58 ACIDUM ARSENIOSUM-BROMINE. and death. The antidote should be bicarbonate of sodium and demulcents. A solution of this salt is officinal. (See Antiseptics.) Upon the surface of a wound a solution of forty grains to the ounce is said to produce no visible slough, but to protect the discharges from decomposition for several days. ACIDUM ARSENIOSUM.-Arsenious Acid. Arsenicum Album-Arsenic, White Arsenic, Arsenious Anhydrid. E.; Acide Arsenieux, Arsenic Blanc, Fleurs d'Arsenic, Fr.; Arsenicsäure, Weisser Arsenic, G. As2O3; 197.8. For some reason arsenic has been employed as largely as any caustic, but has two very serious drawbacks, intense pain and the liability to absorption and constitutional poisoning. This latter accident is naturally more likely to happen when the caustic is applied over a large surface, as in cancer. For lupus one part of arsenious acid may be mixed with three of cinnabar and twenty-four of ointment. This is spread upon lint and applied for three days; the first not being painful, the second considerably, and the third intensely so. It is claimed for this and other caustics that it attacks entirely or chiefly the diseased parts and spares the healthy skin. Morphia may be added to arsenical preparations for external use. For the constitutional symptoms and internal therapeutic use of arsenic see Alteratives. BROMUM.-BROMINE. Bromum, Br., P. G.; Brôme, Fr.; Brom, G. Brominium. Br. 79.8. Dark brownish-red, with a yellowish red, irritating vapor, having a peculiar suffocating odor resembling that of chlorine. Soluble in 33 parts of water at 15° C. Very soluble in alcohol and ether with gradual decomposition of these two liquids, also in chloroform and bisulphide of carbon. Vapor of bromine causes an intense irritation of the mucous membrane of the air-passages and of the eyes, followed by cough, hoarseness, and dyspnoea. When ingested it causes violent irritation and caustic action on the stomach and intestinal canal. Applied upon the skin it also causes irritation and ulceration followed by gangrenous sores. Formerly bromine was used as an antiseptic dressing in hospital gangrene and cancerous ulcerations, but its topical application causes much pain, and its use has been superseded by more efficient and less irritating escharotics. The chief medical use of bromine is in its salts of sodium, potassium, lithium, and calcium, all of which have a similar action upon the nervous system, a description of which will be found under the head of Bromide of Potassium. PYRETHRUM-QUILLAIA. MUCOUS IRRITANTS. 59 SIALAGOGUES (azov, saliva; ayw, to bring), drugs which increase the flow of salivary secretions. The specific action of the mercurials is to produce stomatitis attended with salivation. Pilocarpine produces an abundant flow for a few hours. Where dryness of the mouth is a distressing symptom it may be used for a relief, which is, however, only brief. Various aromatics call out a moderate and physiological flow. Cubebs (see Diuretics) may be used in substance or in the form of troches for moistening the mouth and throat. PYRETHRUM.1-Pellitory. Pyrethri Radix, Br.; Radix Pyrethri Romani-Pellitory Root, Pellitory of Spain, E.; Pyrèthre, Salivaire, Fr.; Römische Betramwurzel, G. The root of Anacyclus pyrethrum, a native of Northeastern Africa and cultivated in gardens (Nat. Ord. Compositæ). This root contains an acrid resin which is probably its active principle. Severe gastro-intestinal and nervous symptoms have been produced in a child by an overdose of the tincture. Its almost exclusive use is as a masticatory, to promote, by its pungency in the mouth, the flow of saliva. This action seems. to be regarded as desirable in relieving certain pains about the head and face and in some local affections of the mouth. A piece of the root may be chewed or a decoction used as a gargle. A tincture is officinal. DOSE.-Thirty to sixty grains, two to four grammes. TINCTURA PYRETHRI.-TINCTURE OF PYRETHRUM. Pyrethrum, 20; Alcohol, 100. ERRHINES (ev, in; pv, the nose), substances introduced into the nose to produce secretion or sneezing. TABACUM.-TOBACCO. (See Narcotics and Antispasmodics.) Snuff is the most common of sternutatories. QUILLAIA.-Soap Bark. Écorce de Quillaya, Fr.; Seifenrinde, G. The bark of Quillaia saponaria, a South American tree (Nat. Ord. Rosacea). Quillaia owes its common name and its property of forming a froth with water to the glucoside saponin. This glucoside, which is found in a number of plants of the order Caryophyllaceæ, and in the officinal Senega, is irritant to the upper respi 1 P. roseum and P. carneum furnish "Persian" and other insect powders. 60 ABRUS PRECATORIUS. ratory passages and causes sneezing, cough, and increasing mucous secretion. It has also, when locally applied, an anesthetic effect, while internally it is a paralyzant of the heart and respiration. Saponin has been recommended on theoretical grounds as an antipyretic; but neither it nor most of the drugs containing it is used in this way. Its therapeutic uses are those of a sternutatory in coryza, and its glucoside qualifies it to take the place of senega as an expectorant. It is useful in making emulsions and may also take the place of soap. Dose. A small quantity of the powdered bark may be snuffed up the nose. Errhines assist in clearing out the nasal passages. [ABRUS PRECATORIUS.] Jequirity, Guinea Peas, Paternoster Beans, Black-eyed Susans. The infusion of jequirity contains large numbers of bacilli, which were at first thought to be the active principle. It is found, however, that a carefully sterilized, but not boiled infusion can produce the usual effects. Further than this the active principle is not known, An infusion of from one-half per cent. upward to two per cent., when brushed several times upon the conjunctiva, produces an intense purulent and pseudomembranous inflammation, which has by several observers been compared to gonorrhœal ophthalmia; and, like it, has led to very serious consequences, even panophthalmitis, destruction of the eye, and periostitis of the neighboring bones. The inflammation may be accompanied by a good deal of fever. The inflammation seems to be a substitutive" one, and in some cases of chronic conjunctivitis and trachoma, with congestive thickenings and sluggish granulations, has produced favorable rosalts. The method cannot, however, be considered safe. SECTION VI. LOCAL ANÆSTHETICS. CERTAIN drugs have it in their power to paralyze the terminal filaments of sensitive nerves when they can be brought sufficiently close. It is probable that this action might be exerted anywhere in the course of the nerves, since by injecting in the neighborhood of a nerve-trunk the territory supplied by it becomes anæsthetic. It is apparently not necessary for their effect that these drugs should be absorbed into the circulation, but simply penetrate by imbibition as far as the ultimate distribution of sensitive filaments among the cells of the epidermis or mucous epithelium. CARBOLIC ACID. (See Antiseptics.) Surgeons and attendants using the ordinary solutions of this acid from 21 per cent. down find that the hands become numb and anæsthetic. A dry, aseptic, and painless gangrene of the extremities, fingers, and toes, has been observed in some cases where dressings of carbolic acid have been employed in too great strength or for too long a time. It has been used to produce anæsthesia of the exposed nerve of a tooth and even of the skin, so that an incision suitable for ligaturing an artery has been made without pain. A mixture of one part of glycerine and two of carbolic acid may be left in contact with the skin for three or five minutes. If the exposure is not longer than this, a healthy skin becomes only slightly red and swollen, and may be thus prepared for the puncture of the hypodermic needle, a trocar, or a bistoury. The weaker solutions (to 1 per cent.) or ointments (oxide of zinc) are usefully employed to relieve itching or the pain of burns. TINCTURA ACONITI.-Tincture of Aconite. 40 per cent. Aconite. If a piece of fresh aconite leaf be chewed for a minute or two, the lips and tongue have a peculiar tingling sensation and become somewhat anesthetic. The same effect may be produced by an application of the tincture or other preparation and is probably due to a direct action on the peripheral sensitive filaments. When aconite is absorbed a similar sensation is produced, beginning in the lips and tongue, but extending to the whole face or even whole body. In either case the abnormal, finally diminished sensibility is undoubtedly due to the contact of the aconite with the same nervous filaments, only in the one case it reaches them by imbibition through the epidermis, and in the other is carried there by the blood. The sensitiveness of various persons to the local action of aconite seems to vary considerably. Tincture of aconite alone or with other ingredients in a liniment may be used for neuralgia for an external application. Its internal use in this affection will be elsewhere spoken of. [ACONITINE] may be employed as a local application, but on account of its great activity as a poison is not to be recommended for general use. VERATRINA-VERATRINE. An alkaloid or mixture of alkaloids, prepared from the seeds of Asagræa officinalis Nat. Ord. Melanthaceæ). Òf a distinctive acrid taste, leaving a sensation of tingling and numbness on the tongue, producing constriction of the fauces, and highly irritant to the nostrils. Slightly soluble in cold and hot water. Soluble in 3 parts of alcohol, a'so soluble in 6 parts of ether, 2 of chloroform, 96 of glycerine, 56 of olive oil. This alkaloid is closely akin to or includes the veratralbia of the European Veratrum album and the veratroidia of the indigenous and officinal Veratrum viride. Applied to the skin or mucous membranes, it produces prickling, burning, and numbness. Severe vomiting and usually diarrhoea are consequences of its introduction into the intestinal canal in considerable doses. Small doses reduce the force and frequency of the heart's action, but with larger doses the pulse becomes frequent, feeble, and irregular, the temperature is reduced, and the general condition is one of collapse. Muscular trembling in men, and convulsions in animals, and final paralysis, show that it is a muscular poison. Veratrine has been used in febrile diseases as a cardiac sedative. It undoubtedly reduces the pulse and temperature; but the results of the use of this powerful agent in pneumonia, for instance, do not show that it either shortens the disease or diminishes the mortality, and it may be regarded for this purpose as obsolete. It is used in neuralgia and rheumatism. OLEATUM VERATRIN.E—OLFATE OF VERATRINE. Used to introduce veratrine into the local circulation in certain forms of local neuralgia. It should not be applied over an exten |