AQUA AMMONIAS.

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death-like state, merely by inhaling the vapour of this solution. In casesof insensibility it must be employed with great caution; for, if usedinjudiciously, serious or even fatal consequences may result. Nysten ( Ckristison’s Treatise) tells us that a physician, for some years sub-ject to epilepsy, was found by his servant in a fit. In order to rouse hismaster, the latter applied a handkerchief moistened with this solution tohis nose, so assiduously, that he brought on bronchitis, of which thephysician died on the third day. In the Edinburgh Medical and Surgi-cal Journal, there is the report of the case of a lad whose deathwas produced, or at least hastened, by an attendant applying, “ with suchunwearied but destructive benevolence,” ammonia to the nose, that suffo-cation had almost resulted. Dyspnoea, with severe pain in the throat,immediately succeeded, and death took place forty-eight hours after-wards. A French physician also suffered ulceration of the mouth, andviolent pulmonary catarrh, in consequence of the excessive use of ammo-nia, given as an antidote for hydrocyanic acid.

When the solution of ammonia is swallowed in large doses, it acts asa powerfully corrosive poison ; but modem well-marked cases in the humansubject are wanting. However, it is very evident that violent inflamma-tion of all that part of the alimentary canal with which the poison may bein contact, would be the result, and that if much he taken, decompositionof the part might be expected. When swallowed in a very dilute form,and in small quantity, the local phenomena are not very marked, and theeffect of the substance is then seen in the affection of the general system.

The chemical action of ammonia on the tissues is analogous to that ofpotash, hereafter to be described.

(i. Remote effects. —The remote effects may be investigated under twoheads, according as they are produced by small or large doses. In smallor therapeutic doses, such as we are accustomed to employ in the treat-ment of diseases, ammonia acts as a stimulant, excitant, or calefacient.It produces a sensation of warmth in the mouth, throat, and epigastrium,frequently attended with eructations. The pulse is soon rendered quickerand fuller ; the heat of the skin is sometimes increased, and there is a ten-dency to sweating, which, if promoted by the use of warm diluents andclothing, frequently terminates in copious perspiration. But the skin isnot the only secreting organ stimulated to increased exertion ; we observethe kidneys produce more urine, and frequently the quantity of bronchialmucus is increased. The nervous system is also affected. Wibmer{die Wirkung, &c. p. 123) has made several experiments on himself, andfrom them it appears that ammonia affects the head, sometimes causingoppression, or a sense of fulness, but no pain. The increased capa-bility of muscular exertion, the excitement of the mental functions, andthe greater facility with which all the functions are executed, are furtherindications of the action of ammonia on the nervous system. The effectsof large or poisonous doses on the human subject have not been de-scribed : but that the nervous system is affected, seems probable from acase mentioned by Plenck , which terminated fatally in four minutes ;though the symptoms are not related.

The modus operandi of ammonia deserves to be noticed. Does this sub-stance become absorbed ? I am not acquainted with any facts whichenable us to decide this question. Even admitting that absorption doestake place, it is more likely that the remote effects are of a sympathetic