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opinion is, that the sal ammoniac of the ancients was the same as that of the moderns; but the imperfect description of Pliny is far from being conclusive. The native sal ammoniac of Bucharia, described by See also:

MODEL (0. Fr. modelle, mod. modele; It. modello, pattern, mould; from Lat. modus, measure, standard)

Model and See also:

KARSTEN, KARL JOHANN BERNHARD (1782-1853)

Karsten, and analysed by M. H. See also:

Klaproth, has no resemblance to the salt described by Pliny. The same remark applies to the sal ammoniac of volcanoes. Dioscorides (v. 126), in mentioning sal ammoniac, makes use of a phrase quite irreconcilable with the description of Pliny, and rather applicable to See also:

rock-salt than to our sal ammoniac. Sal ammoniac, he says, is peculiarly prized if it can be easily split into rectangular fragments.

Finally, we have no See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof whatever that sal ammoniac occurs at See also:

PRESENT

present, either near the See also:

temple of See also:

JUPITER

Jupiter See also:

Ammon, or in any See also:

PART

part of Cyrenaica. Hence we conclude that the See also:

TERM

term sal ammoniac was applied as indefinitely by the ancients as most of their other chemical terms. It may have been given to the same salt which is known to the_ moderns by that appellation, but was not confined to it. In any See also:

case there can be no doubt that it was well known to the alchemists as See also:

early as the 13th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century. Albertus See also:

MAGNUS, HEINRICH GUSTAV (1802-1870)

Magnus, in his See also:

TREATISE

treatise De alchymia, informs us that there were two kinds of sal ammoniac, a natural and an artificial. The natural was sometimes See also:

white, and sometimes red; the artificial was more useful to the chemist. He does not tell us how it was prepared, but he describes the method of subliming it, which can leave no doubt that it was real sal ammoniac. In the See also:

OPERA (Italian for " work ")

Opera mineralia of See also:

ISAAC (Hebrew for " he laughs," on explanatory references to the name, see ABRAHAM)

Isaac Hollandus the See also:

elder, there is likewise a description of the mode of subliming sal ammoniac. See also:

BASIL (Russ. VASILY)

Basil See also:

VALENTINE, or VALENTINUS

Valentine, in his Currus triumphalis antimonii, describes some of the See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar properties of sal ammoniac in, if possible, a still less equivocal manner. See also:

EGYPT

Egypt is the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country where sal ammoniac was first manufactured, and from which See also:

EUROPE

Europe for many years was supplied with it. This See also:

commerce was first carried on by the Venetians, and afterwards by the Dutch. Nothing was known about the method employed by the Egyptians till the See also:

YEAR

year 1719.

In 1716 C. J. See also:

Geoffroy read a See also:

paper to the See also:

French See also:

Academy, showing that sal ammoniac must be formed by sublimation; but his opinion was opposed so violently by W. Homberg and N. See also:

LEMERY

Lemery, that the paper was not printed. In 1719 D. Lemaire, the French See also:

consul at See also:

Cairo, sent the Academy an See also:

account of the mode of manufacturing sal ammoniac in Egypt. The salt, it appeared, was obtained by See also:

SIMPLE

simple sublimation from See also:

SOOT (0. Eng. sot, cf. Icel. sot, Dan. sod; possibly from root sed, to sit)

soot. In the year 176o See also:

LINNAEUS

Linnaeus communicated to the Royal Society a correct detail of the whole See also:

PROCESS

process, which he had received from Dr F. See also:

HASSELQUIST, FREDERIK (1722-1752)

Hasselquist, who had travelled in that country as a ' Some derive the name sal ammoniac from Jupiter Ammon, near whose temple it is alleged to have been found; others, from a district of Cyrenaica called Ammonia. Pliny's derivation is from the sand (4taµos) in which it occurred.naturalist (Phil. Trans., 176o, p.

504). The dung of See also:

black See also:

CATTLE (Norman Fr. catel, from Late Lat. capitale, wealth or property, a word applied in the feudal system to movable property and particularly to live stock, and surviving in its wider meaning as " chattel " or " chattle ")

cattle, horses, See also:

sheep, goats, &c., which contains sal ammoniac ready formed, is collected during the first four months of the year, when the animals feed on the See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring grass, a kind of See also:

CLOVER

clover. It is dried, and sold to the See also:

COMMON

common See also:

PEOPLE

people as See also:

FUEL (O. Fr. feuaile, popular Lat. focalia, from focus, hearth, fire)

fuel. The soot from this fuel is carefully collected and sold to the sal ammoniac makers, who See also:

WORK

work only during the months of See also:

March and See also:

APRIL

April, for it is only at that See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season of the year that the dung is See also:

fit for their purpose. - The See also:

composition of this salt seems to have been first discovered by J. P. See also:

TOURNEFORT, JOSEPH PITTON DE (1656-1708)

Tournefort in 1700. The experiments of C. J. Geoffroy in 1716 and 1723 were still more decisive, and those of H. L. See also:

DUHAMEL, JEAN BAPTISTE (1624-1706)

Duhamel de Monceau, in 1735, See also:

LEFT

left no doubt upon the subject.

Dr See also:

Thomson first pointed out a process by See also:

SYNTHESIS (Gr. a6vOeacs, from avvrcBivac, to put together)

synthesis, which has the See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage of being very simple, and at the same See also:

time rigidly accurate, resulting from his observation that when hydrochloric See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid See also:

gas and ammonia gas are brought in contact with each other, they always combine in equal volumes. The first See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to manufacture sal ammoniac in Europe was made, about the beginning of the 18th century, by Mr See also:

Goodwin, a chemist of See also:

LONDON

London, who appears to have used the See also:

MOTHER

mother ley of common salt and putrid urine as ingredients. The first successful manufacture of sal ammoniac in See also:

GREAT

Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain was established in See also:

EDINBURGH

Edinburgh about the year 176o. It was first manufactured in See also:

France about the same time by A. See also:

BAUME, ANTOINE (1728-1894)

Baume. Manufactories of it were afterwards established in See also:

Germany, See also:

Holland and See also:

FLANDERS (Flem. Vlaanderen)

Flanders. - It is now obtained from the ammoniacal liquor of gas See also:

WORKS

works by distilling the liquor with See also:

MILK (0. Eng. meoluc; from a common Indo-European root, cf. Lat. mulgere, Gr. ?t dXyetv)

milk of See also:

lime and passing the ammonia so obtained into hydrochloric acid. The See also:

SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution of ammonium chloride so obtained is evaporated and the crude ammonium chloride purified by sublimation. The subliming apparatus consists of two parts: (1) a hemispherical stoneware See also:

basin placed within a See also:

close-fitting See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron one, or an enamelled iron basin, and (2) a hemispherical See also:

lead or stoneware lid, or See also:

DOME (Lat domus, house; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

dome, cemented on the See also:

TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top of the basin to prevent leakage. The dome has a small See also:

APERTURE (from Lat. aperire, to open)

aperture in the top which remains open to preclude See also:

ACCUMULATION (from Lat. accumulare, to heap up)

accumulation of pressure. The carefully dried crystallized salt is pressed into the basin, and, after the has been fitted on, is exposed to a See also:

long-lasting moderate See also:

HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat. The salt volatilizes (mostly in the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of a mixed vapour of the two components, which reunite on cooling), and condenses in the dome in the form of a characteristically fibrous and tough crust.

The pure salt has a See also:

sharp saline See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste and is readily soluble in See also:

WATER

water. It readily volatilizes, and if moisture be rigorously excluded, it does not dissociate, but in the presence of See also:

mere traces of water it dissociates into ammonia and hydrochloric acid (H. B. See also:

Baker, Journ. Chem. See also:

Soc., 1895, 65, p. 612). Sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride, See also:

BRITISH

British and See also:

UNITED

United States pharmacopoeiae) as used in See also:

MEDICINE

medicine is a white crystalline odourless See also:

POWDER (through O. Fr. puldre, modern poudre, from Lat. pulvis, pulveris, dust)

powder having a saline taste. It is soluble in i in 3 of See also:

COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

cold water and in I in 50 of 90 % See also:

ALCOHOL

alcohol. It is incompatible with See also:

CARBONATES

carbonates of the alkalis. The dose is 5 to 20 grs. Ammonium chloride has a different See also:

ACTION

action and therapeutic use from the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of the ammonium salts.

It possesses only slight See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence over the See also:

heart and respiration, but it has a specific effect on mucous membranes as the elimination of the See also:

drug takes See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place largely through the lungs, where it See also:

AIDS

aids in loosening bronchial secretions. This action renders it of the utmost value in See also:

BRONCHITIS

bronchitis and See also:

PNEUMONIA (Gr. ?rveu AMP, lung)

pneumonia with associated bronchitis. The drug may be given in a mixture with glycerine or See also:

LIQUORICE

liquorice to See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover the disagreeable taste or it may be used in a spray by means of an atomizer. The inhalation of the fumes of nascent ammonium chloride by filling the See also:

ROOM

room with the gas has been recommended in foetid bronchitis. Though ammonium chloride has certain irritant properties which may disorder the See also:

STOMACH (Gr. vrbsaxos from arbga, a mouth)

stomach, yet if its mucous membrane be depressed and atonic the drug may improve its See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition, and it has been used with success in gastric and intestinal catarrhs of a subacute type and is given in doses of to grains See also:

HALF

half an See also:

HOUR

hour before meals in painful See also:

DYSPEPSIA (from the Gr. prefix Sur-, hard, ill, and 'irirreiv, to digest)

dyspepsia due to hyperacidity. It is also an intestinal and hepatic stimulant and a feeble diuretic and diaphoretic, and has been considered a specific in some forms of See also:

NEURALGIA (Gr. veiipov, nerve, and iXyos, pain)

neuralgia.

End of Article: SAL AMMONIAC

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