A CYCLOPÆDIA OF PRACTICAL RECEIPTS, PROCESSES, AND COLLATERAL INFORMATION (continued 27)

Confection of Rue. Syn. Conpectio ru′tæ (Ph. L.), L. Prep. (Ph. L.) Fresh rue (bruised), caraways, and laurel berries, of each 1¹⁄₂ oz.; prepared sagapenum, ¹⁄₂ oz.; black pepper, 2 dr.; honey, 16 oz.; water, q. s.; rub the dry ingredients to a flue powder, then add, gradually, the sagapenum, previously dissolved in the water and honey over a slow fire, and mix well. In the Ph. L. 1836 dried rue was ordered. Carminative and antispasmodic. In flatulent colic, and in the convulsions of children, when there is no inflammation.—Dose, 15 to 60 gr.; either by the mouth, or made into an enema with gruel.

Confection of Scam′mony. Syn. Confec′tio scammo′nii (B. P.), Electua′′rum scammo′′nii (Ph. D.). Prep. (B. P.) Scammony, in fine powder, 24 parts; ginger, in fine powder, 12 parts; oil of caraway, 1 part; oil of cloves, ¹⁄₂ part; syrup, 24 parts; clarified honey, 12 parts; rub the powders with the syrup and the honey into a uniform mass, then add the oils and mix.—Dose, 10 gr. to 30 gr.; as a warm cathartic, and in worms, &c.

Confection of Scurvy Grass. (P. Codex.) Fresh leaves of scurvy grass, 1 oz.; sugar, 3 oz. Beat to a pulp and pass through a hair sieve.

Confection of Sen′na. Syn. Len′itive elec′tuary, Elec′tuary of Senna; Confec′tio sen′næ (Ph. L. & D.), Electua′′rium sen′næ (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. Senna, 8 oz.; corianders, 4 oz.; rub them together, and by a sieve separate 10 oz. of the mixed powder; also boil figs, 1 lb., and fresh liquorice, bruised, 3 oz., in water, 3 pints, until reduced to one half; press, strain, and evaporate the strained liquor in a water bath to 24 fl. oz.; then add sugar, 2¹⁄₂ lbs.; dissolve, and further add, prepared tamarinds, cassia, and prunes, of each ¹⁄₂ lb.; remove from the heat, and when the whole has considerably cooled, add the sifted powder, by degrees, and stir until the whole is thoroughly incorporated.

2. (Ph. E.) Senna, 8 oz.; corianders, 4 oz.; liquorice root, 3 oz.; figs and pulp of prunes, of each, 1 lb.; white sugar, 2¹⁄₂ lbs.; water, 3¹⁄₄ pints.

3. (Ph. D.) Senna leaves, in fine powder, 2 oz.; corianders (in fine powder), 1 oz.; oil of caraway, ¹⁄₂ dr.; mix, and add them to pulp of prunes, 5 oz.; pulp of tamarinds, 2 oz.; brown sugar, 8 oz.; water 2 fl. oz.; previously brought to a smooth paste by the heat of a water bath.

4. (Ph. B.) Boil figs, 12 oz., and prunes, 6 oz., gently in distilled water, 24 oz., in a covered vessel for hours, then, having added more distilled water to make up the quantity to 24 fluid ounces, add tamarinds, 9 oz., and cassia pulp, 9 oz.; macerate for two hours, and press the pulp through a hair sieve, rejecting the seeds, &c. Dissolve refined sugar, 30 oz., and extract of liquorice, ³⁄₄ oz., in the mixture with a gentle heat; and while it is still warm, add to it gradually senna in fine powder, 7 oz., and coriander in fine powder, 3 oz., and stir diligently until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. The resulting confection should weigh 75 oz.

Uses, &c. Confection of senna is a gentle and pleasant purgative, and well adapted for persons suffering from piles, and as a laxative during pregnancy. The dose is 1 dr. to ¹⁄₂ oz., taken at bedtime or early in the morning.

Obs. There is no one pharmacopœial preparation which it is more difficult to obtain of good quality than confection of senna. The absolute cost of an article prepared according to the directions of the Colleges is greater than the price at which many wholesale houses are vending the drug. Dr Paris very truly remarks, that “the directions of the Pharmacopœia are very rarely followed.” Considerable quantities are manufactured, into which unsound and spoilt apples enter as a principal ingredient; whilst the substitution of jalap for the whole, or a portion of the senna, is a very common practice. We have seen the following forms employed in the trade.

5. Powdered senna’ pulp of tamarinds, cassia, and prunes, of each 1¹⁄₂ lb.; powdered corianders, ³⁄₄ lb.; Spanish juice, ¹⁄₂ lb.; simple syrup, 12 lbs.

6. As the above, but omitting the cassia pulp, and adding 2 lbs. more tamarind pulp. Both these articles are labelled “P. L.” and sent out as genuine, and that when no competition as to price exists. The cheaper article is made as follows:—

7. Common prunes and tamarinds, of each 16 lbs.; treacle, ³⁄₄ cwt.; species (a compound of senna dust and small senna, mixed with 3 lbs. of coriander seeds, and strengthened with jalap; all ground to a fine powder), 18¹⁄₄ lbs. To this is frequently added, of rotten or inferior apples, ¹⁄₄ cwt., which are pulped with the prunes and tamarinds. This article is commonly labelled “Conf. Sennæ Ver.” by its manufacturer.

Confection of Sponge. Syn. Elec′tuary of burnt sponge; Confec′tio spongii, C. s. us′tæ, L. Prep. 1. Burnt sponge, 3 parts; confection of orange peel and hips, of each 1 part; simple syrup, q. s.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) Burnt sponge, made into a confection with syrup of orange peel. The first form produces the most agreeable confection.—Dose, of either, ¹⁄₂ dr. to 2 dr., twice or thrice daily; in scrofula, &c.

Confection of Steel. Prep. 1. Confec′tio fer′ri sesquiox′idi, L.—a. From confection of orange and sesquioxide of iron (Ph. L.), of each 2 oz.; white sugar, 3 oz.; syrup, 1¹⁄₂ oz.; mix.—Dose, 1 dr. to 3 dr.

b. (St. B. Hosp.) Sesquioxide of iron, 1 oz.; treacle, q. s.—Dose, ¹⁄₂ dr. to 1 dr. Both are given in the usual cases wherein iron is indicated; especially in anæmia, chlorosis, and amenorrhœa.

2. (Confec′tio Fer′ri Tartariza′ti.—St B. Hosp.) Cream of tartar, 1¹⁄₂ oz.; tartrate of iron, 2 dr.; ginger, 1 dr.; treacle, 2¹⁄₂ oz., or q. s.—Dose, 1 dr. to 2 dr., 2 or 3 times daily.

Confection of Sul′phur. Syn. Brimstone and treacle; Confec′tio sulphu′ris, L. Prep. 1. Sublimed sulphur, 2 oz.; treacle, 4 oz.—Dose. A spoonful night and morning for a week or longer, as an alterative or purifier of the blood; in skin diseases, &c.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) Precipitated sulphur, 1 oz.; cream of tartar, 2 dr.; honey or treacle, 2 oz. As the last.

3. (B. P.) Sublimed sulphur, 4 oz.; cream of tartar, 1 oz.; syrup of orange peel, 4 fl. oz.—Dose, 1 to 2 dr.; as a laxative, in piles, gonorrhœa, &c.

Confection of Tin. Syn. Confec′tio stan′ni, L. Prep. (Hosp. Form.) Powdered tin, 1 oz.; confection of roses, 2 oz.; mix.—Dose, 2 to 4 dr., every morning; in worms.

Confection of Turpentine. Syn. Confec′tio terebinth′inæ, L. Prep. (B. P.) Oil of turpentine, 1 fl. oz.; liquorice powder, 1 oz.; triturate together, then add clarified honey, 2 oz.—Dose and use, as the last.

Confection of Worm-seed. Syn. Confec′tio cin′æ, C. s. cinæ. L. Prep. 1. (Ph. Slesvico-Holsat. 1831, and Ph. Suec. 1845.) Worm-seed, 2 oz.; heat it in a pan over a gentle fire, add white sugar, boiled to a low candy height, 4 oz.; and stir together until they become dry; then pick out those seeds which are covered with sugar, and repeat the process with the others.

2. Powdered worm-seed and syrup of orange peel, equal parts.—Dose, 1 to 2 dr., night and morning, followed by a brisk purge; in worms.

CONFEC′TIONERY. See Candies, Drops, Lozenges, Sugar, &c.

CONGELA′TION. The conversion of a substance from the fluid to the solid state by the abstraction of heat. See Ice and Refrigeration.

CONGESTION. “A common condition of disease in an undue flow of blood into any part, or accumulation within it. The vessels seem to lose the power of emptying themselves, which they possess in health. Congestion, although an effect of both visitation and inflammation, may exist irrespective of either. Two forms of it are distinguished, active and passive. The first is when some excitement causes the blood to pass more rapidly into a part than its vessels can transmit out of it; the second when from some inherent debility the vessels cannot get rid of the fluid ordinarily thrown into them. Congestion of organs disturb their functions, and through them the general health.”

CONGLU′TINUM (Bracy Clarke’s). Sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), 4 oz.; dissolved in water, 1 pint. Used as an astringent lotion in veterinary practice, and much diluted with water (a dessert-spoonful to ¹⁄₄ pint or more of water), as a collyrium in chronic inflammation of the eyes.

CO′NIA. C₈H₁₅O. Syn. Co′nine, Con′icine. An alkaloid, discovered by Gieseke in hemlock. It exists in every part of the plant, but is present in the largest quantity in the seed.

Prep. (Gieger.) The seeds of hemlock, or their alcoholic extracts, is distilled with water and potassa. The conia passes over into the receiver, and floats on the top of the water, which also contains a little conine in solution. It is purified in the way directed for the volatile bases. (See Alkaloid.) When the alcoholic extract is employed, about half its weight of potassa should be used.

Prop., &c. Pure conia is an oily-looking liquid, smelling intensely of hemlock, or rather of a combination of the odours of tobacco and mice; volatile at common temperatures; reddens turmeric; boils at about 340° Fahr., but readily distils over with water at 212°; sp. gr. ·89; with the acids it forms salts, some of which are crystallisable. Six lbs. of fresh and 9 lbs. of dried seeds yielded 1 oz. of conia. (Gieger.) Forty lbs. of the ripe but green seeds yielded 2¹⁄₂ oz. of hydrated conia. (Christison.)

Conia is remarkably poisonous. 1 drop, placed in the eye of a rabbit, killed it in 9 minutes; 5 drops, poured into the throat of a dog, killed it in less than a minute. It has been employed in some convulsive and spasmodic diseases, but is now seldom used medicinally. “The patient cries, the contortions, and the rigidity of the limbs, which have always preceded death (caused by conia), leave no doubt as to the cruel pains which this kind of poisoning brings on.” (Boutron-Chalard and Henry.) The treatment may be that recommended under Aconite and Hemlock.

CONSERVATEUR FUR HAARBLEINDE. A preventive of hair diseases (Edm. Bühligen, Leipzig). Consists of 10 grammes tinct. arnica, 5 grammes glycerine, 10 grammes spirit, and 60 grammes water. (Schädler.)

CON′SERVE. Syn. Conser′va, L. Recent vegetable matter, as flowers, herbs, roots, fruit, and seed, beaten with powdered sugar to the consistence of a stiff paste, so as to preserve them as nearly as possible in their natural freshness. Conserves are made both by the confectioner and the druggist; by the first as SWEETMEATS; by the other chiefly as vehicles for more active medicines. The London College of Physicians now includes both conserves and electuaries under the general head of CONFECTIONS. The term appears, however, in some cases, scarcely appropriate. The word confection has a more general application, and implies any sweetmeat or composition in which sugar is the principal ingredient. See Confection and Electuary.

Conserve of Ac′etate of Potas′sa. Syn. Conser′va potas′sæ aceta′tis, L. Prep. (Bories.) Acetate of potassa, ¹⁄₂ oz.; sulphate of soda, 1 dr.; juices of scurvy grass, fumitory, and dandelion, of each 2 oz. (reduced to one half by gentle evaporation?; sugar, q. s. to make a conserve. A teaspoonful 2 or 3 times daily, as a diuretic aperient; in obstruction of the bowels, &c.

Conserve of Al′monds. See Confections.

Conserve of Angel′ica. Syn. Conser′va angel′icæ, L. Prep. (Giordano.) Fresh angelica root, 2 parts; water, 16 parts; macerate for a few hours, clarify the liquor, add sugar, 3 parts; cook the root in the syrup, and preserve it in this state (confection), or dry it (to a candy). Used as an agreeable tonic, stomachic, and carminative.

Conserve, Antiscorbu′tic. Syn. Conser′va antiscorbu′tica, L. Prep. (Selle.) Horse-radish, water-cress, and water-trefoil, orange-juice, and radish-juice, equal parts; powdered white sugar, q. s. to make a conserve. In scurvy, &c.

Conserve of A′′rum. Syn. Conser′va a′′ri, C. a. macula′ti, L. Prep. From fresh arum tubers (cuckow-pint or wake-robin), ¹⁄₂ lb.; sugar, 2¹⁄₂ lbs. As a diuretic and attenuant in dropsy, or as an expectorant in chronic coughs.—Dose, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful, gradually increased.

Conserve of Broom. Syn. Conser′va scopa′′rii, L. Prep. (Van Mons.) Broom flowers, 1 part; sugar, 2 parts.—Dose, ¹⁄₂ to 2 teaspoonfuls, 2 or 3 times a day; in dropsy, gout, rheumatism, &c.

Conserve of Hips. See Confection.

Conserve of Lavender. Syn. Conser′va lavendu′læ, L. Lavender flowers, 1 part; powdered lump sugar, 3 parts; beaten together to a smooth paste. Used to sweeten the breath. In a similar way conserves are made from various other leaves and flowers; but mostly with only twice their weight of sugar, when they are not very odorous or active.

Conserve of Lem′on Peel. Syn. Conserva limo′nis, C. l. cort′icis, L. As Confection of Orange Peel.

Conserve of Mal′lows. Syn. Conser′va mal′væ, L. From the flowers, as Conserve of Lavender.

Conserve of Or′ange Peel. See Confection.

Conserve of Pep′permint. See Confection.

Conserve of Rose′mary. Syn. Conser′va rosmari′ni, L. As Conserve of Lavender.

Conserve of Roses. 1. See Confection.

2. (Acidula′ted Conserve of Roses Conser′va ro′sæ ac′ida, L.) Prep. (Hosp. F.) Confection of roses and powdered gum, of each 1 oz.; sulphuric acid, 1 dr. to 1¹⁄₂ dr.; (diluted with) water, 2 dr. An excellent substitute for tamarinds.

Conserve of Sav′in. Syn. Conser′va sabi′næ, L. Prep. (Ph. Han.) Fresh savin, 1 part; sugar, 2 parts. As an emmenagogue, in amenorrhœa, &c. Three parts of sugar make a better conserve.

Conserve of Scurvy Grass. Syn. Conser′va cochlea′′riæ, C. c. horten′sis, L. Prep. (Ph. Aust. 1836.) Fresh scurvy grass, 1 lb.; sugar, 3 lbs. Stimulant and antiscorbutic.

Conserve of Sea Worm′wood. Syn. Conser′va absinth′ii mariti′mi, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) From sea wormwood, as the last. As a stomachic bitter and vermifuge; in dyspepsia, &c.

Conserve of Sloes. Syn. Conser′va pru′ni sylves′tri, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) From the pulp of the fruit, 1 part; sugar, 3 parts. Astringent. Useful in simple diarrhœa, &c.; either alone or combined with chalk.

Conserve of Squills. Syn. Conser′va scil′læ, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) Fresh squills, 1 oz.; sugar, 5 oz. Diuretic, attenuant, and expectorant; in dropsy, chronic coughs, &c.—Dose, 10 to 20 gr.

Conserve of Tam′arinds. Syn. Conser′va tamarind′orum, L. Prep. (P. Cod.) Tamarind pulp, 2 oz.; white sugar, 3 oz.; evaporate by the heat of a water bath to the consistence of honey.

Conserve of Vi′olets. Syn. Conser′va vio′læ, C. v. odora′tæ, L. Prep. (Soubeiran.) Flowers, 1 part; sugar, 3 parts; beat to a paste. Demulcent and laxative; used as a purge for infants, and by ladies to perfume the breath.

Conserve of Wa′ter-cress. Syn. Conser′va nastur′′tii, L. Prep. (Ph. Græca, 1837.) From fresh water-cresses, as the last. In scurvy; taken ad libitum.

Conserve of Worm′wood. See Conserve of Sea Wormwood.

CONSTIPA′TION. Syn. Constipa′tio, Obstipa′tio, L. Surgeons distinguish between costiveness and constipation. The first applies to that condition of the body in which the bowels act tardily, and in which the fæces are abnormally and inconveniently indurated; the last implies the absence of the proper alvine evacuations. The one rapidly undermines the health; the other destroys life in a period varying from a few days to three or four weeks. In popular language, however, the words are frequently used synonymously. The use of bread containing alum, and water containing much lime (very hard water), and especially the want of sufficient exercise, are common causes of constipation.

Treatment. When the affection is merely accidental or occasional, a dose of some aperient or cathartic is the only treatment necessary; but when it is habitual it calls for further attention. Great benefit may generally be secured by adopting a diet free from astringents, and consisting of a large portion of green vegetables and ripe fruit; particularly avoiding the use of over-cooked, salted, or dried animal food. Brown bread may be eaten, as it acts as a gentle laxative, from the bran it contains. The occasional use of aperient and emollient enemata may be had recourse to; but their habitual administration, as well as that of purgative medicines generally, by the mouth, is not to be recommended. The bowels, accustomed to the continual use of stimulants, act but languidly or scarcely at all without their application. In females, especially of the higher classes, the want of proper exercise is commonly the chief cause of this affection. With such persons a short walk, two or three times daily, will often do wonders, particularly if a little ripe fruit, a few raisins or tamarinds, or, still better, 2 or 3 drum figs, be occasionally eaten. In some cases of obstinate constipation a cold-water dressing, placed over the pit of the stomach or the abdomen, will cause the bowels to act in the course of an hour or two. When the inactivity of the bowels arises from a deficiency of bile (one of the most common causes), no remedy is more natural, or more effective, than inspissated ox-gall. In cases complicated with nervous, hypochondriacal, or hysterical affections, in chlorosis, dyspepsia, depraved appetite, and numerous other ailments, this remedy frequently succeeds, after the most active articles of the materia medica have been tried in vain.

In the treatment of the constipation of infants, castor-oil (¹⁄₂ teaspoonful occasionally), or manna ¹⁄₄ to ¹⁄₂ oz., sucked at will, may be given. The introduction (very gently) of a little slip of writing paper, parsley stalk, or suet, is a method sometimes adopted successfully by nurses. Friction on the stomach and bowels with the warm hand, or a piece of soft flannel, should also be employed. See Gall, Purgative, &c.

Treatment for Animals. Mr Finlay Dun prescribes laxative clysters, aloes, or oils. Calomel for horses; croton and gamboge for cattle. Salts, calomel and jalap, castor oil, linseed oil, and emetics for carnivora. Oil of turpentine by mouth or rectum; clysters of tobacco, nux vomica, electricity.

Treatment for Horses. When the animal is constipated administer 4 dr. of aloes and 1 dr. of calomel, rubbed down with gruel; inject soap and water every hour, taking care to let the horse have walking exercise, and to apply friction to the belly. If, after twelve hours, no effect is produced, let the aloes and calomel be repeated, with the addition of three or four drops of croton oil and a wine-glassful of spirit of nitre, ether, gin, or whisky.

CONSTITUTION BALLS, Vegetable (A. H. Bôldt). Two parallelopiped hard brown balls, each of which weighs 58 grammes, and is made by melting together 2 parts of aloes and 1 part coarsely powdered gentian. (Hager).

CONSUMP′TION. See Phthisis.

CONTA′GION. By ‘contagion’ is usually meant the communication of disease by means either of actual contact or through a medium, such as the air. By some a contagious disease is regarded as one arising from direct contact only, in contradistinction to an infectious one, which is believed to act at a distance. See Disinfectant.

CONTU′SION. A hurt, or injury to the flesh, such as might be caused by a blunt instrument or by a fall, without breach or apparent wound. For treatment, see Bruise.

CONVALESCENCE. Convalescence may be described as the period between the cessation of an attack of serious illness and the restoration, if not to a perfect, to an accustomed state of health. Convalescent patients should particularly guard against excess in eating or drinking, or unnecessary and imprudent exposure to cold or damp weather, during this interval, as well as against premature exertion of the limbs or voice; such and all of which are acts of imprudence that may give rise to a return of the disease. In order to avoid this latter risk, as well as to aid in complete recovery, repose both of body and mind are generally needed, more particularly in the earlier stages of convalescence.

It should be borne in mind that convalescents from many infectious diseases, such as measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, &c., are much more likely to propagate these diseases than when they are labouring under them in the acute form. During the period of their recovery the skin and other organs are throwing off the poison in large quantities, and thus exposing those in contact with, or in the near neighbourhood of the convalescent, to the great and imminent risk of contagion. Even if not contagious himself, the convalescent’s clothes, if they be the same as those worn by him during his illness, may also convey the disease.

CONVULSIONS. Spasmodic contractions of the muscles producing motions of the limbs, generally accompanied with unconsciousness. Convulsions occur at all periods of life, but in adults they are only symptoms of other diseases. In children they are very common. They are of frequent occurrence in teething; and a swollen and inflamed state of the gums is said to excite them. Dr Gardner, in his very useful work, ‘Household Medicine,’ says they may be brought on by “improper food, e.g. the milk of a nurse suffering from some violent emotion. At the siege of Berlin nearly all the suckling children died of convulsions.” They may also be induced by feverish attacks, hooping-cough, strong purgatives, or suppressed eruptions. In the case of a dangerous attack of convulsion no time should be lost in sending for a medical practitioner. Pending his arrival, the patient should be placed as promptly as possible in a hot-water bath. A better plan is to loosen all the dress, to place the child across the arms, and sway it up and down gently, and to allow cool air to play on the face and chest; give an enema of soap and water, and apply mustard plasters for a few seconds only to the pit of the stomach. If these fail to give relief, apply leeches (number according to the age) to the temples, and cold to the head. Lance the gums if inflamed. When the fit is over keep the head cool. If there have been white stools, give a grain or two of calomel, and repeat it every three or four hours for three or four times until the stools become green or dark. Keep the bowels open by castor oil, and let the patient be put on a milk diet. The latter part of the above treatment is inserted for the benefit of the emigrant or other individual having no means of obtaining proper medical aid.

COPAHINE. Copaiba balsam made into a mass with wax and powdered cubebs, divided into hard egg-shaped pills weighing 5 decigrammes each and sugar coated.

COPAHINE MEGE DE JOZEAU. A fixed quantity of copaiba balsam is mixed with concentrated nitric acid, and constantly stirred as long as effervescence continues. The oxidised balsam is then washed, first with warm then with cold water, till the washings cease to have an acid reaction. From one part of this balsamum copaivæ acido nitrico correctum with ¹⁄₁₀ part powdered cubebs, ¹⁄₁₀ part bicarbonate of soda, ¹⁄₁₆ part calcined magnesia, with some mucilage, a mass is prepared and divided into oval pills, which are afterwards coated with sugar, mixed with gum and carmine.

COPAI′BA. Syn. Copai′va, Copaiva balsam, Capiv′i, Balsam of capiv′i; Copai′ba (Ph. L. E. & D.), L.; Baume de Copahu, Fr.; Cobaiva balsam, Ger. “The oleo-resin, of a brown colour, obtained by incision from the trunk of Copaifera multijuga.” (B. P.) Most of the balsam of commerce is obtained from Para and Maranhao. It is packed in casks containing from 1 to 1¹⁄₂ cwt. each, or in large bottles, or in cylindrical tin boxes.

Prop., Purific., &c. Copaiba, though usually called a ‘balsam,’ is not correctly so named, as it contains no benzoic or cinnamic acid. It is correctly described in the B. P. as an ‘oleo-resin.’ Considerable variation exists in the colour, odour, consistence, and transparency, as well as in the proportion of oil and resin yielded by different samples, scarcely any two of which exactly agree. The sp. gr. varies from ·950 to ·996. Brazilian copaiba is thin, clear, and pale; whilst the West Indian variety is thick, golden yellow, less transparent, and has a less agreeable and somewhat terebinthinate smell. Some varieties are opaque, and continue so unless filtered. This is often a most troublesome operation. The opacity generally arises from the presence of water, which it retains with great tenacity. The following is the plan we have found to answer on the large scale:—Place the casks upon their ends in a warm situation, and leave them so for 10 days or a fortnight, or longer, if convenient. They may then be tapped a little above the bottom, when the contents of some of them will generally be found quite transparent, and may be drawn off and vatted, care being taken to avoid shaking up the bottom. The copaiva that remains foul must be filtered through one or more long Canton flannel bags, sunk in the bottom of a tin cistern, placed over a suitable receiver, in a similar way to that adopted for oils; a few pounds of coarsely powdered charcoal being mixed up with the first 5 or 6 gallons thrown in. This will rapidly fill up the pores of the bag, and make the balsam soon flow clear and pale. The “bottoms” of the casks, containing the water and impurities, may be poured into a large can or jar, and allowed to settle for a few days, when the copaiba may be poured off the top and filtered. A sudden change of temperature will frequently turn a transparent sample of this article opaque or milky; it is not, therefore, deemed fit to send out by the wholesale trade, unless it stands this test. To ascertain this point a common practice is to fill a small bottle with the copaiba, and to leave it out of doors all night in an exposed situation.

Pur., Tests, &c. This substance is frequently adulterated; indeed, fully one half that sold for copaiba does not contain 10% of the genuine balsam. This is particularly the case with that sold in capsules, at low prices, in the shops. Pure balsam of copaiba may be recognised by the following characters:—

1. (Ph. E.) It is transparent; free of turpentine odour when heated; soluble in 2 parts of alcohol; and dissolves one fourth of its weight of carbonate of magnesia with the aid of a gentle heat, and continues translucent.

2. (Chevallier.) A drop of the balsam, placed on a piece of unsized paper, and heated until all the essential oil is expelled, forms a semi-transparent, well-defined spot; but if the balsam has been adulterated with a fatty oil, it is surrounded by an oily areola.

3. (Planche.) 2¹⁄₂ parts of balsam shaken with 1 part of solution of ammonia, sp. gr. ·965, forms a mixture which becomes clear and transparent in a few moments, and may be heated to 212° Fahr. without becoming opaque.

4. (Vigne.) Boiled with 50 times its weight of water for 1 hour, it should lose at least half its weight.

5. (Adder.) By agitating the suspected sample with a lye of caustic soda, and setting the mixture aside to repose, the balsam after a time rises to the surface, and the fatty oil present (if any) forms a soapy, thick mass below.

6. (‘Journ. de Pharm.,’ 1842.) Pure copaiba may be adulterated with 50 per cent. of a fat oil (nut, almond, or castor oil), without it ceasing to give a clear solution with 2 parts of alcohol; but it combines badly with magnesia and ammonia. Excess of alcohol, however, separates the oil in all cases. It was formerly considered that the best test for detecting the fat oils was pure alcohol, to which some caustic potash had been added.

7. (Dr Hager.) Copaiba which is adulterated with Gurgun balsam is not quite clear, and frequently exhibits prisms of gurginic acid under the microscope. The author states that the adulteration may be easily detected by mixing the suspected sample with four volumes of petroleum ether; the mixture at once becomes turbid, and gradually deposits a sediment, which, after half an hour’s settling, occupies the same volume as the copaiba operated upon. A mixture of pure copaiba with petroleum ether is clear at first, and either remains clear upon standing or it deposits after several hours a very slight sediment, which merely covers the bottom of the test tube like a thin film. Benzol may be used in place of petroleum ether.

8. (Muter.) Three to four grams of the sample are weighed into a clean, dry flask, and saponified on the water bath with 50 c. c. of alcohol, and a lump of caustic soda weighing not less than 5 grams. When all is dissolved water is added, and the whole washed into a half-pint basin, so as to nearly fill it, and evaporated to 100 c. c. over a low gas flame. Dilute sulphuric acid is then added till the whole just becomes permanently turbid, and then solution of caustic soda is dropped in till it just clears again. By this means a solution is obtained with the least possible excess of alkali, and with a good amount of sodium sulphate. The whole is now to be evaporated to perfect dryness on the water bath, stirring towards the end, so that the sulphate may mix with the soaps, and produce an easy pulverulent residue. The residue is moved from the basin into a small, wide-mouthed, stoppered bottle, treated with 70 c. c. of ether-alcohol, and well shaken up. As soon as it is fairly settled the fluid is filtered off through a quick filter, and this is repeated with two successive quantities of 70 c. c., making 210 c. c. in all of the solvent used. The residue in the bottle and in the filter now consists of sodium oleate and sulphate if the balsam be impure, and of the latter only if pure, with a little trace of the insoluble resin soap already referred to. The contents of the bottle and filter are then dissolved in warm water, and after heating until all smell of ether is gone the whole is boiled freely acidulated with hydrochloric acid, and set to cool.

If, when cold, nothing but a few specks of brown resin should rise to the surface, the balsam is pure; but if an oily layer be formed it is adulterated, and the smell of the separated oleic acid will at once determine whether it is actually castor oil or not.

In the case of the presence of oil, 2 grams of pure and dry white wax are added, and the whole heated till the wax melts with the oleic acid. On cooling, a solid cake is formed, which is detached from the side of the beaker, and the fluid below passed through a filter. The cake is once more melted in boiling water, cooled, detached, dried by gentle pressure between blotting paper, dried in a water-oven in a weighed platinum dish, and then weighed, and the weight of the wax used deducted. The beaker, filter, rod, &c., used are, if at all dirty, dried, extracted with ether, and the residue left, after evaporation, weighed and added to the total.

The calculation is then performed as follows:—

(1.) To the weight in grams found add ·20 for loss of oleic acid in solvent, and then say as 95 : 100 :: total oleic acid.

(2.) Calculate the per-centage from the quantity taken, and from this deduct 6 per cent. for possible altered resin in the balsam. The error, owing to the correction, of course, increases with the amount of oil present; but it is stated to be always an error in the direction of under-estimation, which is the great point for public analysts. When working on 3 to 4 grains with an admixture of not over 25 per cent. the errors due to loss of oleic acid and insoluble resin soap are said to so nearly balance each other, that any correction is unnecessary, and the actual amount of oleic acid found may be taken as correct within a per cent.

9. (B. P.) According to the British Pharmacopœia, copaiba should be soluble in an equal bulk of benzol.

10. (The evaporation test.) Mr Siebold says: “This is an excellent and exceedingly simple test, but is clumsily applied by many. Instead of boiling the balsam with water for many hours, a small quantity (about 1 to 1·5 gram) of the sample should be carefully heated in a watch-glass until all the oil is driven off, which is the case as soon as the residue has assumed a rich brown colour. A few minutes suffice for the experiment.

“If the remaining resin is perfectly brittle and pulverisable there is no fatty matter present, for 1 per cent. of oil would diminish the brittleness of the resin, so that it cannot be reduced to a fine powder. One per cent. of oil is thus readily detected, and with larger quantities of the adulterant (3 to 5 per cent.) the resin feels quite sticky.

“On heating the resin castor oil and linseed oil may be distinguished by the odour. By mixing the adulterated balsam with ten, twenty, forty, and fifty volumes of pure maranham balsam respectively, and testing each dilution in this manner, it is easy to find in which the oil has been reduced to below 1 per cent., and thus to ascertain whether the adulterant amounted to more than 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 per cent., and this, I think, would be sufficiently near the mark for the purpose of public analysts.”

Uses, &c. Balsam of copaiba is considered detersive vulnerary, diuretic, and astringent; and appears to possess a sort of specific power over diseases of the mucous membranes of the urino-genital organs. It is hence a favourite remedy in gonorrhœa, as soon as the first inflammatory symptoms have subsided, antiphlogistic and soothing measures being previously adopted. Dose, 20 to 60 drops on sugar, floating on water, or made into an emulsion with yolk of egg or gum arabic, 3 or 4 times daily, if the stomach will bear it. The addition of a few drops of sweet spirits of nitre and laudanum have been recommended, to allay the nausea. By adding 1 dr. of oil of orange (ol. aurantii) to each oz. of the balsam, its flavour becomes far from disagreeable, and it sits well upon the stomach. Copaiba is also given in capsules and pills. See Capsules, Emulsion, Oil, Pills, &c.

Obs. Numerous preparations of this article are sold under such names as ‘soluble copaiba,’ ‘specific solution,’ ‘salt of copaiba,’ &c.; none of these appear to possess equal activity and certainty of operation to the natural balsam. As the whole virtue of copaiba as a medicine depends on the essential oil it contains, the value of any of these preparations may be estimated by the quantity of that article which is found in them. In the case of the first two articles above named the quantity is very small indeed, and in the last it is wholly deficient.

The following forms are current in the trade for the reduction (adulteration) of balsam of capivi:—

1. Balsam of copaiba, 4 lbs.; castor oil, 3 lbs.; mix well.

2. Balsam, 7 lbs.; castor oil, 4 lbs; yellow resin, 2 lbs.

3. Equal parts of balsam of copaiba and Canada balsam.

4. To the last add Venice turpentine, 1 lb.

5. Balsams of Canada and copaiba and nut or castor oil, equal parts.

6. Copaiba, 7 lbs.; nut oil, 3 lbs.; yellow resin, 2 lbs.; Canada balsam, 1 lb. Used to fill the cheap capsules; and to sell in the lower parts of London and in the manufacturing districts. See also Copaiba, Factitious (below).

Copaiba, Facti′′tious. Syn. Cobai′ba facti′′tia, Bal′samum copai′bæ facti′′tium, L. Prep. 1. Castor oil (warm), 7 quarts; copaiba bottoms, 1 quart; mix, and filter through flannel.

2. Castor, oil, 1 gal.; yellow resin, 3 lbs.; Canada balsam, 2 lbs.; oil of juniper, 2 oz.; oil of savin, 1 oz.; essences of orange and lemon, of each ¹⁄₂ oz.; powdered benzoin, 1 oz.; melt the resin with the castor oil and benzoin, and when nearly cold add the essences.

3. Canada balsam, 9 lbs.; castor oil, 7 lbs.; yellow resin, 1 lb.; Venice turpentine, 2 lbs.; oils of rosemary, juniper, and savin, of each 1 dr.; essential oil of almonds, 20 drops.

4. Canada balsam, 3 lb.; Venice turpentine, 1 lb.; oils of fennel, juniper, and savin, of each q. s.

Used chiefly to fill capsules. It is readily distinguished from balsam of copaiba by the proper tests. (See above.) Train oil or nut oil is frequently substituted for the castor oil.

Copaiba and Ka′li. Syn. Copaiba cum Potassâ, L. Prep. Carbonate of potassa and water, of each, equal parts; dissolve, and add gradually, transparent balsam of copaiba, until the fluid, at first milky, turns quite clear. Resembles miscible copaiba (see below).

Copaiba, Miscible. Prep. From balsam of copaiba (pure and transparent), mixed with half its volume of solution of potassa made of double the strength ordered in the B. P.

Obs. As different samples of copaiba often require slightly different quantities of the solution of potassa, it is best to mix the two gradually and cautiously together. Should the mixture be opaque, a little more of one or other of the ingredients, as the case may be, will render it clear. No heat must be used. This article is miscible with water, with which it forms a kind of milk; and from containing all the volatile oil of the copaiba, is a very valuable preparation. Its activity is considered equal to that of the balsam itself, and it is given in similar doses.

Copaiba, Sol′uble. Syn. Copai′ba solubil′is, L. Prep. 1. Heat miscible copaiba in an earthen, glass, or bright-tinned copper vessel, to nearly the boiling-point, pour it while still hot in a separator, cover it up, and allow it to cool very slowly. After a few days, draw off the clear portion from a cock or hole placed at or near the bottom of the vessel, observing to reject the first few drops which pass through, and to stop the stream before any of the floating oil (oleum copaibæ) reaches the orifice. A very little concentrated liquor of potassa, added before applying the heat, renders it more soluble. Thick, transparent, soluble in pure water, and resembles the natural balsam in appearance.

2. Balsam of copaiba and solution of potassa (B. P.), equal parts, by volume; mix, boil for a few minutes, and then proceed as before. Thinner than the last.

Prop. Less powerful than miscible copaiba, but it sits better on the stomach, and is about four times as strong as specific solution of copaiba. See Solution.

Copaiba, Res′in of. Syn. Copai′bæ resi′na, L. The residuum of the process of distilling the oil of copaiba from the balsam. It consists principally of copaibic acid. It has been recommended for gonorrhœa, but is nearly inert, even in ¹⁄₂ oz. or ³⁄₄ oz. doses. See Oil.

Copaiba, Salt of. Syn. Sal copai′bæ, L. There are two preparations sold under this name; the one, crude copaibic acid; the other, copaibate of an alkali. Neither of them possesses the valuable properties of copaiba, which reside almost entirely in its essential oil, “We have taken the ‘sal copaibæ,’ and have watched its action on others, but have not been able to perceive any good effects to result from its administration.” (Cooley.)

COPAI′BIC ACID. Syn. Capiv′ic acid. Yellow resin of copaiba. An amber-coloured, brittle, semi-crystalline, resinous substance, obtained from resin of copaiba, soluble in alcohol, rectified spirit, ether, and oils, reddens litmus paper, and forms salts with the bases, called copaibates.

CO′PAL. Syn. Copal′, Gum copal. A resinous substance, which exudes spontaneously from various trees belonging to the genera Hymenæa, Guibourtia, and Trachylobium. The varieties commonly met with in commerce are East Indian copal, or anine, which is the produce of Hymenæa Courbaril, and West Indian copal, obtained from numerous species.

Prop. When of good quality it is too hard to be scratched by the nail, has a conchoidal fracture, and a sp. gr. ranging from 1·059 to 1·072. Unlike other resins, it is dissolved with difficulty by alcohol and essential oils; and this property, combined with its extreme hardness, renders it very valuable for making varnishes. See Varnish.

COP′PER. Cu. Syn. Cu′′prum, L.; Cuivre, Fr.; Kupfer, Ger.

Sources. Metallic copper (native copper) is found in many parts of the globe, diffused in isolated particles in the form of thin laminæ, in loose grains intermixed with quartz (copper sand, copper barilla), in dendritic pieces, and in solid blocks, occasionally of many tons weight. The richest deposits of native copper are those of Lake Superior, in North America. More frequently and more abundantly it occurs as an ore, e.g. red oxide, black oxide, green carbonate of copper or mal′achite, blue carbonate of copper, vitreous sulphide of copper, purple copper, copper pyrites, or yellow copper ore, with sulphur, antimony, or arsenic, and other metals (true grey copper ore or fah′lerz), as an impure hydrated silicate (chrys′ocolla), and as an impure hydrated oxychloride (atac′amite). The most abundant and important ore is copper pyrites. It is principally obtained from the mines of Cornwall, Devonshire, and Cuba. The carbonates of copper are now largely imported from Australia; the metal produced by smelting them is generally of the best quality.

Prep. We will not attempt to give a minute description of the various complex processes by which the reduction of copper from its ores is effected, but will merely give an outline of the common or Welsh process. This process includes six distinct operations, as follows:—1. The ore (copper and iron pyrites), containing from 8 to 10% of copper, is roasted in a reverberatory furnace, called a ‘calciner,’ by which much of the sulphide of iron is converted into oxide. 2. The calcined ore is melted with ‘metal slag’ (a product of a subsequent operation—No. 3), in a melting furnace called the ‘ore furnace.’ The products are a regulus, termed ‘coarse metal,’ containing about 35% of copper, and ‘ore-furnace slag,’ which is thrown away. Much of the iron, and the whole of the so-called earthy matter of the ore, are thus separated as slag. 3. The coarse metal, having been granulated by causing it to flow from the furnace into water, is calcined with free access of air in a calciner, and a considerable amount of sulphur is expelled. 4. The calcined granulated, coarse metal is melted with the addition of matters rich in oxides of copper, namely, ‘roaster’ and ‘refinery slags’ (from the two remaining operations, Nos. 5 and 6, respectively), and native carbonates of copper, or ores containing oxide of copper. The products are a regulus, termed ‘metal,’ which contains about 75% of copper, and metal slag (see No. 2). The metal should be in the state of ‘white metal,’ compact and brittle, with a feeble metallic lustre and a dark, bluish-grey colour. It is tapped off into sand moulds. 5. The pigs of regulus obtained by the last operation are roasted in a furnace through which air passes. The temperature is so regulated that the regulus may be melted in from 6 to 8 hours. The slag is skimmed off, and after a time the heat is lowered, to allow the regulus to solidify. It is again melted and tapped into sand moulds, the product being called ‘blister copper.’ 6. This, the last operation, is termed ‘refining.’ From 6 to 8 tons of blister copper, in pigs, are melted in a furnace, and kept exposed for about 15 hours to the oxidising influence of the air. The slag is skimmed off through the end opening. When the oxidation has been sufficiently prolonged, anthracite or free-burning coal, as pure as possible, is thrown upon the surface of the metal, and after a short time the thick end of a long birch or oak pole is plunged into the molten mass. This part of the operation is termed ‘poling.’ The wood in contact with the copper is rapidly decomposed; much gas is evolved, which causes the metal to be splashed about, and every part of it to be exposed to the reducing action of the coal. When the refiner finds the metal to be at the state of ‘tough pitch,’ the pole is taken out, and the coal pushed back from the end opening, through which the copper is then ladled out as quickly as possible, and cast into suitable moulds. For full details of this and other processes, the reader is referred to Dr Percy’s work on ‘Metallurgy,’ and Ure’s ‘Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines.’

In the laboratory copper is commonly employed under the following forms:—

1. Bean-shot copper. Produced by simply lading the melted copper from the refining furnace into hot water. In small lumps like peas and beans; hence its name. Used to make alloys, solutions, &c.

2. Electrotype copper. A very pure form, obtained by decomposing sulphate of copper in an electrotype apparatus. It does not contain lead, whereas most varieties of commercial copper do contain that metal.

3. Feather-shot copper, granulated C. Produced by lading the refined copper from the furnace into cold water. In small pieces, with a feathered edge. Used to make calamine, brass, solution of copper, &c.

4. Copper in plates or foil. Those of commerce (best, annealed) are generally employed.

5. Copper in powder.—a. A solution of sulphate of copper is heated to the boiling-point, and precipitated with distilled zinc; the precipitated copper is then separated from the adherent zinc by dilute sulphuric acid, washed with water, and dried by exposure to a moderate temperature.

6. Copper prepared by the hydrometallurgical method.—One of the oldest processes of this kind, is that known as the ‘cementation’ method, and consists in precipitating copper from a solution of the sulphate of the metal, by means of metallic iron. In some mines solutions of the sulphate are met with occurring naturally, in others they are prepared artificially by treating poor ores containing oxide of copper, with sulphurous acid or diluted sulphuric acid, and sometimes by roasting copper pyrites and afterwards washing them with water to extract the resulting sulphate. The copper obtained by any of the above processes is called ‘cementation copper.’ In the Isle of Anglesea the cementation liquid containing the dissolved sulphate of copper, is first run into large vessels where the suspended matters are allowed to subside; from these it is conveyed to tanks containing old scrap-iron, which serves as the precipitating agent. The scrap-iron is occasionally stirred up so as to renew the metallic surface presented to the solution. The muddy liquor which contains metallic copper as a spongy mass, besides impurities, is run into vessels where it deposits the copper, which after the removal of the supernatant fluid, is removed and dried in a furnace.

7. Wet Process. (Henderson’s process.) The ores (Spanish and Portuguese pyrites) treated by this method vary very slightly in composition, rarely containing much more than 3 per cent. of copper, nearly 50 per cent. of sulphur, from 43 to 44 per cent. of iron, with small quantities of lead, arsenic, zinc, lime, &c. The ores are first employed by the vitriol manufacturers, as a source of sulphuric acid. In the process of burning they lose about 30 per cent. of their sulphur. The copper is extracted from the residue by subjecting this latter to the following processes, which are thus described in the ‘Encyclopædia Brittanica.’

I. Grinding. The burnt ore, as received from the acid burners, is first mixed with about 15 per cent. of common salt, and ground to a fine powder by passing it between a pair of heavy cast-iron rolls. As the amount of sulphur left in the burnt ore is apt to vary, it is necessary to ascertain its proportion in each parcel of burnt pyrites. When the sulphur falls short of the proportion necessary for effecting the decomposition which follows, a sufficient quantity of ‘green’ or unburned pyrites is added to produce a proper balance. If, on the other hand, the sulphur has been sufficiently extracted, dead roasted ore is added.

II. Calcination. This operation is accomplished in several kinds of furnaces, that used by the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company, being a large muffle or close furnace. By others a patent furnace with a revolving hearth and mechanical stirring arrangement has been adopted with good results; and some use open reverbatory furnaces heated by gas from Siemens’s generators. During the roasting the mixture is frequently stirred, and in the case of hard-worked furnaces, turned with long rabbles, and the completion of the operation is ascertained by test assays. When the copper has been brought into a soluble condition, the charge is raked out of the furnace and permitted to cool under a screen at its mouth. By the calcination the sulphur in the compound is first oxidised, sulphate of sodium is formed, and at the same time the chlorine from the sodium chloride unites with the copper to form cupric chloride. A small proportion of cuprous chloride is also formed, and special precautions have to be taken to prevent the extensive formation of this compound which is dissolved only with difficulty. The hydrochloric acid and other gaseous products evolved during the calcination are condensed as ‘tower liquor’ in ordinary condensing towers, and the product is used in the subsequent process of lixiviation.

III. Lixiviation. The calcined ore is conveyed to tightly caulked wooden tanks, in which it receives repeated washings with hot water, tower liquor, and dilute hydrochloric acid till all the soluble copper is thereby extracted. The product of the latter washings is pumped or drawn up by a modification of Gilford’s injector, to serve as a first liquor for subsequent charges of the lixiviating tanks, and no solution under a definite strength is permitted to pass on to the next stage in the process. The insoluble residue in the tanks consist of “purple ore,” an almost pure ferric oxide, largely used in “settling” blast furnaces, and for smelting purposes; besides which it is available as jewellers’ rouge.

IV. Precipitation. The precipitation of metallic copper from the solution of its chloride is accomplished in large tanks by means of metallic iron in the same way that cementation copper is obtained from solutions of the sulphate. The solution is run into the tanks in which there are miscellaneous heaps of old malleable iron; the chlorine combined with the copper unites with the iron, and metallic copper in the state or fine division is thrown down. The completion of the precipitation is ascertained by dipping a bright steel knife into the solution in the tank, and when no deposit of copper covers the steel, the liquor is run off and a new charge conveyed into the tank. The tanks are drained periodically for removing the precipitate, which is first roughly separated from the small pieces of iron, after which it is more thoroughly freed from iron, &c., by washing in water in a rocking sieve apparatus. The precipitate so obtained should contain 80 per cent. of metallic copper, which is either smelted directly for blister copper, or may be fused with the white metal of the ordinary smelting process, and subsequently roasted. It has been found possible to extract in this process with profit the small proportions of lead, silver and gold, which Spanish pyrites is known to contain. Two processes are in operation for this purpose—one devised by Mr P. Claudet, and the other by Mr W. Henderson, the original patentee of the wet process. The liquors from the first three washings contain practically, all these metals, and they alone are treated. Mr Claudet precipitates them from the solution by means of iodide of potassium. Mr Henderson dilutes his solution from 20° to 25° Twaddell, and adds a very weak solution of lead salt, such as the acetate by which he obtains a cream-coloured precipitate containing 5 or 6 per cent. of silver, and 3 oz. of gold to each ton of the precipitate. The importance of the wet process may be estimated from the fact, that although it originated only in 1860, already 14,000 tons of copper, are annually produced by it in Great Britain alone, out of an annual production for the whole world estimated at from 126,000 to 130,000 tons.

Prop., &c. Copper has a brilliant yellowish-red colour, a nauseous, styptic taste, and emits a disagreeable odour when rubbed; is very malleable and ductile; unchanged in dry air; in damp air it soon becomes covered with a greenish rust (carbonate of copper); slightly soluble in dilute sulphuric and hydrochloric acid; freely soluble in boiling oil of vitriol (sulphurous anhydride being evolved); dilute nitric acid dissolves it readily with copious evolution of nitric oxide; heated to redness in the air, it rapidly becomes covered with a black scale (oxide); it fuses at a full red heat; its crystals are either octahedra or dodecahedra; sp. gr. 8·8 to 8·96; it forms numerous compounds (alloys and salts) with other bodies, all of which are more or less poisonous; its salts are either blue or green, and most of them (when neutral) are soluble in water.

Tests. Metallic copper may be recognised by the above properties; its oxides, salts, &c., by the following characters and reactions:—The solutions of copper possess a blue or green colour, which they retain even when considerably diluted with water:—With caustic potassa they give a light-blue, bulky precipitate, turning blackish-brown or black on boiling the liquid:—Ammonia and carbonate of ammonium produce a bluish-white precipitate, soluble in excess, yielding a rich deep-blue solution:—The carbonates of potassium give a light precipitate, insoluble in excess:—Ferrocyanide of potassium gives a reddish-brown precipitate:—Sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphydrate of ammonium give blackish-brown or black ones:—A polished rod of iron, on immersion in an acidulated solution, quickly becomes coated with metallic copper.

Estim., &c. Copper is generally WEIGHED under the form of black oxide, but sometimes as pure metal:—By throwing it down from its solution by pure potassa, after which it must be carefully collected, washed, dried, ignited in a platinum crucible, and weighed therein as soon as it is cold. Every 5 parts of the ignited precipitate (oxide) represents 4 parts of copper (nearly); or, more accurately, every 39·7 parts are equal to 31·7 of pure metallic copper:—By immersing a piece of polished steel in the solution, and weighing the resulting precipitate of the copper (see above). Less delicate than the preceding.

Copper can be separated from the other metals by means of the following processes:—

From lead. By adding sulphuric acid to the nitric solution, and evaporating to dryness, when water digested on the residuum will dissolve out the sulphate of copper, but leave the sulphate of lead behind. From this solution the oxide of the copper may be thrown down as before.

From tin. By digestion with hot nitric acid, which dissolves out the tin.

From zinc. By sulphuretted hydrogen, which throws down the sulphide of copper from an acid solution.

From silver. By digesting it in the state of filings or powder in a solution of chloride of zinc, which dissolves the first, but leaves the last unchanged.

Copper may be separated, in a state of great purity, from ANTIMONY, ARSENIC, BISMUTH, LEAD, IRON, TIN, ZINC, &c., as it exists in bell-metal, brass, bronze, gun-metal, mosaic gold, and other commercial alloys, by fusing it in a crucible for about half an hour, along with copper scales (black oxide) and ground bottle-glass, or other like flux. The pure metal is found at the bottom of the crucible, whilst the impurities are either volatilised or dissolved in the flux. The proportions for refining commercial copper are, metal, 10 parts; copper scales and bottle-glass, of each 1 part. The Society of Arts conceived this process to be so valuable, that they presented one of their gold medals to its inventor, Mr Lewis Thompson.

Uses, &c. The ordinary uses of copper are well known. In medicine, 3 or 4 gr. of the filings or powder were formerly given in rheumatism, and to prevent hydrophobia. Some of its salts are still used as astringents, emetics, and caustics. Its alloys are of great value. With zinc it forms BRASS; with tin, BRONZE, BELL-METAL, Gun-metal, and SPECULUM-METAL. White copper is formed by the addition of metallic arsenic, and German silver is a mixture of nickel, zinc, and copper.

Ant. Copper in the metallic state is almost inert, but all its compounds are poisonous. The antidotes are—the white of egg, milk, or flour, mixed with water. The hydrated sulphides of iron, iron filings, and ferro-cyanide of potassium have also been strongly recommended, and are exhibited in the same way. Sugar is likewise highly spoken of as an antidote. In all cases a strong emetic should be first given.

Obs. Culinary and pharmaceutical vessels are very commonly made of copper, but too much caution cannot be exercised in their employment. Acid syrups, vegetable juices, aqueous extracts, soups, stews, &c., prepared in copper saucepans, or boilers, receive a metallic contamination proportional to the length of time they are exposed to the action of the metal. Such vessels are frequently tinned, for the purpose of protecting the copper from contact with their contents, but this film of tin is necessarily very thin, and soon becomes imperfect by constant use. When copper vessels are allowed to remain wet or dirty, or, more especially, greasy, a poisonous green rust forms upon the surface, somewhat similar to verdigris. If articles are prepared in them in this state, serious consequences may ensue. Cases of poisoning from this cause are frequently met with, and instances of vomiting following the use of such articles are almost of daily occurrence, without the reason being suspected. We have occasionally seen confections and extracts, prepared in copper pans, deposit a coating of that metal upon the knives used to stir them. The ashes of the inspissated juices of fresh vegetables, and especially the pulps of fruit, prepared in vessels of this metal, have exhibited the presence of copper on the application of chemical tests. Ketchup is frequently rendered poisonous in this way. The most wholesome material for culinary utensils is thin sheet iron, or tinned iron plate (TIN), which is very durable if kept clean and dry when not in use. Copper vessels of every kind should be cleaned out, immediately before use, even though they may not appear to require it, and on no account should they be employed for any fluids that are the least acidulous, or that may have to remain long in them.

The following enamel is recommended in Dingler’s Polytechnic Journal for coating the inside of the copper vessels, used for cooking fruit or vegetables:—12 parts of white fluor-spar, 12 parts of unburnt gypsum, and 1 part of borax, are finely powdered, intimately mixed, and fused in a crucible. The fused mass is then poured out, and after cooling, is rubbed up to a paste. The copper vessel is then coated inside with this preparation, which is applied by means of a brush, and the vessel is placed in a moderately warm place, so that the coating may dry uniformly, when it is subjected to a gradually increasing heat, till at length the preparation fuses. On cooling, the vessel is found to be protected internally by a white opaque enamel, adhering very firmly to the copper, not chipping off by ordinary knocking and rubbing, and impervious to vegetable acids.

Copper may be cleaned by applying a small portion of the following paste, and rubbing it dry by a flannel or leather:—1 oz. oxalic acid, 6 oz. rotten stone, ¹⁄₂ oz. gum arabic, all in powder, 1 oz. of sweet oil, and sufficient water to make a paste.

Copper, Neu′tral Acetate of. Cu(C₂H₃O₂)₂. Syn. Nor′mal cupric acetate, Acetate of copper, Crys′tallised ver′digris. Prep. Dissolve common verdigris or cupric hydrate in hot acetic acid, so as to form a highly concentrated solution; filter and place in a cool situation to crystallise.

Prop. Beautiful dark, bluish-green prisms, which dissolve in 14 parts of cold and 5 parts of boiling water.

Copper, Ba′sic Acetates of. Syn. Ba′sic cu′pric acetates, Sub-ac′etates of copper. Common verdigris is a mixture of several basic acetates which have a green or blue colour. One of these (SESQUIBASIC ACETATE) is obtained by digesting powdered verdigris in tepid water, filtering, and leaving the soluble part to spontaneous evaporation. It may also be obtained in a state of purity by adding liquor of ammonia in small portions to a boiling concentrated solution of the neutral acetate till the precipitate is just redissolved, and leaving the solution to cool. It forms a blue, crystalline mass, but little soluble in cold water. The green, insoluble residue of the verdigris, after treatment with tepid water, contains another acetate (TRIBASIC ACETATE); this may be formed by digesting neutral acetate of copper with the hydrated oxide. A third salt (DIBASIC ACETATE, BLUE VERDIGRIS) is prepared on a large scale in France by exposing copper to the air in contact with fermenting wine-lees.

Copper, Ammo′′nio-sul′phate of. Syn. Sulphate of cuprammonium. Cu′pro-sulphate of ammo′′nia; Cu′pri ammo′′nio-sulphas, L.; Cuivre ammoniacal, Fr.; Kupfer salmiak, Ger. Prep. Sulphate of copper, 1 oz.; sesquicarbonate of ammonium, 1¹⁄₂ oz.; rub together until carbonic acid ceases to be evolved, then wrap it in bibulous paper, and dry it in the air.

Pur. Pulverulent; dark blue; at an intense heat it is changed into oxide of copper, at first sesquicarbonate of ammonia, and, afterwards, sulphate of ammonia, being thrown off. It is soluble in water to a splendid purple-blue solution, from which the salt is precipitated by alcohol in blue crystals. This solution has the peculiar property of dissolving CELLULOSE (cotton, paper, &c.). The cellulose may be precipitated from the solution in colourless flakes by the addition of acids.

Uses., &c. It is occasionally employed in pyrotechny. In medicine, it has been given in chorea, epilepsy, hysteria, &c., but is now principally used as an injection, as a wash for foul ulcers, used as a collyrium, in opacity of the cornea.—Dose, ¹⁄₄ gr., gradually increased to 5 gr., twice a day. Great care must be taken in drying, as it is apt not only to lose a large portion of its weight, but to become of an inferior colour. Both the ingredients should be separately reduced to powder before mixing them.

Copper, Ar′senite of. Cu(AsO₂)₂. See Green Pigments (Scheele’s Green).

Copper, Carbonate of. CuCO₃. Syn. Diba′sic carbonate of copper, Dicarbonate of c.; Cupri carbonas, L. Prep. Add carbonate of soda in excess to a solution of sulphate of copper, and warm the mixture till the pale-blue, flocculent precipitate becomes sandy and assumes a green tint. Used as a pigment. See Green Pigments and Verditer.

Obs. As prepared above, the carbonate contains 2 equivalents of water. The beautiful green mineral, MAL′ACHITE, has a similar composition, but contains only 1 equiv. of water. Another carbonate (TRIBASIC C., BLUE C.), occurs as a natural ore in large, transparent crystals, of the most intense blue; it has not yet been artificially imitated.

Cuprous Chloride. CuCl. Syn. Dichloride of copper, Subchloride of copper. Prep. By exposing the neutral chloride of copper to the action of heat.

Prop. White; fusible; slightly soluble in water; and decomposed by exposure to the air.

Copper, Chloride of. CuCl₂. Syn. Neutral chloride of copper. Prep. From copper scales or black oxide of copper dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and the solution evaporated and crystallised.

Prop., &c. Green, acicular crystals; deliquescent; soluble in alcohol, the flame of which it colours green. When gently heated it loses water, and assumes the form of a yellowish-brown powder (ANHYDROUS CUPRIC CHLORIDE, or CHLORIDE OF COPPER); at a high temperature it loses half its chlorine, and becomes converted into cuprous chloride.

Cupric Iodide. CuI₂. Syn. Iodide of copper, Dini′odide of copper; Cu′pri iodi′dum. L. Prep. By adding iodide of potassium to a solution of sulphate of copper, and washing out with alcohol the free iodine from the precipitate formed. A greenish-white precipitate.

(Commercial.) To a solution of sulphate of copper, 1 part, and protosulphate of iron, 3 parts, add a solution of iodide of potassium, and wash and dry the precipitate. This is the preparation commonly known in trade by the name of ‘iodide of copper.’

Cupric Nitrate. Cu(NO₃)₂. Syn. Nitrate of copper; Cu′pri ni′tras, L. Prep. By dissolving the copper in dilute nitric acid to saturation; evaporating to dryness; redissolving in distilled water; filtering, evaporating, and allowing to crystallise; or from black oxide of copper and nitric acid in the same manner.

Prop., Uses, &c. Deep-blue prismatic crystals, very soluble in water and deliquescent, soluble in alcohol. Generally used in medicine externally, in injections, or as a caustic, but sometimes given internally, dissolved in mucilaginous liquids.—Dose, ¹⁄₈ to ¹⁄₄ gr.

Cuprous Oxide. Cu₂O. Syn. Red oxide of copper, Dinox′ide, Suboxide; Cupri subox′ydum, L. Prep. Add grape sugar to a solution of sulphate or acetate of copper, then further add caustic potassa in excess; the blue solution heated to ebullition deposits the suboxide, which must then be collected, washed, and dried.

A solution of cane sugar, 27 parts, in water, 60 parts, is poured over hydrated oxide of copper (weighed in the compressed and still moist state), 9 parts; a solution of caustic potassa, 18 parts, in water, 60 parts, is then added, and the whole mass well agitated together at the ordinary temperature, and strained through linen. If the dark-blue filtrate is next heated (continually stirring), over a water bath, anhydrous cuprous oxide is disengaged, and the liquor becomes nearly colourless.

Prop., Uses, &c. A superb red powder, with a metallic lustre. It often occurs in beautiful transparent, ruby-red crystals, associated with other ores of copper, and can be obtained in this state by artificial means. It is used as a pigment and a bronze, and as a stain for glass and enamels, to which it gives a rich red colour. By heat it is converted into the black oxide. With ammonia it forms a colourless solution, which rapidly becomes blue from the action of the air.

Cupric Oxide. CuO. Syn. Ox′ide of copper, Black oxide, Protoxide; Cu′pri protox′ydum. Prep. By heating the nitrate or carbonate of copper to redness. When it ceases to lose weight the conversion is completed, and the oxide appears as a heavy, black powder.

By heating in the air the hydrated oxide thrown down from solutions of copper by pure potassa.

By adding caustic potassa, in excess, to a solution of a cupric salt, and heating the whole to a boiling-point; the precipitate is then collected, washed, and dried. A heavy, dark-brown powder.

Uses, &c. Protoxide of copper is unchanged by heat unless combustible matter is present, when it readily parts with its oxygen; hence its general use in ORGANIC ANALYSIS as a source of that element. It communicates a beautiful green colour to glass and enamels. With the acids it produces the ordinary salts of copper.

Cupric Sulphate. CuSO₄.5Aq. Syn. Sulphate of copper, Blue cop′peras, B. vit′riol; Cu′pri sul′phas, L.; Sulfate de cuivre, Fr.; Kupfer vitriol, Ger.; Neela tootia, Hind. Prep. (Commercial.) The sulphate of copper of commerce is obtained by the oxidation of native sulphide of copper (COPPER PYRITES); by the joint action of air, heat, and moisture, the copper is converted into an oxide, and the sulphur into sulphuric acid. The resulting salt is washed out, and the solution evaporated and crystallised. The water found in and issuing from copper mines often furnishes such a solution ready to the hands of the manufacturers. A large quantity of sulphate of copper is also obtained as a secondary product in the refining of silver, and is occasionally prepared by dissolving in sulphuric acid an oxychloride of copper, made for the purpose by exposing sheets of copper to the joint action of air and hydrochloric acid.

(Pure.) By the direct solution of the metal, or preferably, of its oxide or carbonate in sulphuric acid, or by purifying the commercial salt by recrystallisation, &c.

Prop., Uses, &c. Fine blue crystals, slightly efflorescent, having an intensely styptic and metallic taste. By heat the blue salt loses its water of crystallisation, and becomes a white, anhydrous powder. It dissolves in 4 parts of water at 60° Fahr., and in 2 parts at 212°; is insoluble in alcohol and ether; and is decomposed at an intense heat into protoxide of copper, sulphurous acid, and oxygen. It has been used to prevent the dry rot in timber and in dyeing. It is largely employed as a source of metallic copper in the ELECTROTYPE. Grain is steeped in a weak solution of it by the farmer, to prevent the ‘smut,’ As a medicine, it is employed chiefly as a styptic (in solution) and caustic (in substance) to destroy ‘proud flesh,’ and, less frequently, as an astringent or tonic (from ¹⁄₄ gr. to 2 gr.), and an emetic (3 or 4 gr. to 10 or 12 gr). It is exceedingly poisonous.

COP′PERAS. This is a generic name for the CRUDE METALLIC SULPHATES. When used without a qualifying adjective, it generally means sulphate of iron.

Copperas, Blue. Crude sulphate of copper. See Copper (above).

Copperas, Calcined′. From green copperas, heated in an unglazed earthen pot until it becomes white and dry. Used as an astringent and ‘drier,’ and in making ink and dyeing.

Copperas, Green. Syn. Copperas. Crude sulphate of iron. See Iron.

Copperas, White. Crude sulphate of zinc. See Zinc.

COP′PERING. Iron may be covered with a thin film of copper by merely immersing it (previously scoured clean) in an acidulated solution of sulphate of copper, after which it must be rinsed in clean water. This film soon rubs off, but still it lasts long enough to deceive the travelling tinker’s customers, who imagine that their copper kettles are properly repaired. Metals may be conveniently coated with compact copper to any desired thickness by means of voltaic electricity. See Electrotype.

COP′ROLITE. Syn. Dung′stone, Fossil manure. This mineral is the petrified dung of carnivorous reptiles. (Buckland.) Coprolites are found in all the secondary and tertiary strata. They contain a considerable proportion of phosphate of lime, for which reason they are largely employed in the manufacture of artificial manures. They form the bases of Lawes’ SUPERPHOSPHATE OF COPROLITE MANURE. The nodules, after being washed, are ground to powder in a mill, and mixed with an equal weight of oil of vitriol.

COPTIS TEETA. (Ind. Ph.) Syn. Coptis, or Mishmi tita. Hab. Mishmel mountains, east of Assam. Officinal part. The dried root (Coptidis Radix), imported into Bengal from Assam in small rattan baskets, each containing from 1 to 2 ounces of the drug. This consists of pieces of a woody rhizome, of the thickness of a small goose-quill and from 1 to 2 inches in length, often contracted at one extremity into a short woody stem; the surface is usually rough, irregular, more or less annulated, and marked with the remains of rootlets in the shape of short spiny point. Externally, yellowish-brown; internally, much brighter, frequently of a golden-yellow colour, exhibiting on fracture a radiated structure. Taste, persistently bitter, and when chewed tinges the saliva yellow. Contains neither tannic nor gallic acid, but abounds with a yellow, bitter principle, soluble in water and alcohol.—Prop. Pure bitter tonic.—Therapeutic uses. In debility, convalescence after fevers, and other debilitating diseases, atonic dyspepsia, and in mild forms of intermittent fevers.—Dose, 10 to 15 gr. of the powdered root, thrice daily.

Tincture of Coptis (Tinctura Coptidis). Take of coptis root, in coarse powder, 2¹⁄₂ oz.; proof spirits, 2 pints. Macerate for 7 days in a closed vessel, with occasional agitation; strain, press, filter, and add sufficient proof spirit to make 1 pint.—Dose. ¹⁄₂ to 2 fl. oz.

Infusion of Coptis (Infusum Coptidis). Take of coptis root, in coarse powder, 5 dr.; boiling water, 1 pint. Infuse in a covered vessel for 2 hours, and strain.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz., thrice daily.

COR′AL. Syn. Coral′lium, L. The comprehensive term for all calcareous or stony structures secreted by the marine asteroid polypes, or zoophytes. The RED CORAL of commerce, which is so largely employed for beads, earrings, and other ornaments, may be described as the internal skeleton of Corallium rubrum.

Coral, Red (Facti′′tious). Syn. Coral′lium ru′brum facti′′tium, L. Prepared chalk, coloured with a little sesquioxide of iron or rose pink, and passed through a sieve. Sold by the druggists for powdered coral.

Coral, Prepared’ Red. Syn. Coral′lium ru′brum prepara′tum. Levigated coral was formerly used in medicine as an antacid or absorbent, and is still occasionally employed as a dentifrice. It consists almost entirely of carbonate of lime, coloured with red oxide of iron, and possesses no advantage over good chalk. It is prepared in a similar manner as chalk.

CORAL, to Bleach. Immerse the coral in a mixture composed of one part of hydrochloric acid, and thirty parts of water; and keep it in this liquid until it becomes quite white. It should then be taken out, washed well in cold water, and allowed to dry.

COPPER, CYANIDE (CuCy₂). This salt is much used in electro-coppering. It may be obtained by adding to a solution of a copper salt, a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium; when a precipitate is obtained, which dried, is of a brown colour, and is cyanide of copper.

CORALLINE. See Tar Colours.

CORD′IALS. Syn. Cardi′aca, L. Warm, stimulating, restorative medicines, that tend to raise the spirits and promote the circulation. The principal cordial medicines are noticed under the heads Tincture and Syrup. See also Patent Medicines.

Cordials. Aromatised and sweetened spirits used as beverages. See Liqueur.

CORIAN′DER. Syn. (Coriander fruit, Coriandri fructus, (B. P.); Corianders, C. seed; Coriandrum (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. “The ripe fruit of the Coriandrum sativum, dried.” (B. P.) Coriander is chiefly used by confectioners and distillers as a flavouring ingredient. In the East it is much employed as a condiment, being an ingredient in CURRY POWDER. It is aromatic, carminative, and stimulant; and more effectually covers the taste of senna than any other substance.—Dose, 20 to 60 gr.; chiefly used as a corrective or adjuvant in compound medicines.

CORK. The outer bark of the Quercus Suber or cork oak, a tree common in southern France, Italy, and Spain. The bark obtained from the younger branches of the same tree is employed for tanning. See Alcornoco.

Cork. A stopple or plug for a bottle or jar cut from the above substance. The common practice of employing inferior corks for the purpose of stopping the mouths of bottles is often productive of considerable loss, from the air being only partially excluded, and the contents suffering in consequence. Many a large bin of valuable wine has become, from this cause, in less than a year, little better than sour ‘Cape.’ Chemical preparations often suffer from a similar cause. The best corks are those called ‘velvet corks,’ and of these the finest qualities are imported from France. No pains should be spared to obtain sound and soft cork for connecting the combustion- and drying-tubes used in organic analysis.

Ruschhaupt gives the following process for preparing corks for corking bottles containing alcoholic or caustic liquids:—Paraffin is fused in a suitable vessel, the dry corks are added, and immersed in the paraffin by means of a perforated coon or disk. The air is now easily expelled from the pores of the corks, which after about five minutes, are removed and cooled; they may now be cut and bored like wax, are easily driven into the necks of bottles, and readily removed, retain their smoothness and are gas-tight throughout.

Several attempts have been made to introduce cork-cutting by machinery, but they have hitherto failed to supersede hand labour.

Cork-bo′′rer. A thin brass tube, filed to a cutting edge, used for piercing holes through corks. Several tubes of different sizes, which fit into each other, are generally sold together. This simple and convenient instrument was introduced into the laboratory by Dr Mohr.

CORN. Syn. Cla′vus, L. A horny induration of the skin, with a central nucleus, very sensitive at the base. The common cause of corns is continued pressure over the projection of the bones, from tight or stiff boots or shoes. They are of two kinds, hard and soft. The first grow on the exposed portions of the joints; the last, between the toes.

Preven. This consists in keeping the feet clean, by frequent ablution with warm water, and in the use of easy, soft boots and shoes. Without the latter precaution, corns will generally return, even after they appear to have been perfectly removed.

Treatment. After soaking the feet in warm water for a few minutes, pare the corns as close as possible with a sharp knife, taking care not to make them bleed. They may now be touched over with a little lunar caustic, or nitric acid, or a little concentrated acetic acid or aromatic vinegar. The last two do not stain the skin. The first is used by merely rubbing it on the corns, previously slightly moistened with water; the others, by moistening the corns with them, by means of a small strip of wood, or, preferably, a rod of glass; due care being taken not to allow the liquid to touch the neighbouring parts. This treatment, adopted every 3 or 4 days for 10 days or a fortnight, accompanied by the use of soft, loose shoes, will generally effect a cure. It has been recommended to remove large corns by ligatures of silk, applied as close to their base as possible, and tightened daily until they drop off; but this plan is tedious, and often inconvenient, and is not always successful. Another mode of extirpation is, the application of a small blister, which will frequently raise them with the skin out of their beds. In this case the exposed surface must be dressed with a little simple ointment. Soft corns may be removed by applying ivy leaf, previously soaked in strong vinegar changing the piece every morning; or by placing a dressing of soap cerate, spread on a bit of lint or old rag, between the toes. One of the simplest and best remedies for hard corns, and which has received the sanction of high medical authority, is to wear upon the toe or part affected a small, circular piece of soft leather, or, still better, a piece of amadou, spread with diachylon, or some other emollient plaster, and having a hole cut in the centre, corresponding to the size of the corn. (Sir B. Brodie.) By this means the pressure of the boot or shoe is equalised and the apex of the corn protected from injury. The following are among the most useful of the POPULAR REMEDIES FOR CORNS:—

Corns, Caus′tic for. Prep. From tincture of iodine and chloride of antimony, of each, 1 dr.; iodide of iron, 3 grs.; mix. It is applied with a camel-hair brush, after paring the corn. 2 to 4 applications are said to effect a cure.

Obs. Most of the remedies noticed below really act as caustics.

Corns, Lo′tion for. Prep. 1. A solution of sal-ammoniac, 1 part; in proof spirit, 4 parts.

2. A concentrated aqueous solution of sulphate of copper. To be applied night and morning.

Corn Plasters. Prep. 1. From white diachylon, 3 parts; yellow resin, 2 parts; verdigris, 1 part; melted together, and spread on leather.

2. From galbanum plaster, 1 oz.; verdigris, 1 dr.; as the last.

3. From resin plaster, 2 oz.; black pitch, 1 oz.; verdigris and sal-ammoniac, of each ¹⁄₂ dr.

4. To the last add powdered opium, 1 dr. Recommended to allay pain, &c.

5. (W. Cooley.) A piece of spread adhesive plaster is placed upon a table, and a piece of card paper having a round hole cut in it the size of the central portion of the corn is laid upon it; the exposed part is then softened by holding a piece of heated iron for a second or two near it; the card paper is then instantly removed, and nitrate of silver, in fine powder is sprinkled over the part which has been warmed. As soon as the whole is cold, the loose powder is shaken off, and the plaster is ready for use. Very cleanly and convenient. Two or three applications seldom fail to effect a cure.

6. (Mechanical Corn Plasters.) From common adhesive plaster spread on buckskin, amadou, or vulcanised india rubber, cut into pieces, and a circular hole corresponding to the size of the corn punched in each.

Corn Sol′vent. Prep. 1. Carbonate of potassa or pearlash, contained in an open jar or bottle, set in a damp place, until it deliquesces into an oil-like liquid (oil of tartar). Applied by means of a feather, or a small piece of rag dipped in it is bound on the corn.

2. Hydrate of potassa, 1 dr.; rectified spirit 1 oz.; dissolve. As No. 1.

3. Carbonate of potassa, with smalts, ochre, or bole, q. s. to give it the required colour. It must be kept dry, in a well-corked bottle. A pinch is placed on the corn, and confined by means of adhesive plaster or rag.

4. Carbonate of soda, 1 oz., finely powdered and mixed with lard, ¹⁄₂ oz. Applied on linen rag every night.

5. (Sir H. Davy’s.) Carbonate of potassa, 2 parts; salt of sorrel, 1 part; each in fine powder; mix, and place a small quantity on the corn for four or five successive nights, binding it on with a rag.

Obs. Care must be taken, in all cases, to pare the corn moderately close before applying the remedy; but in no case should any of the above be applied to a raw surface.

Corns, Pomade’ for. Prep. 1. Powdered verdigris, 1 dr.; savine ointment, 7 dr.

2. Dried carbonate of soda, 3 dr.; lard, 5 dr.; verdigris or smalts, q. s. to give a slight tinge of green or blue. Applied on a piece of rag.

Treatment for Horses.—“Pare out carefully the seat of corn, removing all reddened and diseased horn; reduce the crust of the quarter slightly, where it is unduly strong, but leave the bars and frog untouched. They must be religiously preserved, especially in weak feet, to afford a wide bearing for the bar shoe that should afterwards be used. To soften the parts, apply, in bad cases, a poultice for a day or two, and a few drops of nitric acid, when the horn is dry and scurfy; keep the hoof soft with soft soap and lard, or any emollient dressing, and pare out the corn every fortnight. In horses subject to corns, shoe and pare out frequently; and along with leather pads, use a bar shoe made with a wide heel on the inside quarter, and nailed only on the outside, or with one nail toward the inside toe.”[250]

CORRO′SIVE SUBLIMATE. See Mercury.

CORUN′DUM. See Emery.

CORYZA. Cold in the head. See Catarrh.

COSMET′ICS. Syn. Cosmet′ica, L.; Cosmetiques, Fr. External applications employed for the purpose of preserving or restoring personal beauty. The term is generally understood to refer to substances applied to the cuticle, to improve the colour and clearness of the complexion; but some writers have included under this head every topical application used with the like intention. Hence cosmetics may be divided into—CUTANEOUS COSMETICS, or those applied to the skin; HAIR COSMETICS, or such as are employed to promote the growth and beauty of the hair; and TEETH COSMETICS, or such as are used to cleanse and beautify the teeth. See Baldness, Cosmetique, Dentifrices, Depilatory, Hair-Dye, Pomade, Tooth Powder, &c.

COSMETIC VINEGAR (Acetum cosmeticum) is a mixture of tinct. benz., 60 parts; bals. Peruv., 10 parts; eau de Cologne and bals. vitæ Hoffm. ph. bor. āā 150 parts; aceti puri, 300 parts; allowed to precipitate and filtered clear.

COSMETICUM (Dr Henry’s):—For scalp diseases and an application for the hair. Spirit, 180 parts; oil of lemon, 3 parts; oil of bergamot, oil of rosemary, and oil of lavender, of each 1 part. (Hager.)

Cosmeticum (Siemerling) for skin affections, freckles, &c. Sweet almonds, 30 grammes; bitter almonds, 15 grammes; blanched and emulsified with 330 grammes of water; the emulsion strained and mixed with 25 grammes tinct. benzoin and 15 grammes lemon juice. (Wittstein.)

COSMETIQUE. [Fr.] Hard pomatum, formed into a cake or stick for the toilet. It is sometimes coloured black or brown, the pigments being added in the state of an impalpable powder.

1. (Black—Cosmetique Noir.) From good lard, 5 parts; wax, 2 parts; (or, hard pomatum, 7 parts;) melt, stir in levigated ivory black, 2 parts; and pour it into moulds of tinfoil; which are afterwards to be placed in paper sheaths.

2. (Brown—Cosmetique Brun.) As the last, but using levigated umber for ‘plain brown,’ and levigated terra di Sienna for ‘auburn’ and ‘chestnut.’

3. (White, or Plain—Cosmetique Blanc.) The same, without colouring matter.

Obs. They are generally scented with musk, ambergris, or cassia.

Use. The above are used to colour moustaches, eyebrows, whiskers, &c., as well as to keep the hair in its place. The labels on the packets before us have—“pour fixer et lisser les cheveux.” The application must be renewed daily, as the cosmetique is gradually removed by friction, and perfectly so by soap-and-water.

COSMOLINE. Syn. Cosmolin. Under the names of Cosmoline and Vaseline some fatty substances melting at 32° to 85° or even 95° C. have lately appeared in commerce. They are very variable mixtures of solid paraffin with paraffin oil, neutral oil, lubricating oil, &c., and are the residues left after the distillation of petroleum slightly purified by means of charcoal. (Miller.)

Cosmoline has been examined by Mr Naylor, who states his belief that it consists of a mixture of paraffins. Comparing Mr Naylor’s results with those obtained by Mr Moss, in an analysis made of a body imported from America, and called “Vaseline,” there seems little reason to doubt that if this latter and “Cosmoline” are not the same substance, they differ from each other only in a very minute degree, this difference not improbably being due to the varying temperature employed in producing them. Cosmoline was found to have the composition:—

Hydrocarbons (paraffins?)98·59

Moisture0·69

Ash0·04

———

99·32

It melts at 40°C., and has a sp. gr. of 0·866 at 45°C. The composition of Vaseline is as follows:—

Hydrocarbons (paraffins?)97·54

Moisture0·50

Ash0·05

———

98·09

It melts at 37° C., and has a sp. gr. of 0·840 at 55° C.

Both bodies are pale yellow in colour, translucent, slightly fluorescent, and semi-solid, and both are alike insoluble in water, slightly soluble in alcohol, and freely so in ether, whilst they are unaffected by hydrochloric acid and solution of potash. The processes by which it is believed cosmoline and vaseline are obtained, consist in separating the various volatile hydrocarbons from crude petroleum by distillation, the residuum is then brought into contact with superheated steam, and finally purified by filtration through animal charcoal. Vaseline has been also named “petroleum jelly.” Professor Otto, of New York, says that vaseline is very extensively used throughout the United States, as a substitute for lard in the preparation of ointments, a purpose for which the freedom from smell, the negative properties and unalterable qualities when exposed to the air, of both substances, seem highly to commend their superiority to lard for this purpose. They have also been employed very successfully for lubricating surgical instruments, and we believe are, when properly scented, used largely as the basis of hair pomades, whilst their suitability for the preparation of suppositories and pessaries has been urged.

This has been demonstrated by the much greater length of time during which certain ointments made by them remain fresh and undecomposed when compared with those in which lard was used.

The ‘American Journal of Pharmacy’ for March, 1877, gives the following formula as a substitute for cold cream, by E. J. Davidson:—Cosmoline, 24 oz.; white wax, spermaceti, of each 12 oz.; glycerin, 3 fl. oz.; oil of geranium, 1 fl. dr.

COSMOS POMADE (J. Pohlmann, Vienna), 1¹⁄₂ parts white wax, 3 parts spermaceti, 2 parts castor oil, 8 parts almond oil, 2 parts glycerine, 9 parts extract of mignonette, ¹⁄₂ part eau de Cologne. (Hager.)

COTARN′INE. A crystallisable substance obtained from the mother-liquors of opianic acid. It is basic, very soluble, and bitter. Hydrochlorate of cotarnine is soluble and crystalline.

COTO BARK. A bark said to be imported from the interior of Bolivia, and thought by Dr Wittstein to belong to a lauraceous or a terebinthinaceous plant. In one specimen examined by Jobst was found a yellowish-white crystalline substance with the biting taste of the bark, which Jobst believes to be its active principle, and to which he gives the name Cotoin. Another sample, however, analysed by Jobst in conjunction with Hesse, failed to yield any cotoin, but gave instead a crystalline mass which consisted principally of three crystalline bodies, to which these chemists purpose applying the names paracotoin, oxyleucotin, and leucotin. Dr Gietel reports that he made trial of the bark therapeutically with some patients in the general hospital of Munich, and the results he obtained were such that he regards it as a specific against diarrhœa in all its varieties. Sometimes he administered it in the form of powder, and at others in that of tincture, the latter being made in the proportions of one part of bark to ten of spirit. He gave of the powder ¹⁄₂ grain four to six times a day, and of the tincture 10 minims every two hours. Herr Burkhart, similarly making trial of the cotoin and paracotoin instead, was equally successful as far as regarded its anti-diarrhœic action, paracotoin, however, exercising a slighter effect than the cotoin. Herr Burkhart administered paracotoin either in powder ¹⁄₁₀th of a gram, with ¹⁄₆th of a gram of sugar every three hours, or ¹⁄₂ a gram rubbed up as an emulsion.

COT′TON. Syn. Gossypium, L. The cotton of which textile fabrics are made consists of hairs covering the seeds of certain plants belonging to the natural order Malvaceæ, or the Mallow family. Our commercial cotton appears to be derived from four distinct species, viz.—

Gossypium arboreum. The tree cotton, an Indian species. Unlike the other cotton plants, it has the dimensions of a small tree. The cotton-hairs are remarkably soft and silky, and are woven by the natives into very fine muslin, used for turbans by the privileged classes only.

Gossypium Barbadense. The ‘Barbadoes’ or ‘Bourbon cotton plant.’ This is the species which yields all our best cotton. In the small American islands which fringe the coast from Charlestown to Savannah, this plant has produced the celebrated ‘sea-island cotton,’ which is unrivalled for the length of its ‘staple,’ its strength, and silkiness.

Gossypium herbaceum. The common cotton plant of India. It produces the Surat cotton of commerce.

Gossypium Peruvianum or acuminatum. A species supposed to be indigenous to America. It furnishes the South American varieties of cotton, as Pernambuco, Peruvian, Maranham, and Brazilian.

Identif. See Linen.

Dyeing. The fibres of cotton have nearly the same affinity for mordants and the colouring matter of dyed stuffs as linen, and may be treated in the same manner. See Dyeing, Linen, &c.

Cotton Cake. The cake remaining after the expression of the oil from the seeds of the cotton plant (Gossypium) is used as a cattle food. The decorticated is preferred to the undecorticated variety, as the latter is said to occasionally set up dangerous internal irritation amongst the animals partaking of it.

Composition of cotton-cake (decorticated).

Moisture9·18

Oil16·05

Albuminous compounds41·25

Non-nitrogenous principles16·45

Phosphates and insoluble earthy matters8·15

Woody fibre8·92

———

100·00

COTTON, GUN-. See Pyroxylin.

COUGH. Syn. Tus′sis, L. The sudden and violent expulsion of air from the lungs. It is generally symptomatic of other affections, but is sometimes idiopathic, or a primary disease. Many cases of cough depend upon the extension of catarrh to the trachea and bronchiæ, which thus become loaded with mucus or phlegm, which they endeavour to throw off by the convulsive effort called coughing. In some cases it is caused by a vitiation and inspissation of the secretions, arising from the imperfect action of the absorbents; this is the common cause of the dry cough of old people. Idiopathic cough is not considered dangerous in itself, or while running its regular course, but it is often productive of most serious consequences, by superinducing the inflammation of some organ, or laying the foundation of phthisis.

Cough is sometimes attended by copious expectoration, and at other times exists without any; it has hence been distinguished into moist or mucous cough, and dry cough.

Treatment. That of common catarrhal cough consists in allaying the irritation as much as possible, by demulcents and expectorants, as mucilaginous drinks and lozenges, which act upon the glottis, and sympathetically upon the trachea and bronchiæ. Among the first may be mentioned almond milk, barley water, refined Spanish juice, gum Arabic, and a mixture of the last two made into lozenges; among the second, the most innocent and convenient is ipecacuanha, in the shape of lozenges, 2 or 3 of which maybe sucked whenever the cough is troublesome. A light diet should be adopted, the bowels kept slightly relaxed by the use of gentle aperients, and a mild and equable temperature sought as much as possible. When this plan does not succeed, recourse may be had to an emetic, followed by small doses of Dover’s powders, and extract or tincture of henbane or squill pill. When a cough is troublesome at night and unattended with fever, a small dose of laudanum, or tincture of henbane, taken on going to rest, will generally procure sleep. In the treatment of dry cough the more stimulating expectorants are useful, as garlic, ammoniacum, styrax, and benzoin, combined with narcotics and sedatives, as henbane, hemlock, and opium. A diaphoretic opiate is also very useful, especially in the cough of old people. See Draught, Emulsion, Mixture, Pills, &c.

COU′MARIN (kōō). Syn. Cu′marin. The odorous principle of the fruit or bean of Dipteryxodorata (tonquin bean). It exists in several other plants, as Melilotus officinalis, Asperula odorata, and Anthoxanthum odoratum.

Prep. From the sliced tonquin beans, by macerating in hot alcohol; straining through cloth, and distilling off the greater part of the spirit. The syrupy residue deposits, on standing, crystals of Coumarin, which must be purified from fat oil by pressure, and then crystallised from hot water.

Prop. Slender, brilliant, colourless needles; fusible at 122° Fahr., and distilling at a higher temperature without decomposition. It has a fragrant odour and burning taste; it is very slightly soluble in cold water, more freely in hot water, and also in alcohol.

COUNTER-IR′RITANTS. In medicine and pharmacy, substances applied to the surface of the body to establish a secondary morbid action, with the view of relieving one already existing. In painful and spasmodic affections, as neuralgia, spasms, and cramp; in rheumatism, lumbago, swelled and painful joints; in headache, sore throat, sprains, languid glandular tumours, and many other cases, this class of medicine often proves extremely valuable. The counter-irritants which are best known are blisters, mustard poultices, hartshorn-and-oil, and liniment of ammonia.

COURT PLAS′TER. See Plaster.

COW DUNG. This substance was formerly employed in large quantities by the calico printers. Recently a mixture of sulphate, carbonate, and phosphate of lime and soda, with British gum or bran, has been successfully tested as a substitute for it, and has the advantage of cleanliness and economy.

COW′HAGE. Syn. Cow′itch; Mucun′a (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. “The hairs of the fruit Mucuna pruriens” (Ph. L.). “The hairs from the pods” (Ph. E.). “The hairy down” (Ph. D.). It occasions violent itching when it comes in contact with the skin, which can only be allayed by a solution of green vitriol, or by oil. It is frequently administered as a vermifuge, made into a confection, by scraping the hair off a pod into treacle, syrup, or honey, for a morning dose, which is repeated for 3 or 4 successive days, followed by a brisk purge. It acts more effectually if its administration has been preceded by a gentle emetic.