ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM DILUTUM.

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cardiac motor ganglia. It is said to form with hæmoglobin a compound (cyan-hæmoglobin), which does not readily give up oxygen. The odor of the acid is fragrant, resembling that of bitter almonds or peaches, and may be detected in the lungs shortly after death. The effects of a medicinal dose pass off in an hour at farthest.

It

Locally applied to the skin, Hydrocyanic Acid penetrates the epidermis and paralyzes the end-organs of the sensory nerves in the derma. is rapidly absorbed from mucous surfaces.

CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM has similar action, but in addition has some few peculiar to itself. Locally used it produces dermatitis, with an eczematous eruption, and if applied to an abraded surface freely may cause fatal effects. Internally it has proved fatal in doses of 3 to 5 grains, with all the symptoms of Prussic Acid poisoning, but its action is less rapid. It is much used in photography, and many cases of poisoning by it have occurred in persons employed in that art.

Antagonists and Antidotes.

Atropine has antagonistic action, but is too slowly diffused to be of any value. Ammonia by inhalation, by the stomach, and by intra-venous injection, with cold affusion to the spine, and artificial respiration, are the measures most likely to avail in cases of poisoning where there is time to do anything. In poisoning by Potassium Cyanide give the Sulphate of Iron, producing Ferrocyanide of Iron (Prussian Blue). Then evacuation of the

stomach, artifical respiration, and Ammonia by intra-venous injection.

THERAPEUTICS.

HYDROCYANIC ACID is used for its antispasmodic and sedative effects. In vomiting, whooping-cough, and coughs of spasmodic character, in asthma and other neuroses of the respiratory organs, in affections involving the pneumogastric nerve, vertigo and headache from stomachal derangements, gastralgia, painful dyspepsia, vomiting, etc., it is very efficient as a palliative. In acute mania and melancholia it has been used with advantage; and in various skin diseases, accompanied by itching, tingling, etc., its use as a lotion (m xxx-3j ad 3j Aquæ Rosa) to the unbroken surface is prompt in relieving the pruritus and other distressing sensations.

CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM in ointment (gr. v ad 3j) is used to allay pruritus, and in solution (gr. iij-v ad 3j) is applied locally with benefit. in reflex headaches, and is used as a wash to remove nitrate of silver stains. It has been used internally in doses of gr. j for acute articular rheumatism, but such employment of it is highly dangerous.

FERROCYANIDE OF POTASSIUM has been used in doses of 8 to 15 grains as an astringent and anodyne, but it is seldom employed in medicine.

CHERRY-LAUREL WATER has been extensively used as a flavoring agent, having a very agreeable taste. It is official in the British Pharmacopoeia, and is supposed to be a rather elegant mode of administering Prussic Acid; but the uncertainty of its strength is such that it should never be used

internally, except in very small quantities. It has been employed as an anaesthetic injection into the urethra prior to catheterization, and was formerly employed by ophthalmologists as an eye-wash in painful affections of that organ.

ACIDUM LACTICUM, Lactic Acid,is a liquid composed of 75 per cent. of absolute Lactic Acid (HC,H,O,) and 25 per cent. of water; nearly colorless, syrupy, odorless, of acid taste and reaction, freely miscible with water, alcohol and ether, but nearly insoluble in chloroform. It is produced by the fermentation of sugar of milk, has a sp. gr. of 1.212, and is difficult to obtain pure. It enters into Syrupus Calcii Lactophosphatis. Dose, 3ss-3ss, well diluted.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THERAPEUTICS.

Lactic Acid is found in the stomach as a product of the food, and combines with bases in the blood, forming lactates, which, being oxidized, are converted into carbonates. It aids digestion and promotes the appetite, but, in large doses, causes flatulence and much epigastric pain. Injected into the peritoneal cavity of animals, it excites endocarditis, and given in diabetes, it has produced acute rheumatism and rheumatic endocarditis. Hence its supposed causation of acute rheumatism when in excess and free in the blood. It dissolves false membranes and the phosphate of calcium.

It is used with benefit in diabetes, atonic dyspepsia, oxaluria, and in the lithic and phosphatic diatheses when due to imperfect digestion and assimilation. As a solvent of false membrane in croup and diphtheria it is unquestionably of great service. In chronic cystitis it arrests the ammoniacal decomposition of the urine. As the acid found in the shops is generally of poor quality, disappointment in its use may be expected.

ACIDUM NITRICUM, Nitric Acid,-is a liquid composed of 69.4 per cent. of absolute Nitric Acid, HNO3, and 30.6 per cent. of water. It is colorless, fuming, very caustic and corrosive, of sp. gr. 1.420, strongly acid in reaction, and is obtained by the action of Sulphuric Acid on Nitrate of Potassium. Is only used externally as a caustic.

Preparations.

Acidum Nitricum Dilutum, Diluted Nitric Acid,-has of the above 1 part in 6 of Distilled Water, and contains 10 per cent. of absolute Nitric Acid. Dose m iij-xv, well

diluted..

Acidum Nitrohydrochloricum, Nitrohydrochloric Acid, Nitromuriatic Acid, Aqua Regia, a golden-yellow, fuming, corrosive liquid, composed of Nitric Acid 4 parts, Hydrochloric Acid 15 parts. Is wholly volatilized by heat, readily dissolves gold-leaf, and a drop added to test-solution of Potassium Iodide liberates Iodine in abundance. Dose, mj-viij, well diluted.

Acidum Nitrohydrochloricum Dilutum, Diluted Nitrohydrochloric Acid,-consists of Nitric Acid 4, Hydrochloric Acid 15, Water 76 parts. Dose, m v-xx, well diluted.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THERAPEUTICS.

The action and uses of these agents are herein described with those of the other mineral acids, under the title ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM (see ante, page 66). Some special properties are as follows:

NITRIC ACID is an exceedingly powerful escharotic, but, as it coagulates and does not redissolve the albumen of the tissues, it forms a barrier to its own excessive action. The vapor may cause oedema of the glottis, intense bronchitis, etc., and death from suffocation. It is used for the destruction of chancres, warts, hemorrhoids, phagedenic ulcers, etc.; and internally in dilute form for bilious affections, as it is supposed to have a selective action on the liver. It also lessens phosphatic deposits in the urine, and acts as an astringent in the system, diminishing profuse secretion in bronchorrhoea and phthisis.

NITROHYDROCHLORIC ACID is also supposed to specially affect the liver. It is usefully employed in jaundice, dyspepsia, and the so-called bilious condition also in frontal headache, situated just above the eyebrows, when unaccompanied by constipation, and in acidity of the stomach. In hepatic disorders it may be used in dilute form as baths, or applied to the hepatic region on compresses. The official dilute acid is of little use therapeutically, as it rapidly deteriorates, and the same may be said of the strong acid when standing long enough for the color to change to a lemonyellow. The most efficient preparation is the strong acid freshly prepared when it is of an orange-red color. This should be properly diluted when required for use, and should be constantly protected from light.

ACIDUM OLEICUM, Oleic Acid, HC,HO, is one of the constituent acids of oils and fats, obtained commercially as a secondary product in the manufacture of stearin candles. It is a yellowish oily liquid, semi-solid at 57° F., odorless, tasteless, and of neutral reaction, insoluble in water but soluble in alcohol, chloroform, benzol, benzin, turpentine, and the fixed oils. It dissolves most of the metallic oxides and the uncombined alkaloids, forming the so-called Oleates, which, however, are not pure chemical compounds, but merely compounds of the oxides or alkaloids, as the case may be, with oleic acid, dissolved in great excess of the latter. Two of these are official, viz.—

Preparations.

Oleatum Hydrargyri, Oleate of Mercury-has 10 per cent. of the Yellow ́Oxide of Mercury, with 90 of Oleic Acid.

Oleatum Veratrina, Oleate of Veratrine-has 2 per cent. of Veratrine in 90 of Oleic

Unofficial Preparations.

Oleates (Oleata) of Aconitine (2 per cent.), Atropine (2 per cent.), Morphine (10 per cent.), Morphine and Mercury (2 per cent. morphine and 20 per cent. mercuric oxide), Quinine (25 per cent.), Strychnine (2 per cent.), Arsenic (gr. xx of oleate of arsenic to the 3), Aluminium, Bismuth, Copper, Iron, Lead, Silver, Zinc etc., are prepared by the manufacturing pharmacists, and are to be obtained in the shops. Most of them answer to the description given above, but several are Oleo-palmitates, or double salts of Oleic and Palmitic Acids, being prepared from oils which yield the latter acid in considerable quantity. Drs. Shoemaker and Wolff, of Philadelphia, have introduced, under the above names, several solid or semi-solid preparations, which they claim to be chemically true oleates, salts having no excess of either their acid or basic radicals. They are produced by the double decomposition of sodium oleate with solutions of neutral salts, the precipitates, washed and dried, being the oleates required. These oleates are claimed to be more stable than the official oleic solutions, and using less oleic acid are much less costly. Many of them may be used as dusting powders, or mixed with oil or lard to form ointments.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THERAPEUTICS.

Oleic Acid is only used in making the Oleates, which were introduced by Marshall, in 1872, as substitutes for ointments, being cleaner, more elegant, and more penetrating, but decidedly more irritating if applied with friction. Their medicinal properties depend upon the bases employed, hence their actions and uses will be described under the corresponding basic heads. They should usually be diluted with an equal bulk of vaseline or olive oil before being rubbed into the skin, or they may produce a cutaneous eruption or even pustulation. As a rule, they should be lightly spread over the surface with the finger or a brush. As parasiticides, the Oleates of Copper and Mercury are most efficient, and in skin diseases generally these preparations are rapidly coming into favor.

ACIDUM PHOSPHORICUM, Phosphoric Acid,—is a liquid composed of 50 per cent. of Orthophosphoric Acid, H,PO,, and 50 per cent. of water, and is obtained by oxidizing Phosphorus by Nitric Acid. It is strongly acid, odorless, colorless, and of sp. gr. 1.347.

Preparations.

Acidum Phosphoricum Dilutum, Diluted Phosphoric Acid, has of Phosphoric Acid 20 parts in 80 of Distilled Water, sp. gr. 1.057, and contains 10 per cent. of Orthophosphoric Acid. Dose, m v-xxx, in sufficient water.

Phosphates of Ammonium, Ferrum, and Sodium, and the Syrupus Ferri, Quininæ et Strychnine Phosphatum, are described under Phosphorus.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THERAPEUTICS.

The action and uses of Phosphoric Acid are described with those of the other Mineral Acids under ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM (see ante, page 66). It may be given in larger doses than the other acids without deranging digestion, and is therefore preferred in cases requiring acid treatment for a long period, as in diabetes, etc. It is considered of especial value in strumous affections, and it is thought to diminish the growth of osseous tumors, and to dissolve phosphatic deposits. As it contains no free phosphorus, it cannot be used to obtain the effects of that drug.

ACIDUM PICRICUM-ACIDUM SULPHURICUM.

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ACIDUM PICRICUM, Picric Acid, Carbazotic Acid, Trinitrophenol, CH3(NO2)3O (Unofficial),-is obtained by the action of Nitric Acid on Carbolic Acid, or many other substances. It has recently been introduced as a test for albumen and sugar in the urine. A saturated aqueous solution has been used locally in erysipelas with some advantage. Some of its salts (Picrates of Ammonium, Iron, etc.) have been tried therapeutically, without any particular results. Powers as an antiperiodic and anthelmintic and against trichinæ have been urged for it, but experience has not supported these claims. Dose, gr. v-xv per diem.

Ammonium Picrate, in doses of gr. % to gr. jss, in pill, four times daily, has been used in the malarial fevers of India, in over 10,000 cases with most effective results.

ACIDUM SULPHURICUM, Sulphuric Acid,-is a strongly caustic and corrosive liquid, oily, inodorous, of a strong acid reaction, composed of not less than 96 per cent. of absolute Sulphuric Acid (H,SO,) and 4 per cent. of water. It is obtained by the combustion of Sulphur and its oxidation by nitrous fumes. Its specific gravity should not be below 1.840, and it is miscible in all proportions with water and alcohol, with evolution of heat. Occasionally used as a caustic.

Preparations.

Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum, Diluted Sulphuric Acid,-has of the strong acid I part to 9 of distilled water. Dose, m v-xv, well diluted.

Acidum Sulphuricum Aromaticum, Aromatic Sulphuric Acid, Elixir of Vitriol,—is Sulphuric Acid 20 per cent., diluted with Alcohol and flavored with Cinnamon and Ginger. It is not an acid, but rather an ether formed by reaction between the acid and the alcohol. Dose, m v-xv, well diluted.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND THERAPEUTICS.

The action and uses of Sulphuric Acid generally are described with those of the other Mineral Acids under ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM (see ante, page 66). Its chief use internally is in lead-poisoning, to form the insoluble sulphate, and as a remote astringent in diarrhoea, hemorrhoids, hemorrhages, night-sweats, and mucous discharges. In choleraic diarrhoea and lead poisoning it is generally administered in combination with Opium. The hemorrhages in which it is efficient are only those from mucous surfaces. It is exerted chiefly by the kidneys, part escaping by the bowels as sulphates, part also by the skin. Like the other mineral acids, it does not increase the acidity of the urine to any considerable extent. Its principal actions are those of an astringent, an anhydrotic and a hemostatic.