given in large doses, for instance, half an ounce, it operates as a laxative. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that its useful properties are greatly changed in a state of intimate combination with animal matters: thus, salt-butter and salt-meat, or fish, are less wholesome than those substances when eaten in a fresh state, with a due portion of that domestic spice; nay, if used too frequently, the former often lay the foundation of tedious maladies, such as leprosy, scurvy, and other cutaneous eruptions.—Lastly, salt is sometimes administered with a view to restrain the operation of emetics, or to carry them off by stool; and likewise as a stimulus in clysters.
A new species of neutral salt has lately been discovered in France, an account of which we have abstracted from M. Chaussier's Memoir, inserted in the 37th No. of the "Recueil Periodique," a Medical Journal published at Paris. This new salt is the sulphurated hydro-sulphur of soda, and is formed spontaneously in manufactories where the sulphate of soda, or Glauber's Salt (which see) is decomposed, by being melted in a reverberatory furnace, with a certain portion of iron filings, and carbon or charcoal. Our limits will not permit us to state the whole of this process; we shall therefore only observe, that the sulphurated hydro-sulphur of soda is found in the leys which remain, after the carbonate of soda has been obtained by ebullition. Such leys being suffered to stand for some time, a crystallization takes place in the residuum; and the crystals appear of a dusky yellow colour, being sometimes soiled, or tinged with a black powder, adhering to their surface: these are next thrown into a proper quantity of water; and, when almost dissolved, the fluid is strained and deposited in a cool place, when the saline matter will again be crystallized. Thus purified, the salt forms large transparent crystals, having a fresh taste, which speedily becomes somewhat bitter: it retains its form and properties on exposure to the air, neither deliquescing, nor crumbling into powder.
M. Chaussier has successfully administered this neutral salt in cases of inveterate herpetic affections, which were not accompanied with fever or inflammation: he observes, that it may also be prescribed in certain intestinal diseases, occasioned by metastases, or the repulsion of a psoric and scorbutic virus.—The doses must at first be small, and gradually increased; while the efficacy of the drug may be promoted by diluents, or such drinks as are best calculated to alleviate the situation of the patient.
Salting Meat. See Beef; Brine; Flesh-meat; Pickle; Pork, &c.
SALTPETRE, or Nitre, a concrete saline matter, the nature and properties of which have already been stated, vol. iii. p. 268.—Without entering into the particulars relative to the most economical method of manufacturing this useful salt, we shall briefly point out the requisites to its generation: 1. Animal and vegetable matters intimately blended and exposed to a moderate temperature; 2. Such a degree of moisture, especially with urine in which nettles, thistles, artichokes, and similar plants, have been boiled, as will promote corruption,
