE.= C_{10}H_{14}N_{2}. _Syn._ NICOTINA, NICOTIA, L. A volatile base, discovered by Reiman and Posselt in tobacco.

_Prep._ (Ortigosa.) Infuse tobacco leaves for 24 hours in water acidulated with sulphuric acid, strain, evaporate to a syrup, add 1/6 of its volume of a strong solution of pota.s.sa, and distil in an oil bath at 288, occasionally adding a little water to a.s.sist the process, and prevent the too great concentration of the solution of pota.s.sa in the retort; next saturate the distilled product with oxalic acid, evaporate to dryness, digest in boiling absolute alcohol, evaporate the resulting tincture to a syrup, and decompose the oxalate of nicotine thus obtained by adding pota.s.sa to it in a close vessel, and agitate the ma.s.s with ether, repeating the process with more ether until all the nicotine is dissolved out; lastly, distil the mixed ethereal solution in an oil bath. At first ether comes over, then water, and, lastly, nicotina, which, towards the end of the process, a.s.sumes a yellowish tint.

2. (Schloesing.) This chiefly differs from the preceding by directing the concluding distillation to be conducted in a retort, by the heat of an oil bath, at the temperature of 284 Fahr., in a current of hydrogen, for 12 hours; after which, by raising the heat to 356 Fahr., the nicotine distils over pure, drop by drop.

3. (Kirchmann). A tin vessel provided with two tubulures, is filled with tobacco, which is previously damped with sodium carbonate. One of the tubulures admits a gla.s.s tube reaching nearly to the bottom of the vessel; the other is provided with a gla.s.s tube merely penetrating the cork.

The vessel is made air-tight, placed into a boiling hot steam bath, and a rapid stream of carbonic acid gas pa.s.sed through it, entering the vessel by the longer and leaving it by the shorter tube; the latter dips into a mixture of alcohol and dilute sulphuric acid.

In this manner a large yield of perfectly colourless nicotine is obtained.

In order to obtain the pure alkaloid, caustic baryta is added to the solution, the latter evaporated to dryness, and the pure nicotine extracted with ether.

To estimate nicotine, weigh out 15 gr. of tobacco, digest for twenty-four hours with alcohol of 85 per cent. acidified with 15 drops of sulphuric acid, so as to make 150 cubic centimetres. Evaporate 50 cubic centimetres of the filtered liquid, and add iododydrargyrate of pota.s.sium to the residue. The number of cubic centimetres employed, multiplied by 000405 (0001 of the equivalent of nicotine), gives the quant.i.ty of alkaloid contained in 5 grams of tobacco. (Linoffsky.)

_Prop., &c._ Nicotina is a colourless, volatile liquid; highly acrid and pungent; smelling strongly of tobacco; boiling at 375 Fahr.

(482--Pereira); soluble in water, ether, alcohol, and oils; and combining with the acids, forming salts, many of which are crystallisable. It is a frightful poison; 1/4 of a drop will kill a rabbit; a single drop will kill a large dog. Nicotina is the substance which was employed by the Count Bocarme for the purpose of poisoning his brother-in-law, Gustave Fougnies, the particulars of which were developed in the celebrated trial, in Belgium, of that n.o.bleman, in 1851. Good Virginia and Kentucky tobacco, dried at 212 Fahr., contain from 6% to 7% of nicotina; Havannah tobacco (_cigars_) less than 2%. (Schloesing.)

=NIGHT'MARE.= _Syn._ INCUBUS, EPHIALTES, L. The common causes of nightmare are indigestion and the use of narcotic and intoxicating substances. Its prevention consists in the selection of proper food, and in duly attending to the state of the stomach and bowels. Heavy and late suppers should be particularly avoided, as well as all articles of diet that are of difficult digestion, or apt to induce flatulency. When it arises from strong drink, tobacco, or opium, these should be abandoned, or employed in smaller quant.i.ties. A teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia, magnesia, or bicarbonate of soda, taken in a gla.s.s of cold water on going to bed, is a good and simple preventive. In cases accompanied by restlessness, a few drops of laudanum or tincture of henbane may be added.

An occasional aperient is also excellent. See CHAMOMILE.

=NIGHT'SHADE (Deadly).= _Syn._ BELLADONNA (B. P., Ph. L. E. & D.). "The leaf, fresh and dried (leaves and root--Ph. D.), of _Atropa belladonna_, Linn." "The fresh leaves and branches to which they are attached; also the leaves separate from the branches, carefully dried, of _Atropa belladonna_, gathered, when the fruit has begun to form, from wild or cultivated plants in Britain" (B. P.). "Oval, acute, very perfect, glabrous, when bruised, exhaling a disagreeable odour. The herb which grows spontaneously in hedges and uncultivated places is to be preferred to that which is cultivated in gardens." (Ph. L.)

Belladonna is a powerful narcotic, and is used as an anodyne, antispasmodic, and discutient, in a variety of diseases,--neuralgia, arthritic pains, migratory rheumatic pains, spasmodic rigidity and strictures, angina pectoris, hooping-cough, fevers, phthisis, &c.; also as a prophylactic of scarlet fever, as a resolvent in enlarged and indurated glands, to produce dilatation of the pupil, &c., &c.--_Dose._ Of the powder, commencing with 1 gr., gradually and cautiously increased until dryness of the throat or dilation of the pupil occurs, or the head is affected. See ATROPIA.

=NIGHTSHADE (Woody).= _Syn._ BITTERSWEET; DULCAMARA (B. P., Ph. L. E. & D.), L. The "new shoots (caules) of _Solanum Dulcamara_, Linn." "The dried young branches of the _Solanum Dulcamara_ (Bittersweet) from indigenous plants which have shed their leaves" (B. P.). "It is to be collected in autumn, after the leaves have fallen." (Ph. L.) Diaph.o.r.etic, diuretic, and (in large doses) narcotic. See INFUSION OF DULCAMARA.

=NIO'BIUM.= See TANTALUM.

=NIP'PLES (Sore).= The most common form of this affection is that termed "chapped nipples" by nurses. As a preventive measure, the part may be moistened morning and evening, for some weeks before the period of lactation, with a little rum or brandy, which is more effective if slightly acidulated with a few drops of dilute sulphuric acid. Some persons employ tincture of tolu, or compound tincture of benzoin (Friar's balsam) for this purpose.

When chaps, cracks, or like sores, arising from lactation, are once developed, one of the safest and most effective remedies is tincture of catechu, applied 3 or 4 times a day, by means of a camel-hair pencil.

The celebrated nostrum of Liebert for cracked nipples, "_Cosmetique infaillible et prompt contre les gercures ou creva.s.ses aux seins et autres_," is a lotion formed of 10 gr. of nitrate of lead dissolved in 4 fl. oz. of rose water, and tinged with a little cochineal. The parts are moistened with the liquid, and are then covered with fine leaden nipple-s.h.i.+elds, two of which are provided for the purpose. This is repeated soon after each time the child leaves the breast; and the nipple is carefully washed with a soft sponge and lukewarm water, and gently dabbed dry with a very soft towel, before the infant is again applied to it. This remedy is very successful, and has acquired great popularity and patronage in Brussels, Paris, Frankfort, and other parts. It must be recollected, however, that all applications of an active or poisonous nature should be employed with the greatest possible caution, as, unless unusual care is taken, a portion of the remedy may remain concealed within the delicate pores of the skin, and be sucked off by the infant, to the serious disturbance of its health.

=NITRAN'ILINE.= This substance is obtained by acting on nitrobenzol with a mixture of fuming nitric acid and oil of vitriol; Dinitro-benzol is formed, which is dissolved in alcohol, and the resulting solution subjected to the reducing action of ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen, as described under aniline. Nitraniline forms yellow, acicular crystals, little soluble in cold water, but freely soluble in alcohol and ether. Its salts are crystallisable.

=NI'TRATE.= _Syn._ NITRAS, L. A salt of nitric acid (_e.g._ AgNO_{3}, nitrate of silver). The nitrates are very easily prepared by the direct solution of the metal, or its oxide, or carbonate, in nitric acid, which, in most cases, should be previously diluted with water. By evaporation, with the usual precautions, they may be obtained either in the pulverulent or crystalline form.

The nitrates are characterised by deflagrating when thrown on red-hot charcoal; also by their aqueous solutions, after being mixed with half their bulk of strong sulphuric acid and thoroughly cooled, yielding a brown cloud with a crystal or concentrated solution of ferrous sulphate.

See NITRIC ACID, and the respective metals.

=NI'TRE.= Nitrate of Pota.s.sa. See POTa.s.sIUM.

=NI'TRIC ACID. HNO_{3}.= _Syn._ AZOTIC ACID; ACIDUM NITRIc.u.m (B. P., Ph.

L., E., & D.); AQUAFORTIS.

_Prep._ 1. (Ph. E. and Ph. L. 1836.) Purified nitre (dried) and sulphuric acid, equal parts; mix in a gla.s.s retort, and distil with a moderate heat, from a sand bath (or naked gas flame--Ph. E.) into a cool receiver, as long as the fused materials continue to evolve vapours. "The pale yellow acid thus obtained may be rendered nearly colourless (if desired) by gently heating it in a retort." (Ph. E.) Sp. gr. 1500. In the present Ph.

L. this acid is included in the materia medica. (See _below_.)

2. (Ph. D.) The nitrate of pota.s.sa is dissolved in water, the solution treated with a little nitrate of silver, filtered, evaporated to dryness, weighed, and then treated as above.

3. Nitrate of soda (cubic nitre, Chili saltpetre) is introduced, in quant.i.ties varying between 4 and 10 lbs., into a cylindrical iron retort, which it will only half fill, and after the lid is luted on and the connection made with the condensers, an equivalent of oil of vitriol is poured in through an aperture provided for the purpose, and the charge is worked off with a gradually increased heat. The condensing apparatus consists of a series of 5 or 6 salt-glazed stoneware receivers, about 1/6th part filled with cold water. The product of this process is the strongest brown and fuming 'NITROUS ACID' of commerce (AQUAFORTIS, FUMING NITRIC ACID; ACIDUM NITROSUM; ACIDUM NITRIc.u.m FUMANS), and has usually the sp. gr. 145. It is rendered colourless by gently heating it in a gla.s.s retort, when it forms COMMERCIAL NITRIC ACID (sp. gr. 137 to 14.)

4. (PURE MONOHYDRATED NITRIC ACID.) By mixing the strongest commercial acid with about an equal quant.i.ty of oil of vitriol; redistilling; collecting apart the first portion which comes over, and exposing it, in a vessel slightly warmed and sheltered from the light, to a current of dry air made to bubble through it until the nitrous acid is completely removed.

_Prop._ Pure liquid nitric acid is colourless, highly corrosive, and possesses powerful acid and oxygenising properties. The sp. gr. of the strongest liquid acid (monohydrated nitric acid) has the sp. gr. 1517 at 60 Fahr. "On boiling nitric acid of different degrees of concentration at the ordinary atmospheric pressure, a residue is left boiling at 249 Fahr., and 29 in. barometer, having a sp. gr. 1414 at 60 Fahr."

(Fownes.) Acid of less density than 1414 parts with water, and gradually becomes stronger by boiling; but acid of less sp. gr. than 1414 is weakened by exposure to heat. When exposed to intense cold, liquid nitric acid freezes. It is rapidly decomposed, with loss of oxygen, by contact with most organic and many metallic and non-metallic bodies. In many cases these reactions occur with considerable violence, and the production of light and heat.

_Pur._ The nitric acid of commerce is generally contaminated by hydrochloric acid, nitrous acid, sulphuric acid, or chlorine, or by their soda or pota.s.sa salts, and, occasionally, iodine, together with an excess of water. The last is readily detected by the sp. gr., and the others by the appropriate tests. "Colourless. Contains 70% of HNO_{3}. Sp. gr. 142.

90 gr. by weight, mixed with 1/2 oz. of distilled water, require for neutralisation 1000 grain measures of the volumetric solution of soda.

Evaporated, it leaves no residue. Diluted with six volumes of distilled water, it gives no precipitate with chloride of barium or nitrate of silver--indicating absence of sulphuric and hydrochloric acids." (B. P.) 5 measures of acid, sp. gr. 15, mixed with 2 of water, condensed into 6-1/2 measures, and makes the sp. gr. 142. "Free from colour. Sp. gr. 142.

Exposed to the air, it emits very acrid vapours. Totally volatilised by heat. Diluted with 3 times its volume of water, it gives no precipitate with either nitrate of silver or chloride of barium. 100 gr. of this acid (sp. gr. 142) are saturated by 161 gr. of crystallised carbonate of soda." (Ph. L.) The Ph. E. states the density of commercial nitric acid is 1380 to 1390. "If diluted with distilled water it precipitates but slightly, or not at all, with solution of nitrate of baryta or nitrate of silver." The best 'double aquafortis' of the shops (aquafortis duplex) has usually the sp. gr. 136; and the single aquafortis (aquafortis simplex), the sp. gr. 122; but both are commonly sold at much lower strengths.

_Tests._--1. It stains the skin yellow.--2. When mixed with a little hydrochloric acid or chloride of ammonium, it acquires the power of dissolving gold leaf.--3. Morphia, brucia, and strychnia, give it a red colour, which is heightened by ammonia in excess.--4. When placed in a tube, and a solution of protosulphate of iron is cautiously added, a dark colour is developed at the line of junction, which is distinctly visible when only 1/24,000th part of nitric acid is present. This test may be often conveniently modified by dropping into the liquid a crystal of protosulphate of iron; the fluid immediately surrounding this crystal then acquires a dark brown colour, which disappears upon simple agitation of the fluid, or by heating it.--5. When mixed with a weak solution of sulphate of indigo, and heated, the colour of the latter is destroyed.--6.

When saturated with carbonate of pota.s.sium or sodium, and evaporated to dryness, the residuum deflagrates when thrown on burning coals.--7. When the mixture of a nitrate with cyanide of pota.s.sium, in powder, is heated on a piece of platinum, a vivid deflagration follows, attended with distinct ignition and detonation. (Fresenius.) It is stated that sulphate of aniline is an extremely delicate test for nitric acid. The following is the method of its application:--About a cubic centimetre of pure concentrated sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 184) is placed in a watch-gla.s.s; half a cubic centimetre of a solution of sulphate of aniline (formed by adding ten drops of commercial aniline to 50 c.c. of diluted sulphuric acid in the proportion of 1 to 6) is poured on, drop by drop; a gla.s.s tube is moistened with the liquid to be tested, and moved circularly in the watch-gla.s.s. By blowing on the mixture during the circular agitation, when a trace of nitric acid is present, circular striae are developed of a very intense red colour, tinting the liquid rose. With more than a trace of nitric acid the colour becomes carmine, pa.s.sing to a brownish red. This process serves to detect the presence of nitric acid in the sulphuric acid of commerce. It will also reveal the presence of nitrates in water.[46]--8. Take a quant.i.ty of diphenylamine, about the size of a mustard seed, put it into a test-tube, and pour a little sulphuric acid over it, then add a drop or two of water, so as to increase the temperature sufficiently to effect the solution of the diphenylamine, and the test is ready for use. Now add very gently the solution to be tested, and if only a trace of nitric or nitrous acid be present, a beautiful and very permanent blue colouration is produced at the junction of the two liquids, but if there be any quant.i.ty of the nitrogen compound, the colour becomes almost black. This reaction is so delicate and certain that, in the case of a solution of nitric acid containing about 1 part B. P. acid in 10,000 of water, the reaction is most distinct; one part of nitrite of pota.s.sium in 30,000 of water gives also almost unmistakable evidence of the presence of the nitrogen acid.

[Footnote 46: 'Pharmaceutical Year Book.']

The following process for the quant.i.tative estimation of nitric acid is by Fischer:[47]--Indigotin prepared by reduction of indigo by means of grape sugar, alcohol, and caustic soda, oxidation in the air, and solution in sulphuric acid, may be kept unchanged for years. Five c.c. of such a solution, diluted with water and mixed with 30 c.c. of pure sulphuric acid, is t.i.trated by adding a standard nitric acid solution until the blue colour gives place to a light green; the indigo solution is then diluted, so that 1 c.c. shall be equal to 00025 milligramme equivalents of nitric acid, or 02525 milligramme of pota.s.sium nitrate. If a water is being examined it is run into 4 c.c. of the t.i.trated indigo solution, mixed with 20 c.c. of sulphuric acid, until the blue colour changes to light green.

Ten, divided by the number of c.c. of water used, expresses the milligramme equivalents of nitric acid per litre; thus, if 4 c.c. of water are used, there are 25 milligramme equivalents of nitric acid, equal to 2525 milligrammes of pota.s.sium nitrate per litre. If a preliminary test with brucine has shown that the water contains very little nitric acid, 2 c.c. only of the indigo solution must be used, or sometimes as little as 1 c.c. If more than 8 c.c. of water is required to destroy the blue colour, 100 c.c. must be evaporated down to the volume of 8 c.c. and then t.i.trated. The volume of sulphuric acid must be at least double the sum of the volumes of indigo and water; the temperature must not sink under 110.

[Footnote 47: Dingl., 'Polyt. Journ.' ccxiii, 423-427; 'Journ. Chem.

Soc.,' 2nd series, xiii, 481.]

The nitrates may all be tested as above by first adding a small quant.i.ty of pure sulphuric acid, which will liberate the nitric acid of the salt.

_Estim._--The strength of nitric acid may be roughly estimated by its sp.

gr.; but more accurately by ascertaining the amount of carbonate of sodium, or other salt of known composition, which is required to neutralise it. To render this a.s.say trustworthy, it must be, in all cases, also tested to detect the presence of impurities. See ACIDIMETRY.

_Ant., &c._ See ACIDS.