This spirit, prepared with quick-lime, is thought to be too pungent and acrid for internal use; but in the dilute state of administering this medicine, it is as safe as that prepared with an alkaline salt. It is an excellent menstruum for some vegetable substances; and when saturated with such ingredients, is so sheathed as to be as safe as the other. If this spirit is not pure, a slight proportion of it will make lime-water turbid.

The aqua ammoniac purae appears in many cases preferable to that prepared with an alkaline salt. It is better suited for the sp. amnion. compositus, and sp. ammonia; foetid, as being perfectly miscible with the sp. vini rect. in any proportion, without any separation of its volatile alkaline part, and as being a more powerful menstruum for some oils, difficultof solution. The eau de luce, for example, is made with the aqua ammoniae purae, el ol. succin. rect.; but the oil must be rectified until it hath lost its smell, and is become limpid, and then the process will be the following:

R. Ol. succin. rect. ut supra gtt. xxxvi. alcohol, vini 3 ss. bene misceantur, et adde paulatim aquae ammoniae purae, 3 vi. This appears milky; but if required limpid, it may be made so by distillation; or if it is only designed for smelling, it may be tinged of a fine blue colour, with a drop or two of a solution of copper. Sec Malouin's Chimie Medicinale.

The College of London give the following prescription for making the eau de luce, under the title of Spiritus ammoniae succinatus; Succinated spirit of ammonia. Take one ounce of alcohol; water of ammonia four ounces; rectified oil of amber one scruple; soap ten grains: digest the soap and oil of amber in alcohol, until they are dissolved; then add the water of pure ammonia, and mix them well by shaking: - it is chiefly used externally. There is a great nicety in this preparation, known only to those prepare it, and which chemists have not attained; but this accuracy does not affect its medical virtues. The chief imperfection is, that the ingredients separate, but they will unite again by agitation.

Divers mixtures of volatile and vinous spirits, flavoured with aromatic and other oils, or tinctured with different ingredients, according to the intention of the prescribers, have been, and yet may be, used with great advantage. Of this kind are the following:

Sps. ammoniae compositus, instead of the sps. vo-latilis aromaticus.

R. Ol. nucis moschatae et ol. limon. essent. aa 3 ii. sp. amnion, lb.ij. m. Distil these with a gentleheat. This is from the Pharmacop. Collegii Lond. 1788.

By this method a volatile oily spirit may be prepared occasionally, and at pleasure adapted to particular purposes, by choosing an essential oil proper for the intention; thus in hysteric cases, where the uterine excretions are deficient, a sp. ammon, comp. may be made with the oils of rue, savin, penny-royal, asafoetida, etc. For weakness of the stomach, the oil of mint may be taken; - -for a cephalic, the oils of marjoram, lavender, and rosemary; against fainting and coldness, the oil of cinnamon; - to remove flatulencies, the oil of aniseeds and sweet fennel. The spirits thus made by simple mixture, or by dropping essential oils into sp. ammon. with which they easily mix, are nowise inferior in medical efficacy to those prepared by distillation, though the tinge which they receive from the oil may render them to the sight less pleasing.

-The small quantity, however, of any medicine which can be thus conveyed into the system, can have no very powerful effect; while, as a warm stimulant, it greatly assists the power of other medicines. The ammoniated alcohol conveys very rapidly the effects of aromatics, as in the spiritus ammoniae C. of the London Dispensatory; the alcohol ammoniatum aromaticum of the Edinburgh; or the spiritus alkali volatilis of the Dublin. The compound tincture of castor, the volatile tincture of guaiacum, and the ammoniated tincture of valerian, are, in their respective Uses, excellent medicines. The ammoniated tincture of bark is less useful; as from bark we do not want an immediate effect, and the quantity of this medicine introduced is inconsiderable. The objection does not apply to the volatile tincture of guaiacum, as the menstruum, in this instance, directs and increases the power of the medicine.

Some vegetables are considered of an alkalescent nature, as they do not become acid by putrefaction; and from them no vinous spirit can be procured by fermentation; to this class belong most of the acrid aromatics; some of which are the alliaria, allium, arum, asparagus, brassica,capsicum, cardiaca, centaurium min. cochlea-ria, cep3, nasturtium aquat. et hort. porrum, raphanus com. etrusticanus; ruta, sinapis, etc.

The signs of alkaline acrimony in the blood, viz. thirst and desire of sour drinks, loss of appetite, and aversion to alkalescent food, nidorous eructations, putrid

K ulcers on the lips, tongue, and other parts in the mouth, bitterness in the mouth, sickness in the stomach, and a frequent diarrhoea, a sense of heat, lassitude, and general uneasiness, a dissolution of the texture of the blood, the urine high-coloured and red, in fact only show that it exists in the stomach.

Alkaline gas. This is only volatile alkali in the form of air, and has never yet been applied to medical uses.

Alkaline earths. Many of the earths are absorbents; but some approach so nearly to an alkaline nature, that they have obtained this appellation more pointedly. These are magnesia, lime, barytes, and strontia: all but the last are used in medicine; the barytes, in composition only, with the muriatic acid.

Alkali in botany. See Salicornia.