Nitroglycerin

“ If a patient has hypotension and a systolic pressure of 110, and is given nitroglycerin, the very unpleasant results from its administration will be immediately noticed. Hence nitroglycerin is one of the most valuable drugs that we possess for the treatment of hypertension, and some patients are even benefited by as small a dose as l/500 grain. ”

“ In diseases of the heart the sudden vasodilation caused by amyl nitrite inhalations is indicated only in angina pectoris. "Then the surface of the body tends to be cold, however, when the peripheral blood pressure is increased and the heart is laboring, nitroglycerin in small doses is valuable. The dose may be from 1/400 to 1/100 grain, dissolved on the tongue or given hypodermically for quick action, or given by the mouth for more prolonged action. In sudden cardiac dyspnea nitroglycerin sometimes acts specifically, especially when there is asthma. ”

“ There is just as much acid after the glycerin is turned into nitroglycerin as there was before. After it is washed out the nitro is left apparently unchanged. It is not broken up, but it is on the edge of it. Give it a knock and it all flies to pieces at once so suddenly that it will loosen more dirt in a second than a hundred pick-and-shovel men could scoop out in a week.
Wealth in Refuse Heaps. ”

“ Nitroglycerin in its liquid form is now rarely used for blasting, partly because its full strength is not often necessary but chiefly because of the difficulty and danger of transporting, handling and charging it. ”

“ Strychnin is then the drug relied on, with such other general medication as is needed, combined with the coincident administration of nitroglycerin, which may also be given in conjunction with digitalis, if deemed advisable. Generally, however, if a heart with aortic stenosis needs stimulation, the blood pressure is generally none too high, although there may be arteriosclerosis present. Therefore when nitroglycerin is indicated to lower blood pressure, digitalis is not usually indicated; when digitalis is indicated to aid the heart, nitroglycerin is generally not indicated. ”

“ Ethanol, absolute. Nitroglycerin (NG) * - one of the following: a. pure material. b. standard solution in ethanol, available from dynamite manufacturer. c. tablets, sublingual, USP (analyzed; 80 to 112% NG) . NOTE: to prepare solutions, weigh, crush and extract with ethanol. Filter and dilute to volume. d. nitroglycerin lactose trituration, available from NG tablet manufacturer. Ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) * - one of the following: a. pure material. b. dynamite, analyzed, available. NOTE: Dynamite is heterogeneous. Use care to obtain representative sample. ”

“ If the nitrites, no preparation seems to act more satisfactorily than nitroglycerin (trinitrin, glyceryl nitratis, glonoin) . Its action may not be so prolonged as other forms of nitrite, such as sodium nitrite or erythrol tetranitrate, but it is not irritant, and only a little less rapid than amyl nitrite, and although the marked dilation lasts but a short time, often apparently only for minutes, still, when frequently repeated or given a few times (from four to six) in twenty-four hours, it frequently keeps the blood pressure lower than it would be without the drug. ”

“ Every hour he must let in some seven hundred pounds of glycerin upon the deadly acid, and every hour he must draw off some fifteen hundred pounds of nitroglycerin and let it go splashing away in a yellowish stream down the long, uncovered trough that leads to the separating-house yonder. From this separating-house runs another trough to the freezing-house, and a third to the distant mixing-house. These three troughs inclose an oblong space, at the corners of which stand the nitrating-house, the separating-house, and the freezing-house. ”

“ In the manufacture glycerin is dropped in a very thin stream into a mixture of 3 parts of nitric (sp. gr. 1.5) and 5 parts of sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 1.84) , the containing vessel being cooled by a water jacket and the acid mixture agitated by a stream of cooled air, the temperature being kept at about 15° C. A considerable excess of acids is necessary for the completion and safety of the reaction, usually about 8 parts of the acid mixture to 1 of glycerin. The higher the strength of the acids the higher the yield of nitroglycerin and the smaller the loss by solution in the waste acids. ”

“ Charcoal from cork is said to absorb about 90% of its weight of nitroglycerin. With the idea of obtaining greater safety, mixtures have been made of nitroglycerin with wood fibre, charcoal and metallic nitrates. Lithofracteur, for instance, consists of 50% nitroglycerin and a mixture of prepared sawdust, kieselguhr and barium nitrate. Carbonite contains 25% of nitroglycerin, the remainder being a mixture of wood-meal and alkali nitrates, with about 1% of sulphur. Dualin, atlas dynamite and potentite are other modifications. ”

“ It is probably decomposed in the formation of potassium and sodium nitrite.
Derivation.—Nitroglycerine is prepared by dropping pure glycerine upon a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids, kept cool by ice, and purified by washing with water. The official one per cent solution is not explosive unless it becomes concentrated by evaporation to an extent exceeding ten per cent.
Properties.—A clear, colorless liquid, possessing the odor and taste of alcohol. Caution should be exercised in tasting it, since even a small quantity is liable to produce violent headache. ”

“ That is, it does not appear that the manufacturer checks the sodium nitrite and nitroglycerin content by analysis. The Council did not determine the nitrite content of the tablets. It maintains that when a manufacturer places a product on the market the burden of proof is on that manufacturer to show that the facts are in accordance with his claims for his product. ”

“ Disabilities attaching to kieselguhr dynamite are that when placed in water the nitroglycerin is liable to be exuded or displaced, also that, like nitroglycerin itself, it freezes fairly easily and thawing the frozen cartridges is a dangerous operation. ”

“ Ethanol is flammable. All work should be done in an exhaust hood and away from any open flame. Nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate can be explosive in their pure forms and extreme caution should be used when handling the bulk material [5, 6] . SAMPLING: 1. ”

“ By mixing the different kinds of charcoal, a material may be obtained possessing the required absorbing qualities, and an explosive compound may then be obtained of the required power without loss of the necessary consistency—that is, without being too dry, which is not desirable. The charcoal not only serves as the best absorbent for the nitroglycerin, but it plays also an important part in the combustion. The nitroglycerin in exploding decomposes into steam, carbonic acid, nitrogen, and oxygen. ”

“ Nitroglycerine.—Mixed acid, containing 41 per cent nitric acid and 57.5 per cent sulphuric acid, is brought to 22° C. by cooling coils of brine, and pure glycerine is injected into the acid at such a rate that no glycerine accumulates unchanged, and that the temperature is kept between 15° and 22° C. When all the glycerine has been added, the liquid is allowed to stand, and the nitroglycerine rises to the surface. It is run off to the wash-house, where it is washed free from acid and settled. The process is a dangerous one, and great care must be taken at every stage of the manufacture. ”

“ The glycerine, when diluted one-half, should give no deposit or separation of fatty acids when nitric peroxide gas is passed through it. (Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5 are the most essential.)
The white flocculent matter sometimes formed is a very great nuisance, and any sample of glycerol which gives such a precipitate when tried in the laboratory should at once be rejected, as it will give no end of trouble in the separating house, and also in the filter house, and it will be very difficult indeed to make the nitro-glycerine pass the heat test. The out- turn of nitro-glycerine also will be very low. ”

“ The action of tin, iron, and lead, slowly decomposing the Nitro-Glycerin, especially in the presence of an acid, indicates that metals having an affinity for oxygen, are the most active in promoting decomposition, evolving at the same time nitrous fumes, or protoxide of nitrogen, whilst the residuary Nitro-Glycerin does not seem to be affected; with sulphuretted hydrogen, as with sulphuret of sodium, potassium and ammonium, the action is prompt, and if these reagents be added in sufficient quantity, the Nitro-Glycerin is wholly decomposed, sulphur being precipitated. ”

“ It is also important that there should be no excess of nitro-glycerine, as this may diminish instead of augment the strength, owing to a difference in the mode of the propagation of the explosive wave in the liquid, and in the mixture. Nitro-glycerine at its freezing point has a tendency to separate from its absorbing material, in fact to exude. When frozen, too, it requires a more powerful detonation to explode it, but it is less sensitive to shock. The specific gravity of blasting gelatine is 1.5 (i.e., nearly equal to that of nitro-glycerol) ; that of gun-cotton (dry) is 1.0. ”

“ This house probably requires more attention than any other in the danger area, on account of the danger of the decomposition of the small quantities of nitro-glycerine, which, as it is mixed with such a large quantity of acids and water, is very apt to become hot, and decomposition, which sets up in spots where a little globule of nitro-glycerine is floating, surrounded by acids that gradually get hot, gives off nitrous fumes, and perhaps explodes, and thus causes the sudden explosion of the whole. ”

“ The nitro-glycerine must be obtained by difference, as it is quite useless to evaporate down the ethereal solution to obtain it, as it is itself volatile to a very considerable extent at the temperature of evaporation of the ether, and the result, therefore, will always be much too low. ”

“ Second, as to the chemical effects: by the action of the oxygen which this air contains it oxidizes the nitrous acid, which may be present in the acids or may be produced in the reaction, to nitric acid, and thus economizes the materials, increases the quantity of the product, and produces a chemically pure article, as is shown by the fact that the Nitro-Glycerin thus produced is perfectly colorless, congeals uniformly at the same degree of temperature and produces, when exploded, no offensive vapors deleterious to the health of the miners using it. ”

“ Dynamite glycerine should be free from arsenic, lime, chlorides, and fatty acids, the inorganic matter should not amount to more than 0.1 per cent., and a portion diluted and treated with nitrate of silver solution should give no turbidity or discoloration in ten minutes. The specific gravity should be 1.262 at 15° C. (59° F.) and the colour somewhat yellow.
Chemically pure glycerine or double distilled glycerine is produced by redistilling "once distilled" glycerine. Every care is taken to avoid all fractions which do not withstand the nitrate of silver test. ”

“ Walter Crum [5] describes a method of analysing bodies containing nitric acid, applicable to the nitro-compounds; when nitrate of potash is used, it is previously purified by crystallization, and fused at little more than its melting heat. Nitro-Glycerin, gun-cotton, etc., must be deprived of moisture.
A glass jar eight inches long and an inch and a quarter in diameter, is filled with and inverted over mercury; a single lump of time fused nitrate, weighing about six grains, is let up through the mercury into the inverted jar, and afterwards fifty grains of water. ”

“ One draws the acid, another weighs it, and a third carries it to the troughs. After an interval during which the acids cool, three men attend closely to the converting of glycerin into Tri-Nitro-Glycerin, knowing that their safety, and the safety of every man on the works, depends on themselves alone, during this process. ”

“ The advantages claimed (only by the inventor) for dualin, are, that it is cheaper, safer, and more powerful than Nitro-Glycerin, and some experiments made in Prussia, are adduced in proof. I have to observe, on this point, that the Nitro-Glycerin made by the Nobel process, probably used in Prussia, is very inferior to the Tri-Nitro-Glycerin made by my process, both in stability and in explosive force, and it is much more readily exploded, fifteen grains of fulminate of mercury being necessary to ensure explosion of this latter, without chance of failure. ”

“ Examine your cans from time to time, and notice if, at the level of the Nitro-Glycerin, any pin-holes have eaten through; in such case procure a new can, or stone jar, and empty the contents out, not trusting your hold to the upper part of the can, lest it may give way.
14. When solid, or congealed, it is absolutely safe; if possible, therefore, any surplus should be stored surrounded with ice, since no explosion can take place when it is solid. ”

“ Nitro-glycerine is composed of nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and that clear, sweet, soothing liquid called glycerine. The absorbent material is a fine, white powder, composed of the remains of infusoria. This takes up two or three times its weight of the nitro-glycerine without becoming pasty; the ingredients are mixed in leaden vessels with wooden spoons to avoid friction. If fire is applied to this [100] mass, it burns with a strong flame without any explosion; but the application of a full sudden blow causes it to explode with tremendous force.
223. Who was the “Great American Commoner”? ”