Seidlitz
(ˈsɛdlɪts)
Also 8 seydlitz, 9 sedlitz.
The name of a village in Bohemia, where there is a spring impregnated with magnesium sulphate and carbonic acid. Used attrib. in † Seidlitz salt, magnesium sulphate; † Seidlitz water, an artificial aperient water of the same composition as the water of the Seidlitz spring. Hence in Seidlitz powder (arbitrarily named, merely on account of its aperient property), a dose consisting of two powders, one of tartaric acid and the other of a mixture of potassium tartrate and sodium bicarbonate, which are to be dissolved separately, and the solutions mixed and drunk during effervescence.
| 1784 Cullen tr. Bergman's Phys. & Chem. Ess. I. 439 The Seydlitz, Seydschutz, or Epsom salts are got by evaporation from the water of fountains in the places from whence they borrow their names. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 491 The Sedlitz water is another sort of artificial mineral water introduced by Mr. Paul in this country... This water consists of vitriolated magnesia,..and is so powerfully impregnated with carbonic acid, as to render the bitterness of the salt scarcely discoverable. 1815 Specif. Savory's Patent No. 3954, The combination of a neutral salt or powder which possesses all the properties of the medicinal spring at Seidlitz, in Germany, under the name of the Seidlitz Powders. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xx, Another clerk..was mixing a Seidlitz powder, under cover of the lid of his desk. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. viii. 112 The simple effect of mixing a seidlitz powder was a source of amusement. |