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CORNELL UNIVERSITY.
THE
Roswell P. Flower Library
THE GIFT OF
ROSWELL P. FLOWER
FOR THE USE OF
THE N. Y. STATE VETERINARY COLLEGE
18907
2757
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59 19 ao. Library
ii
Veterinary medic
| iil
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VETERINARY MEDICINES
THEIR ACTIONS AND USES
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Printed at the Elinburgh Uwiversity Press
By T. and A. Consras_e,
OR
DAVID DOUGLAS,
LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT
AND CO., LTD.
CAMBRIDGE . MACMILLAN AND BOWES,
GLASGOW. . . JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONs.
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VETERINARY MEDICINES
THEIR ACTIONS AND USES
BY
FINLAY DUN
FORMERLY LECTURER ON MATERIA MEDICA AND DIETETICS AT THE
EDINBURGH VETERINARY COLLEGE, AND
EXAMINER IN CHEMISTRY IN THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS
EDITED BY
JAMES MACQUEEN, F.R.C.V\S.
ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE, LONDON
@enth Edition
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Vv oS.
LIBRARY, |
Be -/
4, AN £/
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NC UNNE™
New York:
WILLIAM R. JENKINS,
VETERINARY PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER,
851 AND 853 SIXTH AVENUE.
1902.
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PREFACE TO THE TENTH EDITION
A NEw Edition of this standard work on Veterinary Materia
Medica has been wanted for some time. Prior to his
lamented death, Mr. Finlay Dun, recognising the urgency
of the demand, had commenced the preparation of the
Tenth Edition, which, on the plans indicated by his ms.
and marginal notes, has now been completed. Numerous
important alterations, rendered necessary by the publication
of the new British Pharmacopeia (1898), have been made
and many new remedies have been inserted. The body of
the work has been rearranged, and while every article has
been revised, no change has been made in the principles
enunciated by the author. To provide space for the various
additions and alterations without enlarging the volume, the
text in places dealing with the Chemistry of Drugs, has been
curtailed. Revision has been carried out with a constant
regard to practical utility, and in the hope that Dun’s
Veterinary Medicines will continue to serve effectually the
requirements of students and practitioners.
The Editor desires gratefully to acknowledge his in-
debtedness to Professor German Sims Woodhead, Cambridge
University, for revising and extending the pages on bacteria
and antitoxines; and to Professor John F. M‘Fadyean,
Principal, Royal Veterinary College, for permission to insert
the directions for using mallein, tuberculin, and_black-
quarter vaccine. Much valuable information has been
Vv
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v1 PREFACE
obtained from Guinard’s Thérupeutique et Pharmaco-
dynamie (1899), Delaud and Stourbe’s Pharmacie et
Toxicologie Vétérinaires (1900), Cagny’s Formulaire des
Vétérinaires, Hale White’s Materia Medica (fourth edition),
Squire’s Companion to the British Phurmacopwiu (1899),
Martindale and Westcott’s Katia Pharmacopwia (ninth
edition), Coblentz’s The Newer Remedies (1899), and Hare’s
Practical Therapeutics.
J. MACQUEEN.,
RoyaL VETERINARY COLLEGE,
Lonpox, 10h April 1901.
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PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
TuE First Edition of Veterinary Medicines was published in
1854, while I was Lecturer on Materia Medica and Dietetics
at the Edinburgh Veterinary College. The work continues
a text-book at the British Veterinary Colleges, is used by
Veterinarians and Agriculturists, and meets with increasing
demand in the United States of America and in the Colonies.
The Seventh Edition, published in 1889, has for some time
been out of print. The increased bulk of the present volume
results from the introduction of the recently discovered
antiseptics and antipyretics of the benzol series, and other
new remedies; from details of various British and foreign
experiments made with alkaloids and other medicines; and
from fuller and more systematic treatment of the actions of
various important drugs.
As in previous editions, the general actions and uses of
Veterinary Medicines, and the more important principles and
practice of Pharmacy, are dealt with in the Introduction.
This preliminary section has been arranged on the plan
adopted by Dr. Lauder Brunton in his admirable work on
Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Materia Medica. The
several drugs, discussed in alphabetical order according to
their English names, occupy the bulk of the volume. Under
each individual medicine the space allotted to preparation
and properties has been curtailed, while careful revision has
been made of the matter relating to the actions on the
several domesticated animals, the curative uses, doses, and
medicinal forms.
vii
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vili PREFACE
The Index of Diseases and Remedies, which in former
editions was little more than a list of drugs usually pre-
scribed in different disorders, has been considerably enlarged,
and an endeavour has been made to indicate the nature
of each disease, the conditions which dictate the use of
particular remedies, and the manner in which they relieve
or cure.
In preparing the present edition the following works have
been consulted:—Dr. Lauder Brunton’s Pharmacology,
Therapeutics, and Materia Medica; the late Professor
Robertson’s Hqguine Medicine; Professor Williams’ volumes
on the Principles and Practice of Veterinary Medicine and
Surgery; and the Jowrnal of Comparative Pathology and
Therapeutics. Hertwig’s Praktische Arznevmittellehre fiir
Thierdrzte, and Moiroud’s Traité Elémentaire de Matiere
Médicale et de Pharmacologie Vétérinaire—for many years
the standard works on Veterinary Pharmacology in Germany
and France respectively—have contributed matter to former
editions. Further valuable information has been derived
from the Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre fiir Thierirate,
von Dr. Hugen Frohner, Professor an der K. Thierdrztlichen
Hochschule zu Berlin (1890); Tracté Thérapeutique ct de
Matiére Médicale Vétérinuires, par M. Kaufmann, Professeur
de Physiologie et de Thérapeutique & UEcole Vétérinaire
d Alfort (1892); Précis de Thérapeutique de Matiére Médicale
et de Pharmacie Vétérinaires, par Paul Cagny, Président
de lw Société Centrale de Médecine Vétérinaire (1892); as
well as from Pathologie et Thérapeutique Spéciales des
Animaux Domestiques, par MM. Dr. Friedberger de Munich
et Dr. Fréhner de Berlin, tradwit de Vallemand par MM.
P.J. Cadiot et J. N. Ries (1891).
FINLAY DUN.
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION,
I. THE ACTIONS AND USES OF MEDICINAL AGENTS,
II. VETERINARY MEDICINES,
THe ALKALINE Mertats, Ammonium, Porassium,
Sopium,
THe AuxkatingE Eartus, Catcium, Magnesium,
Barium, ALUMINIUM,
Tue Metats, Bismuru, Leap, Zinc, Coprer, SILVER,
Tron, Antimony, ARsENIc, MERcuRY,
Tue Non-Mertaus, PHospHorus, BRomMINE, CHLORINE,
Topinz, SULPHUR,
AcIpbs,
Carzon Compounns, ALcoHoLs, ETHERs,
II. MEDICINES DERIVED FROM THE VEGETABLE
KINGDOM, :
Mepiciyes DeriveD FRoM THE ANIMAL Kinepom, .
IV. VETERINARY PHARMACY,
INDEX OF DISEASES AND REMEDIES,
INDEX OF MEDICINES,
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PAGE
153
161
202
222
304
321
343
426
661
717
779
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VETERINARY MEDICINES
THEIR ACTIONS AND USES
INTRODUCTION
VETERINARY Materia Mepica, in the extended sense of
the term, treats of every agent which is used for the
relief or cure of disease or injury, or for the preservation of
health, among the domesticated animals. The full con-
sideration of a subject so large and diversified would,
however, fill several volumes, and the present work has
been restricted to the description of drugs, their natural
history, characters and properties, their pharmaceutical pre-
parations, and their actions and uses among veterinary
patients. Medicines or drugs, although derived from the
mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, possess many
actions in common, and are prepared for use by similar
chemical and pharmaceutical processes. In this work the first
section is devoted to general observations on Pharmacology,
which treats of the actions of drugs, and Therapeutics, or the
application of remedies to the cure of disease. A description
of the medicines, arranged according to their source, occupies
the body of the volume, which is completed by a section on
Pharmacy, or the preparation and dispensing of medicines,
and an index of diseases and remedies,
A
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Secrion I
The Actions and Uses of Medicines
The general and medical management of the domestic
animals has greatly improved during the past forty years.
The laws of health, the causes and nature of disease, as well
as the actions and uses of remedies have been more fully
studied. The beneficent curative effects of fresh air, diet,
suitable surroundings and good nursing are more thoroughly
realised. Preventive treatment also receives more attention
alike from stock-owners and practitioners. Disease accord-
ingly is not only less prevalent, but it is generally less
serious, and the attacks of shorter duration. In Great
Britain such equine maladies as specific ophthalmia, canker
of the feet, and mange, are now seldom seen, while colic and
inflammation of the bowels are not nearly so common as
they were forty years ago. Cattle plague, contagious pleuro-
pneumonia, and sheep-pox have been exterminated. The
prevalence of glanders or farcy, swine - fever, rabies and
bovine tuberculosis should be greatly limited by the measures
now being adopted in dealing with these disorders.
Fuller and more definite knowledge of the actions of
remedial agents has been obtained by systematic experi-
ments and clinical observations not only on the lower
animals but on man himself. Numerous illustrations might
be adduced of the practical benefits of such investigations.
Magendie’s experiments with the Java upas antiar and nux
vomica demonstrated that these strychnine-containing plants
violently stimulate the spinal cord, producing tetanic con-
vulsions. In virtue of this stimulation of the cord, and its
reflex functions, carefully regulated doses of this drug have
been utilised to restore disturbed co-ordination of the
gastro-intestinal functions, and to relieve some forms of
paralysis. Experiments on animals also have demonstrated
the action of digitalis and strophanthus as cardiac stimu-
lants, and hence have led to their use in strengthening and
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BACTERIOLOGY 3
steadying the weak and overtaxed heart. It has been
proved in the same way that ergot of rye, and its active
constituent, ergotin, have the power of causing contraction of
the arterioles, hence their employment for the arrest of
internal hemorrhage. Belladonna, and its active principle
atropine, have been shown to diminish sensibility of the
ends of the vagi and sensory nerves, and from this results
their value in quieting cardiac irritability, diminishing ex-
cessive bronchial secretion, and relieving certain forms of
pain. When the precise action of medicines is recognised
their practical use is obviously rendered not only safer, but
more effective.
The Study of Bacteriology within the last twenty years,
has done much to throw light on the diagnosis, prevention
and treatment of disease both in men and animals, and is
apparently destined to do much more. A number of diseases
classified as zymotic, and comprising anthrax, glanders,
tuberculosis, rabies, strangles, swine - fever, tetanus, with
typhoid, eruptive and other fevers, have been shown to
depend upon the introduction into the body of micro-
organisms belonging to the lower class of vegetable fungi
which, in susceptible subjects, multiply rapidly, and pro-
duce chemical ferments, alkaloidal poisons, and deadly
albumoses. Pasteur, Koch, and others have investigated the
life-history of many of these disease-producing microbes, the
pathogenic conditions to which they give rise, and the
methods by which their invasion may be averted or counter-
acted. Microbes, when cultivated in media containing
chemicals, or when repeatedly passed by inoculation through
the bodies of certain animals, become weakened, and lose their
virulence. Attenuated cultures or vaccines, properly em-
ployed, confer on certain animals more or less protection
against poisonous doses of the natural virus subsequently
introduced by infection, or by experimental inoculation.
In districts of France, Russia, Austria, and Switzerland,
where anthrax abounds, cattle and sheep for many years
have been vaccinated with attenuated anthrax virus, the
mortality amongst the vaccinated is stated to be less than
one-tenth of that which occurs amongst the unvaccinated
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4 PROTECTIVE VACCINES
stock. Sterilised cultivation of hog cholera virus is used in
America as a protective against swine plague. Immunity
from fowl cholera, and from septicemia, has been similarly
secured. Pasteur, by repeated injection of attenuated rabies
vaccine, rendered dogs and other animals insusceptible to
the action of lethal doses of rabies virus, and Pasteur’s
method applied to persons bitten by rabid animals continues
to afford protection against hydrophobia in 99 per cent. of
the cases timeously submitted to this treatment. Pigeons
inoculated with small doses of snake poison for periods of
three months withstand seven times the ordinary fatal dose
of snake poison. The modified black-quarter virus, obtained
by drying and heating the muscle of an animal that has
suffered from this disease also exerts a distinct effect in
protecting even susceptible animals against attacks of this
disease ; whilst cultivations of the swine erysipelas bacillus,
when similarly modified by heat, have been used with great
success as a protective inoculation agent against the ravages
of swine erysipelas (Rouget du pore). The manner in which
these vaccines etfect their protective powers has been variously
explained, but the most satisfactory view is, that small
repeated doses of the cultivated organism or its products
modify the functions of the cells on which they specially
act, and thus confer upon them a tolerance against deadly
doses of the same or allied poisons (Bacteria and their
Products, by G.Sims Woodhead, M.D.). Going further than
this, however, it must now be recognised as a result of the
observations of Behring, Roux, Ehrlich, and numerous later
workers, that this tolerance is due in great part to the pro-
duction, during the reaction between the cell and the toxine,
of an antitoxine which at first stored in the cell, soon over-
flows its boundaries and passes into the blood where it
appears to be stored up in the fluid elements, always ready
to combine with any toxine that may be produced in or
introduced into the tissues. This is not the only factor in
the resistance, but it is certainly a very important one.
From the fact that these antitoxic substances are stored up
in the fluid constituents of the blood it has been found
possible to produce antitoxine in one animal, and then by
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ANTITOXINES 5
drawing off its blood, and allowing the clot to separate from
the serum to obtain a fluid containing a large quantity of
antitoxine which injected into a second patient acts upon
the toxine neutralising it just as surely and completely as if
it were acting upon the original patient. This has gradually
developed into a definite system of treatment—the anti-
toxine treatment. It has been worked out most thoroughly
in diphtheria in the human subject, and in tetanus in veteri-
nary medicine ; whilst fair results have also been obtained
using a similar method in the treatment of snake poisoning.
In Diphtheria, the best results have been obtained (1) because
the local lesion, i.e, the false membrane, &c., is usually well
marked before the constitutional disturbances, i.e. the toxic
effects, make their appearance; and (2) because the poison
is not only formed slowly, but takes some time to produce
its effects upon the nervous tissues to which it usually
attaches itself.
To produce diphtheria antitoxine all that is necessary is to
inject. subcutaneously the toxic products of the diphtheria
bacillus grown in slightly alkaline broth, or still better in
broth containing a certain proportion of blood plasma into
some animal, preferably a horse. This should be followed by
a rise of temperature, and by swelling at the seat of injection.
Unless this reaction is obtained no antitoxine will be formed.
Gradually increasing doses of the toxine must be injected
from time to time, care being taken to obtain a distinct
reaction after each injection, and to make the fresh injection
before the effects of the last one have completely passed
away. After a time it will be found that it is very difficult
to obtain a local reaction, or a rise of temperature, even
when large quantities of toxine are injected. During the
whole of this period it will be found that the antitoxic value
of the blood is rising more or less rapidly, and at last there
is sufficient antitoxine present to make it valuable for the
treatment of diphtheria patients. The antitoxine in the
serum injected into a patient suffering from the effects of
diphtheria poisoning, combines with the toxine formed by
the diphtheria bacillus, and so prevents it from exerting its
deleterious action upon the tissues of the patient. The
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6 SERUM THERAPY
diphtheria bacilli, with their poison neutralised, now behave
like ordinary non-pathogenetic organisms, and are rapidly
destroyed by the tissues, and the patient recovers.
In tetanus the principle of production of antitoxine is the
same as in diphtheria, but the treatment has not been so
successful, because the disease in this case does not manifest
itself locally in the first instance, the poison has already
attacked the nerve centres before the necessity for treatment
makes its appearance. The damage has already been done,
and antitoxine, though it can neutralise the poison, and so
prevent further damage being done, cannot make good the
ravages already carried on. Tetanus antitoxine, however,
like diphtheria antitoxine, acts as a most powerful prophy-
lactic, and it is in this character that its greatest value as a
therapeutic agent must be sought.
Calmette’s antivenin has also been found to be of great
use in the treatment of snake bite. It is prepared in the
same way as are the other antitoxines. By treating a horse
with gradually increasing doses of the mixed venom taken
from various snakes—cobra, black snake and others, it is
found that, if sufficient care be taken to give small enough
preliminary doses, and to allow the animal to regain weight
and condition after each injection, large doses may be given
later; the horse then becomes not only immune against the
action of these large doses, but his blood contains an anti-
venin which, held in solution in the serum, may be injected
into other animals where it acts not only as a prophylactic,
but also as a curative agent against snake bite, even of the
most virulent types.
Serum therapy, or the treatment of disease with these
various antitoxic substances, has now taken a recognised
place in medicine, and a new vista has been opened up in
connection with the treatment of specific infective diseases
that are produced by poisons.
The products of micro-organisms, however, have been
utilised in other most important fashions. Tuberculin
(which consists essentially of the products of the tubercle
bacillus grown in beef peptone broth containing a five per
cent. solution of glycerin, the bacilli destroyed and then
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CLASSIFICATIONS OF MEDICINES 7
filtered out by means of a Pasteur-Chamberland filter, the
whole concentrated by evaporation at a low temperature), is
now used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, as it is found
that these products, when injected subcutaneously, appear
to co-operate with the poisons already in the body, and to
cause a reaction of the tissues, and a rise in temperature
which, together, give evidence of the presence of a tubercular
process. Exactly the same thing happens in the case of
mallein, which is prepared in the same way from the
glanders bacillus as the tuberculin is prepared from the
tubercle bacillus. A small quantity of this substance in-
jected subcutaneously in a healthy animal with a normal
temperature gives rise to little or no local swelling, and a
very slight rise of temperature, whilst a similar quantity in-
jected into a horse suffering from glanders gives rise to a local
swelling of considerable size, which goes on increasing up to
the 18th or 24th hour, or even longer, and is accompanied
by a rise of temperature to 104° F. In certain cases where
the temperature is high to begin with, even where the
disease—tuberculosis or glanders—is well advanced, no
characteristic reaction is obtained; but in almost all these
cases the diagnosis can be made without the aid of the
specific products.
It is evident, then, that bacteria are coming to play a
greater and greater part in both diagnosis and treatment of
disease, just as they have come to play such an important
réle in our conception of its production.
Classifications of Medicines
Medicines are drawn from the three great natural king-
doms, and are characterised by various physical and chemical
properties: but these characters do not afford sufficiently
accurate or definite indications of the actions of drugs on
living bodies, and hence are not of much service in practical
classifications. The atomic weights of inorganic elements
are of little or no value in determining on what organs or in
what way inorganic elements and their compounds act as
medicines. The soluble salts of the heavy metals are
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8 CHEMICAL, BOTANICAL, AND
certainly generally active poisons, though neither similar
chemical composition nor similar chemical reaction neces-
sarily confers similar physiological effects. Substances which
crystallise in the same form, have, however, somewhat
similar actions, and on this isomorphous basis the elements
have been arranged into nine groups, in’each of which
it is noted that the intensity of action increases with
the atomic weight (Dr. Lauder Brunton). The same base,
united with different acids, produces salts which exhibit
very different actions, as illustrated in the several com-
pounds of sodium and potassium. Equally diverse physio-
logical effects are produced by compounds resulting from
conjoining the same acid with different bases. Such irritant
corrosive substances as caustic soda and sulphuric acid,
entering into chemical combination, produce a neutral, com-
paratively mild saline. Organic, like inorganic, bases are
notably modified by the acid radicles with which they
unite. Thus, amyl-hydride is an ancsthetic; when oxygen
is introduced, as in amyl-alcohol, or amyl-acetate, spasm is
added to the anesthesia; amyl-iodide notably increases
secretion, while amyl-nitrite lessens arterial pressure. It
is hence evident that the action of a compound medicine
cannot be inferred from a knowledge of the action of the
substances that combine to form it. On the contrary, a
compound substance exerts special actions of its own, these
depending on the proportion of its components, and upon its
own physical qualities.
Very important investigations have been made by Pro-
fessors Crum Brown, Fraser, Schroff and Jolyet, in artificially
modifying the chemical constitution, and thus changing the
physiological actions of drugs. When strychnine, brucine
and thebaine, which act upon the spinal cord as powerful
convulsants, are converted by addition of methyl into
methyl-strychnine, methyl-brucine and methyl-thebaine,
they act upon the ends of motor nerves as paralysants.
Indeed, methyl, when combined with other alkaloids, as
quinine, morphine, atropine and codeine, renders these also
powerful paralysers of motor nerves.
The study of the natural orders of plants affords some
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PHYSIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATIONS 9
general information as to their physiological actions. Thus,
the Ranunculacez furnish many acrid irritants, such as
aconite, podophyllum and stavesacre. The Solanacez yield
narcotics, such as tobacco and dulcamara; while the sub-
order, Atropacee, are paralysers of involuntary muscles.
The seeds of many Umbelliferee yield carminative volatile
oils. These general botanical characters do not, however,
afford sufficient data for the accurate classification of drugs.
Edible as well as poisonous plants occur in many natural
orders. Plants of different orders and genera sometimes
closely resemble each other, while plants of the same genus
may have very different properties. Thus, one species of
Strychnos yields strychnine, which stimulates the motor
centres of the spinal cord, inducing tetanic convulsions,
while another yields curare, which paralyses the peripheral
endings of motor nerves. But even the same drug some-
times yields antagonistic active principles. From opium
are obtained the soothing anodyne morphine, the convulsant
thebaine, and the emetic apomorphine. Calabar bean yields
eserine which depresses, and calabarine which stimulates
the spinal cord. Jaborandi yields pilocarpine and its an-
tagonist jaborine, the former stimulating, and the latter
paralysing the ends of secretory nerves.
The grouping of medicines according to their actions has
not hitherto been of much more practical value than their
chemical or botanical classification. The precise actions of
many medicines are only now becoming definitely known.
Many, moreover, have a variety of actions, and hence have
to be included in several groups. Alcohol, for example, is
stimulant, irritant, narcotic, and sedative, as well as nutrient,
antiseptic, and antipyretic. Opium is narcotic, anodyne,
and hypnotic; but it also stimulates certain patients, and
tetanises others.
Disregarding the classifications hitherto adopted, students
and practitioners will find it advantageous to study the
actions of medicines upon the chief organs and functions of
the body. Adopting this method, Dr. Lauder Brunton de-
votes a large section of his admirable work on Pharmacology,
Therapeutics, and Materia Medica to an explanation of the
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10 ACTIONS OF MEDICINES
actions of medicines on protoplasm, muscle, the nervous
system, respiration, circulation, digestion, etc.; and following
a similar plan this introductory section will be subdivided
as under :—
Actions of Medicinal Agents.
I. Local and general actions: absorption and distribution.
II. Elective affinity between drugs and particular tissues
or cells: elimination.
III. Effects on different classes of patients:
IV. Modifying influences of Climate and Temperature,
Habit, Idiosyncrasy, Disease, and Surroundings, etc.
Curative Systems: Allopathy, Homeopathy.
On Protoplasm, Blood, and Low Organisms.
Antiseptics: Disinfectants: Deodorisers: Germicides :
Antiperiodics.
On the Surface of the Body.
Counter-irritants: Rubefacients: Vesicants: Pustulants:
Caustics:
Setons: The Actual Cautery:
Astringents: Styptics:
Demulcents: Emollients: Diluents.
On Muscles.
Muscular Poisons: Muscular Stimulants.
On the Nervous System.
The Brain. Cerebral Stimulants: Exhilarants.
Cerebral Depressants: Soporifics: Narcotics: Anodynes:
Antispasmodics: Anesthetics.
The Spinal Cord. Spinal Stimulants and Depressants.
Motor Nerves. Stimulants: Paralysers.
Sensory Nerves. Stimulants: Local Sedatives: Local
Anesthetics.
On the Eye and other Special Senses.
Mydriatics dilate the Pupil.
Myoties contract the Pupil.
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ACTIONS OF MEDICINES 11
On the Respiratory Organs.
Errhines or Sternutatories: Respiratory Sedatives: Ex-
pectorants: Disinfectants.
On the Circulatory Organs.
Cardiac Stimulants: Vascular Stimulants:
Mi Tonics : " Tonics:
5 Sedatives : - Sedatives.
On the Digestive System.
The Salivary Glands and Fauces. Sialagogues: Anti-
sialics: Refrigerants.
The Stomach. Gastric Tonics: Stomachics: Bitters:
Antacids: Emetics: Anti-emetics: Gastric Sedatives.
The Intestines. Purgatives: Carminatives: Intestinal
Astringents: Antiseptics.
The Liver. Hepatic Stimulants: Cholagogues: Hepatic
Depressants :
Worms. Athelmintics: Vermicides: Vermifuges.
On the Skin.
Diaphoretics: Sudorifics: Anhydrotics: Parasiticides.
On the Urinary Organs.
The Kidneys: Diuretics.
The Bladder: Lithontriptics: Urinary Sedatives: Tonics:
Astringents: Disinfectants.
On the Organs of Generation.
Aphrodisiacs: Anaphrodisiacs :
Ecbolics : ;
Agents acting on the Mammary Glands. :
On Tissue Change and Temperature.
Restoratives: Tonics: Hematinics: Alteratives:
Antipyretics: Febrifuges: Blood-letting.
Poisons and Antidotes.
Mode of Administration.
Doses: Manner of exhibition.
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12 PHYSIOLOGICAL AND THERAPEUTIC ACTIONS
THE ACTIONS OF MEDICINES
LOCAL AND GENERAL ACTIONS — ABSORPTION — ELECTIVE
AFFINITY BETWEEN DRUGS AND PARTICULAR TISSUES OR
CELLS—EFFECTS ON DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PATIENTS—
MODIFYING INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE,
HABIT, IDIOSYNCRASY, DISEASE, SURROUNDINGS, ETC.
I, Every medicine is possessed of certain effects or actions
on living animals, as distinctive as its colour, taste, or
chemical properties. Such actions, when exerted in health,
are termed physiological actions; when exerted in the treat-
ment of disease they are termed therapeutic or curative
actions. These actions cannot, however, be regarded as
twofold or distinct, for the physiological action determines
and is merged in the curative results. A horse eats some
indigestible food, and in consequence suffers from spasm of
the bowels, for which a dose of purgative medicine may be
prescribed. The purgative exerts its physiological action by
increasing intestinal secretion and peristalsis; the irritant is
thus swept away, and spasm and pain are removed. A dose
of physic prescribed for a horse with itching and swollen
legs produces the physiological effects of emptying the
bowels, and clearing the body of irritant waste matters with
the curative result of relieving or removing the itching and
swelling of the limbs. Hunting horses frequently, after a
hard day, have stiff limbs, with puffy joints and tendons;
diligent hand-rubbing and subsequent bandaging mechani-
cally and physiologically stimulate the activity of the local
circulation, with the therapeutic effect of restoring the parts
to their normal state. All the physiological actions pro-
duced by medicines may not be favourable to the curative
result desired, but subsidiary, useless, or harmful effects may
be diminished or neutralised by judicious selection and
combination of remedies. Some medicines are chiefly local
and direct in their action. A strong acid applied to the
skin irritates and, it may be, destroys it. A hot fomentation
or poultice in contact with a painful surface soothes it, and
relieves local congestion and pain. The primary action of
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ABSORPTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF MEDICINES 13
local irritants is frequently followed by secondary and
remote effects. In sore throat the application of a blister
directly irritates and inflames the skin, and reflexly, or
through the nervous system, it relieves congestion and pain
of the respiratory membrane. In horses a large cantharides
blister, owing to absorption of the active principle of the
fly, occasionally produces febrile symptoms, and congestion
of the urinary passages by which the irritant is excreted.
The general effects of most medicines are only produced
when they enter the blood, and the more rapidly a medicine
enters the circulation the more immediate and powerful are
its effects. The short time required for absorption, distribu-
tion, action and elimination is well illustrated in the rapidly
fatal effects of such poisons as prussic acid and strychnine.
Yellow prussiate of potash injected into the trachea was
detected two minutes later in the jugular vein (Colin);
injected into one of the jugular veins of a horse it appeared
in the other in twenty-five seconds, and in a few minutes
was exhaled from the mucous and serous membranes
(Hering). Barium chloride traversed the circulation of a
horse in twenty seconds, and injected into the jugular vein of
a dog it reached the carotid artery in seven seconds. When
the foot of an Albino rat was immersed for a few seconds in
chloroform containing one per cent. of atropine, absorption
occurred, and dilatation of the pupils followed in from two
to five minutes (Waller).
Medicines may be administered by injection into the sub-
cutaneous areolar tissue, the trachea, veins, glands, muscles,
rectum, uterus, udder, and large serous cavities; but the
most frequent and generally the most convenient mode of
administration is by the mouth, whence, speedily reaching
the stomach and small intestine, medicines enter the circu-
lation. Administered in a tolerably concentrated but soluble
form medicines do not require to be acted upon by the
ferment-containing secretions of the digestive canal; but
the digestion of mashes and many restorative foods is pro-
moted by the alkaline saliva, which also favours the hydration -
and solution of some drugs. The acid, pepsin-containing,
gastric juice dissolves proteids, as well as iron, mercurial and ,
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14 ABSORPTION BY THE DIGESTIVE TRACT
other salts. The alkaline bile emulsionises fats and resins;
the pancreatic fluid furthers digestion of starch albumin
and fats; and specially refractory substances are more
thoroughly reduced by the alkaline intestinal juices. Medi-
cines taken up by the vessels of the gastro-intestinal mucous
membrane are conveyed to the liver where they may be
stored up, detained for a time, neutralised or modified,
eliminated in the bile, or passed unchanged into the general
circulation.
Absorption by the healthy buccal membrane is possible,
but medicines introduced into the mouth are either quickly
| swallowed or rejected, and consequently contact with its
thick epithelium is too brief to permit of penetration.
Gastric absorption varies with the species, the age of the
animal, and the state of the stomach as regards contents,
digestive phenomena, and freedom from disease. Very active
in dogs and pigs, gastric absorption in cattle and sheep only
occurs in the abomasum. In horses, absorption by the
stomach has been doubted or denied since Bouley and Colin
published the results of their experiments with strychnine.
Bouley, after dividing the pneumogastric nerves, admini-
stered lethal doses of strychnine without injurious effect.
Colin found that after tying the pylorus, large doses of
strychnine introduced into the stomach did not poison; but
later experiments seem to prove that poisoning does not
occur when after an interval the ligature is removed, and
the contents of the stomach are allowed to pass into the
bowel. Schiff considers that absorption of the strychnine is
sufficiently gradual to allow of its being proportionately
eliminated in the urine, and that the drug does not accumu-
late in the blood in sufficient quantity to cause poisoning.
The empty stomach is supposed to absorb more rapidly
than the stomach filled with food: but the empty stomach
is less vascular, and its corrugated lining is protected by a
thick mucus, which probably retards absorption. Medicines
given on a full stomach or mixed with the food are exposed
to attenuation and the action of the secretions formed in
the digesting stomach, and, if unstable, they may undergo
rapid alteration, and fail to produce general effects. Medi-
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ABSORPTION BY THE RESPIRATORY TRACT 15
cines intended to act directly on the stomach should be
given to the animal fasting, and nutrients should be given
either with the food or soon after feeding. In gastric impac-
tion medicine given by the mouth seldom acts with the
desired rapidity. It mixes with the ingesta, but owing to
the movements of the stomach being either diminished or
suspended, the food does not pass into the intestine, or the
drug in sufficient quantity does not reach the absorbent
surface, and in consequence its action is delayed.
Absorption by the small intestine in all the domestic
animals is very active. A strychnine salt injected into the
duodenum produces its effects in three or four minutes, and
ferrocyanide of potassium similarly used may be found in
the blood in five to six minutes (Kaufmann). The cecum
and large colon absorb rapidly, and in cases of tympany
treated by puncture advantage may be taken of the canula
to introduce medicines directly into the intestine. The
rectum and floating colon rapidly absorb soluble medicines
and nutrients introduced by the anus; and in gastric disease
rectal injection is preferable to administration by the mouth.
Anesthesia may be induced by chloral or ether thrown into
the rectum, but this method is unsatisfactory. To ensure
speedy absorption, and to prevent ejection of medicines
introduced through the anus, the solution should be warm
and concentrated to a few drachms. Larger quantities will
be retained and absorbed, but the injection should not be
bulky if immediate effects are desired.
The respiratory tract furnishes probably the most actively
absorbent mucous surface in the body. Long used for
anzsthetic inhalations, it is occasionally employed for the
administration of remedies in cases of purpura hemorrhagica,
and parasitic bronchitis. Soluble drugs, introduced by in-
sufflation, are absorbed by the nasal lining, and medicines
in aqueous or alcoholic solution, not too concentrated, are well
borne and very rapidly absorbed by the tracheal, bronchial,
and pulmonary mucous membranes. Drugs dissolved or
suspended in oil are less tolerated, although Dr. Levi, the
chief authority on intra-tracheal administration, maintains
that small injections of oil are absorbed. Emulsions, how-
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16 ABSORPTION BY THE SKIN
ever, are safer, so long as the quantity is small and injec-
tion is made slowly. Intra-tracheal injections are especially
risky in bronchitis and pneumonia. Beyond a slight gain in
time, intra-tracheal injection has no advantage over hypo-
dermic administration, except in cases where direct or local
action is required (Guinard).
Although seldom employed in practice for the administra-
tion of medicines, the female generative tract—the uterus,
especially after parturition, absorbs very rapidly. Potassium
iodide has been found in the urine in from two to four
minutes after injection into the womb. The healthy vagina
absorbs very slowly, but when congested its absorbent power
is much increased. Absorption from the lining of the galac-
tophorous sinus of the cow’s udder is fairly active. The
absorbent power of the conjunctiva is well known. Cocaine
appears to promote conjunctival absorption of solutions of
atropine, eserine, and strychnine, and of other drugs.
The peritoneum, pleura, and the synovial membranes of
joints and tendons absorb very rapidly. Potassium prussiate
injected into the peritoneal cavity was found six minutes
later in the urine; and strychnine similarly used caused
death in less than four minutes. Anesthesia can be readily
induced in dogs by intra-peritoneal injection of chloral and
morphine.
Drugs, even when volatile, pass very slowly and im-
perfectly through the unbroken skin, except when applied
with the assistance of an electric current (cataphoresis or
dielectrolysis), but absorption readily occurs from open
wounds and abraded skin surfaces. Clean-cut fresh wounds,
free from bleeding, absorb more rapidly than wounds which
are irregular, bruised, or bleeding. Absorption by granulation
tissue is less active, though occasionally undesirable effects
follow the careless application of toxic antiseptics to wounds
in process of healing. Drugs incorporated with oil or lard
penetrate more readily than do ointments made with vase-
line. Absorption of aqueous solutions is hindered or pre-
vented by the sebaceous matter, but salts which are dissolved
by the secretion of the skin may produce general effects.
Experiments prove that agents which are soluble in sebaceous
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SPECIAL AFFINITY FOR PARTICULAR ORGANS 17
matter, or which emit during their application vapour or
gas, as guaiacol, alcohol, benzine, potassium iodide, mer-
curials, carbolic acid, etc., pass more or less rapidly through
the skin. But the intact epidermis offers considerable
resistance to penetration; and in practice, lotions, liniments,
or ointments, carefully used seldom endanger life. Slow
absorption may occur, but owing to rapid elimination the
drug does not accumulate in sufficient quantity to excite
toxic symptoms. The subcutaneous areolar tissue absorbs
nearly as rapidly as the respiratory mucous membrane.
Hypodermic injections, properly prepared, are promptly
taken up unchanged by the blood-vessels and lymphatics.
IT. Between certain organs, tissues, or groups of cells, and
certain medicines, there appears to be a special elective
affinity. A medicine absorbed and in circulation, owing to
its chemical affinity, becomes arrested in contact with cer-
tain cell groups, where it fixes itself and tends to replace |
some of the normal nutritive elements. From the common ;
stream of blood each tissue takes up its appropriate nutrient
materials, and, in like manner, it appears to select its own
medicines. The characteristic effects are not developed
until medicines come into actual contact with the special
organs, or, it may be, the particular cells, on which alone
they operate. Curare does not exert its paralysing power
until it reaches the intramuscular endings of the motor
nerves. Magendie found that strychnine does not excite its
notable tetanic convulsions until it is in contact with the |
spinal cord. Indeed, when a frog or other small animal,
immediately after receiving a full dose of strychnine, has
the spinal cord removed or broken down, tetanic symptoms
do not occur.
On the particular part on which they act—as, for example,
on the nerve-centres or nerve-endings that control blood-
vessels or glandular secretions—some medicines exert
stimulant, others depressant or paralysing effects. These
effects, as already indicated in the case of drugs acting
locally, frequently produce reflexly indirect or remote
effects. The same medicine sometimes acts differently
when given in different doses. Thus, alcohol and ether
B
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18 ACTION DIFFERENT ON DIFFERENT ANIMALS
in small doses are stimulants, but in large doses are
depressants,
Within the living body most medicines not only effect
' changes, but themselves coincidently undergo changes,
notably of oxidation or deoxidation. Thus, many salts of
tartaric, acetic, and other organic acids are converted into
carbonates. Morphine has its chemical constitution altered,
and its soothing anodyne actions in part superseded, by
nauseating and irritant effects. The activity of medicines
depends materially on their solubility, the rapidity of their
absorption, and the period during which they remain within
the body. Some drugs, as lead, mercury, silver, and digitalis,
are apt to be retained for a considerable period, and hence
have more or less continuous or cumulative effect. Un-
usual activity of such excreting channels as the bowels or
kidneys hurries most medicines out of the body, and hence
diminishes their action.
In a variable but usually short period, medicines, generally
in a modified form, are eliminated by the bowels, kidneys,
skin, salivary and mammary glands, or pulmonary mucous
membrane. Digitalis, for example, after exerting its action
“mainly on the heart and arterioles, is removed by the kid-
neys. Alcohol and its analogues are got rid of by the skin
and kidneys, and also pass away through the respiratory
mucous membrane. During their excretion medicines exert
their in-contact effects on the excretory organ and passages.
Thus, aloes and full doses of oils and neutral salts, after
stimulating the secretion and movements of the bowels, are
in part absorbed into the blood, and thence are returned
into the bowels, causing further purgation. Nitre, and small
doses of salines and ethers, chiefly removed through the
kidneys, produce diuresis. Terebene and various balsams
during their excretion by the pulmonary membrane or
urinary passages exert their antiseptic and astringent
properties.
III. The several species of veterinary patients are
differently affected by many medicines. These differences,
however, are in degree rather than in kind, and depend
upon differences in organisation and function. On the
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SPECIAL ACTIONS ON HORSES 19
circulatory, respiratory, and urinary systems, which nearly
resemble each other in man and the domestic animals, |
medicines act tolerably uniformly. Thus, aconite, digitalis,
and nitre produce very similar effects in men, horses, dogs, |
and cattle. Greater diversity, however, occurs in regard to
medicines acting on the nervous, digestive, and cutaneous
systems, which differ considerably in the several species of
animals. Rabbits and monkeys seem to possess a special |
resistance to the action of atropine. Apomorphine, which }
promptly causes vomiting in dogs, has no emetic action on.
pigs. Morphine is an excellent hypnotic for the dog; but /
in the cat and pig it causes excitement and convulsions.
The more highly any organ or system of organs is de-
veloped, the more susceptible does it become to the action
of medicines, and, it may be added, to diseases also. This
general law explains why the highly-developed human brain °
is specially susceptible to the effects of such cerebral medi-
cines as opium and chloral, and why frogs, whose spinal
system is better developed than their brain, are so sus-
ceptible to strychnine, which acts specially on the cord.
The human cerebrum, the seat of intelligence, is more than
seven times the weight of the mesencephalon and cerebellum,
which regulate motor energy. In the domestic animals the
cerebrum is only five times the weight of the posterior parts |
of the brain, whilst the cord is relatively larger than in man.
These differences of development explain how such medi-
cines as opium, chloroform, and chloral cause in man blunted
intellectual function and deep stupor, while in the lower |
animals, with less marked depression of brain function, they ,
conjoin more marked deranged motor function and con-
vulsions.
The Horse has a small stomach, and capacious, highly- |
vascular intestines, adapted for absorption of nutriment from |
bulky vegetable food. Nearly two-thirds of the water in the
ingesta pass off by the bowels, while in man only 5 per cent. |
is removed by this channel, and the amount is still less in
dogs and cats. Vegetable purgatives, notably aloes, appear
more suitable than mineral purgatives, and act chiefly on
the small and large intestines. Except in very rare diseased
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20 SPECIAL ACTIONS ON CATTLE AND SHEEP
states, and under the influence of large doses of aconite,
attempts at vomition are not excited in horses. Tartar
emetic, of which a few grains cause immediate emesis in
dogs, has no such physiological effect on either horses or
cattle. According to some authorities, this insusceptibility
of the horse to the action of emetics is ascribable to an
inaptitude of the vagus nerve to receive and convey the
special irritation, but more probably it is due to imperfect
development of the vomiting centre. Actual vomition in
- horses is hindered by the small stomach not being readily
compressed between the diaphragm and abdominal muscles,
and by the stout band of muscular fibres which surrounds
its cesophageal opening. Most substances which act as
emetics on men and dogs are supposed to produce sedative
effects when given to horses in sufficient doses; but the
many sedatives available in human and canine practice
operate uncertainly and imperfectly on horses, for which
aconite is the chief reliable sedative medicine. The kidneys
of horses are easily stimulated; in ordinary circumstances
they remove about one-seventh of the fluid ingesta, while
the same organs in man drain away 54 per cent, and in
dogs nearly 50 per cent. of the fluid discharges. Sudorifics
_are less prompt than in man, and are apt to act on the kid-
neys, unless the animal be well clothed.
In Cattle the peculiarities of the action of medicines are
chiefly referable to the construction of their alimentary
canal, and to their phlegmatic temperament. The stomach
of these ruminants is quadrisected, is extensively lined with
cuticular mucous membrane, and, as regards its first three
divisions, is less vascular, and in function is less chemical
and more mechanical than the corresponding portion of the
alimentary canal of men, dogs, or horses. The first and
third compartments always contain food, often in large
quantity. These facts explain why cattle require large doses
of all medicines, why considerable quantities of irritant and
corrosive poisons can be given them with comparative im-
punity, and why purgatives, unless in large doses and in
solution, are so tardy and uncertain in their effects. Several
times a day, for about an hour at a time, in animals of this
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ACTION OF MEDICINES ON DOGS AND PIGS 21
class, the solid food is returned from the first and second
stomachs for more thorough mastication and insalivation.
Imperfect and suspended rumination is the chief cause, as
well as a common effect of stomach disorders in cattle. Their
kidneys and skin are less easily affected than the corre-
sponding organs in horses; and their dull, phlegmatic dis-
position resists the action of both stimulants and tonics.
It is a very prevalent notion that medicines, when poured
slowly down a cow’s throat, pass, like the ruminated food,
direct to the fourth stomach. From observations made
at the slaughter-houses on both cattle and sheep, I find,
however, that neither animal can be induced to exert this
voluntary effort in behalf of medicines, which in all cases,
no matter how slowly they are administered, fall partly
into the first and second stomachs, whence they shortly pass |
onwards through the third and fourth stomachs, especially
if given, as they always ought to be, with a considerable
quantity of fluid.
Sheep closely resemble cattle in the way in which they
are affected by most medicines; they usually require about
one-fourth of the dose suitable for cattle, and are best
drenched by being backed into a corner, the head being |
steadied between the operator's knees, while the medicine is |
cautiously poured over.
On Dogs medicines generally operate much in the same |
way as on man; but to this rule there are some remarkable
exceptions. Dogs, for instance, take six or eight times the |
dose of aloes usually given to human patients, but are
seriously injured by half as much calomel or oil of turpentine ,
as is prescribed for a man. The opinion generally held,
that medicines may be given to dogs in the same doses as
to man, cannot therefore be safely entertained without many
reservations. In dogs, while the stomach is relatively large,
the alimentary canal is short and straight, and purgatives
consequently act with greater rapidity than in other veterinary
patients. Another peculiarity is the facility with which
they can be made to vomit. Indeed, vomition in dogs is
often produced by their eating various grasses, by their
swallowing nauseous or unpalatable matters, or by their
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22 CONDITIONS MODIFYING MEDICINAL ACTIONS
overloading the stomach. To prevent dogs vomiting their
medicine, it is well to keep the head raised for an hour after
its administration; and this may be easily effected by attach-
ing a chain or cord to the collar, and fixing it to any object
at the requisite elevation. The kidneys are excited with
more difficulty than in horses or cattle. On Pigs the effects
. of medicines are similar to their action on men and dogs.
Dr. Lauder Brunton points out several curious differences
in the action of drugs on several of the lower animals.
' Morphine convulses frogs, but, even in large doses, has no
effect on pigeons, except in reducing their temperature.
Belladonna quickens cardiac action in man, dogs, and horses,
by paralysing the vagus, which controls or restrains heart
action. But in rabbits the vagus has hardly any appreciable
effect in regulating the heart-beats, and these animals
accordingly take large doses without having the rapidity of
the circulation increased. The rabbit’s heart not being
controlled by the vagus, a marked difference also occurs in
the action of amyl-nitrite on rabbits as compared with dogs.
Such observations are not only most interesting in them-
_ selves, but greatly further the understanding of the actions
of drugs.
The action of medicines is influenced by the age of the
patient, and as a rule very young animals are more sus-
ceptible than adult animals. Kittens, however, seem to be
able to withstand larger doses of morphine than fully grown
eats. The young tolerate chloroform anesthesia better than
the old, and poisons such as strychnine and digitalis may be
_ given in larger doses to young animals than to adults.
IV. Climate and Temperature modify considerably the
actions of medicines. Heat increases the power of anti-
septic solutions. Narcotics are generally believed to act
more powerfully in warm than in cold climates. This fact,
as well as other differences in medicines observed in hot as
compared with cold climates, may depend upon slight differ-
ences in animal temperature, and in the varying amount of
excretion effected by the skin and kidneys.
Moderate warmth favours chemical reactions and proto-
plasmic movements—two conditions intimately connected
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HABIT AND IDIOSYNCRASIES 23
with the actions of medicines. ‘Alexander von Humboldt
first observed that warmth not only acted as a stimulant to
the heart, increasing the power and rapidity of its contrac-
tions, but noticed that warmth increased the rapidity with
which alcohol destroyed the irritability of a nerve, and
potassium sulphide that of a muscle. ... Many, if not all,
muscular poisons act more quickly with increased tempera-
ture... . Rabbits poisoned with copper or potassium salts
also die more quickly when placed in a warm chamber than
when left at the ordinary temperature’ (Brunton). On the
other hand, however, narcotic poisoning by alcohol or chloral
is retarded when the animals are in a warm atmosphere.
Habit.—The continued use of a medicine sometimes alters
the degree of its action. Caustics and irritants, which exer-
cise only topical action, exhibit, on their repeated application,
gradually increasing activity. But many medicines, when
continuously administered, have their ordinary power con-
siderably diminished. Thus, arsenic-eaters sometimes use
with perfect impunity twelve or fifteen grains of arsenic
daily—a quantity sufficient to poison three or four unhabitu-
ated persons. A like tolerance is observable among horses
which have been accustomed to receive arsenic. Opium,
and most general stimulants, when administered for some
time, gradually lose their effects. Virginian deer, from
habit, are said to thrive on tobacco; some monkeys, feeding
on strychnine-containing nuts, are stated to become insus-
ceptible to strychnine (Wood). The tolerance thus induced
by the habitual use of a medicine occasionally depends on
retarded absorption or quickened secretion; sometimes, as
in the case of many alkaloids, on the liver acquiring greater
power for the detention, modification, destruction or excre-
tion of the drug, while frequently the tissues, by repeated
contact, become progressively accustomed to its influence,
and more or less resistant.
Idiosyncrasies, probably the result of reversion to ances-
tral forms, which in the human subject render some poisons
almost innocuous, and some simple medicines deadly poisons,
are less frequent and notable among the lower animals.
Those of most frequent occurrence among veterinary patients
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24 ACTIONS MODIFIED BY DISEASE
are either an increased or a diminished susceptibility to the
action of purgatives and diuretics. Most medicines act with
greater certainty and effect upon well-bred animals, whether
horses or dogs, than upon coarsely-bred mongrels. The
prescription even of a blister or a colic draught demands con-
sideration of the temperament, breeding, and condition of
the patient.
Diseases modify the actions of many medicines. Altered
structure and functions, and increased temperature occur-
ring in most serious disorders are important modifying
factors. A congested or inflammatory condition of the
alimentary canal, or even an overloaded stomach, retards
absorption, and the consequent activity of medicines given
by the mouth. Acute fever, on account of increased arterial
pressure, is also unfavourable to absorption. When excretion
is hindered, medicines, however, are usually retained longer
in the system, and some accordingly act more powerfully.
Conversely, when excretion is active, as in diuresis, diabetes,
or diarrhea, such medicines as opium, belladonna, and
alcohol, being rapidly got rid of, do not manifest their full
activity. Influenza, low fevers, and any considerable inflam-
mation of mucous or cutaneous surfaces, withstand reducing
remedies badly, and require for their successful treatment
the early exhibition of restoratives, tonics, and stimulants.
Even the comparatively slight and temporary requirements
for the changing of the coat render horses in spring and
autumn notably less enduring and less able to stand lowering
treatment. Blood-letting and full doses of sedative medicines
induce less depression in acute inflammation than in health ;
large quantities of opium and chloral hydrate have compara-
tively slight effect in tetanus, enteritis, or other painful
disease; while excessive doses of purgatives and stimulants
are well borne in the apoplectic form of parturient fever
among cattle, and in other cases in which there is depression
of nervous force.
The surroundings of the patient materially alter the
action of remedies. Diseases, whether in horses, cattle, or
dogs, occurring in large towns, and in filthy, overcrowded,
and badly-ventilated premises, are notoriously liable to
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CURATIVE SYSTEMS 25
assume chronic and untoward forms, and are apt to defy
even skilfully devised curative measures. Medicines can only
act effectually when seconded by proper sanitary arrange-
ments, Over-heated, imperfectly ventilated stables lower
the vitality of their inmates, by retarding excretion, and
favouring absorption of noxious exhalations. Such facts
demand consideration alike in the treatment and prevention
of disease. Frequently a horse with influenza, bronchitis, or
pneumonia, is thrown back for days by being senselessly
stripped and taken out of his box in cold weather. One
meal of coarse, indigestible food, even of moderate amount,
sometimes retards recovery from gastric derangements, and,
indeed, from most debilitating diseases. Constipation or
torpidity of the bowels interferes with the absorption, and
hence with the satisfactory operation of all medicines.
Exposure to cold seriously injures patients which have
received full aperient doses of salts or of turpentine, or
which have been freely dressed with mercurial ointment.
Foul air and disordered digestion retard the healing even of
simple wounds. On the other hand, gentle exercise en-
courages the action of most eliminatives; quiet favours
the effects of soothing remedies; generous diet seconds
powerfully the benefits of restoratives, tonics, and stimulants.
Inflammatory disorders usually bear more prompt and
actively depleting treatment in winter than in summer,
in the country than in the town, in well-bred animals in
good condition than in coarser subjects which have been
indifferently nourished.
CURATIVESYSTEMS: ALLOPATHY, HOMGOPATHY
The difficult question is frequently asked—How do
medicines cure disease? Endeavour is made, guided by
biological laws, to adjust or restore to harmony any irregu-
larity or deviation from health which may have affected
the organism or aviy of its parts. The complex composition
and diverse functions of the bodies of the higher animals
are liable, however, to be altered and disturbed in many
different ways, and such alterations or aberrations cannot
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ea
26 ANTIPATHY—ALLOPATH Y—HOMGOPATHY
be restored by any one curative system or formula. As
already indicated, medicines have special actions on different
organs or groups of cells, and affect them in very different
ways, and hence would seem to produce their curative effects,
not in one, but in many ways. The late Professor Headland
taught that ‘the only general explanation we can give of the
modus operandi of medicines in the cure of diseases is to
say that they operate by various counteractions. Two such
systems of counteraction have been propounded—(1) the
antipathic, whereby medicines were believed to overcome
morbid conditions or symptoms by a superior and antago-
nistic force; (2) the allopathic, whereby effects are produced
which, although they may sometimes be unnatural, overcome
the disease. But diseases, it has been affirmed, may not
only be cured by counteractions, but by similars. Upon the
old saying that ‘like cures like, Homeopathy ' is based, and
its votaries declare that diseases are to be treated by small
doses of such medicines as in large doses produce symptoms
1 Homeopathy (duos, homoios, like or similar; and mdéos, pathos), was
propounded by the German physician Hahnemann in his Organon der
rationellen Heilkunde, published in 1810. This system teaches that the
cure of a disease is effected by infinitesimal doses of such medicines as would
induce, if given to a healthy subject in large quantity, symptoms similar to
the disease. Cinchona is declared to cure such fevers as ague and inter-
mittents, because it produces some such febrile symptoms when given to
healthy individuals in considerable doses ; aconite is regarded as the appro-
priate remedy for reducing inflammatory fevers, because in large doses it
produces symptoms which are thought, by homeopathists, to resemble those
of inflammation; while strychnine is selected as a remedy for paralysis,
because in large doses it appears to produce paralytic symptoms. This
doctrine, if sound, would stamp most disorders as hopelessly incurable; for
it is only in a few exceptional cases that any similarity can be detected
between the symptoms produced by large doses of the remedy and those of
the disease for which it is given. No known medicines, for example, are
capable of developing symptoms such as those of thick-wind, roaring,
pleurisy, strangles, distemper, or rabies, yet fifteen or twenty remedies are
prescribed homeopathically for each of these diseases.
Mr. Dudgeon’s translation of the Organon of Medicine states that, ‘the
symptoms of each individual case of disease must be the sole indication, the
sole guide to direct us in the choice of a curative remedy.’ Now, symptoms,
although sometimes requiring special treatment, are but the visible signs
and results of derangement and disease; whilst their removal, which is all
that is aimed at in homeopathic treatment, does not always ensure the
removal of the conditions on which they depend. Thus, rheumatism, pleurisy,
enteritis, wornis, and many other disorders, frequently remain unchecked
after their symptoms have been relieved. Instead of thus vainly attempting
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DOES LIKE CURE LIKE ? 27
similar to the disease to be cured. The pathological con-
ditions which underlie and produce the symptoms, and
which a rational cure generally aims if possible at removing,
are ignored. The homeopathic dictum of similia similibus
curantur does not bear investigation; at best it is only
capable of narrow and occasional acceptance. The symptoms
of ague and intermittent fever are certainly similar to those
produced by cinchona bark, which is an accepted cure for
ague, and the illustration on which Hahnemann founded his
system. But many diseases exhibit no symptoms accurately
similar, as the homeopathists insist they should be, to those
produced by the medicine prescribed for their cure. Numer-
ous drugs, moreover, cause symptoms wholly unlike those
of the diseases in the treatment of which homeopathists
use them.
The homeopathic selection of so-called appropriate
the removal of symptoms, it were therefore more rational to remove at once
the morbid condition—the source of the evil. No curative system directing
its efforts, as homeopathy does, merely against the symptoms of disease,
can ever rest upon a safe or scientific basis; for it is notorious that, under
varying modifying influences, the same diseases sometimes induce very
dissimilar symptoms, and would consequently, according to this system,
require dissimilar treatment. On the other hand, diseases essentially
different sometimes manifest similar symptoms. Thus, stupor and vertigo
result sometimes from an excessive and sometimes from a deficient quantity
of blood sent to the brain ; difficulty of breathing from too much as well as
from too little blood circulating through the lungs ; vomiting from irritation
of the stomach, or from irritation of the vomiting centre; diarrhea from
erudities in the alimentary canal, or irritant matters in the blood.
Not only are the principles on which homeopathy is said to be based
untenable, but the details of the system are inconsistent and ridiculous.
The homceopathic doses are so small that they are often incapable of detection
either by the microscope or by chemical analysis, and are sometimes so
inconceivably minute that the mind can form no idea of them. It is
admitted, even by homeopathists, that millions of such doses may be
swallowed by a healthy individual without inconvenience: but in disease
the body is stated to become so susceptible to their action that much risk
is incurred by their insufficient dilution! Medicines such as charcoal, sand,
and calcium carbonate, which, in doses of several drachms, have only slight
mechanical effects, when given in fractional parts of a grain are thought to
produce very powerful effects, and cause many hundred symptoms. The
extraordinary powers supposed to be conferred on these and other medicines,
even when given in doses of inconceivable minuteness, are chiefly ascribed to
the magic influence of careful and continued triturations and often-repeated
shakings, performed according to most precise directions. Some homeo-
pathic authorities declare that there is little difference of activity between
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28 PROTOPLASM
remedies, on the presumption that ‘like cures like,’ is based
upon a fallacy, while the minute, finely triturated, and sub-
divided doses are too attenuated to affect veterinary patients.
The practice of homeopathy has, however, developed whole-
some discussion, has suggested some useful experiments on
the actions of medicines, has helped to show the evils of
heroic and indiscriminate drugging, has taught the advan-
tage of simple prescriptions, exemplified the power of nature
to cure, when not too much interfered with, and demonstrated
the powerful influence of diet and regimen in the successful
treatment of disease.
ACTION OF MEDICINAL AGENTS ON PROTOPLASM,
BLOOD, AND LOW ORGANISMS
ANTISEPTICS—DISIN FECTANTS— DEODORISERS—PARASITICIDES
—ANTIPERIODICS.
Recent studies of the life of the simplest animal struc-
tures, and the manner in which they are acted upon by
medicinal agents, have thrown much light on thera-
different dilutions of the same medicine ; and it is said that, if the medicine
be well selected, it matters little whether the tenth, hundredth, or thou-
sandth of a grain be used (Gunther and Haycock). There is probably some
truth in this observation, for, with most medicines, especially when ad-
ministered to the lower animals, all the dilutions mentioned would be equally
harmless. But homeopathists assert that, in spite of the errors which their
opponents discover in the system, it is nevertheless very successful in the
cure of disease. In judging, however, of homeopathy as a system of prac-
tical medicine, it must be regarded as made up of two distinct parts :—lst,
The original and peculiar part of the system, consisting in the use of medi-
cines selected in accordance with a law embodied in the axiom similia
stmilibus curantur, and administered in infinitesimal doses, usually varying
from one grain to one-millionth of a grain, and carefully prepared according to
certain precise directions ; and 2nd, Attention to diet and regimen—the only
effectual and rational part of homceopathy, the true source of all its boasted
cures, and that department of medical treatment which has always been
insisted upon by rational and successful practitioners, of human and
veterinary medicine. The value of medicines given homceopathically has
never been satisfactorily shown, and never can be until two series of cases,
as nearly as possible alike, be treated—the one in the usual homeopathic
fashion, the other with the same attention to diet and regimen, but without
the globules. In comparative experiments, made at the Edinburgh Veter-
inary College, in the treatment of pleuro-pneumonia and other diseases, it
appeared that those cases treated by diet and regimen alone were as speedily
and effectually cured as those treated with the globules in addition, so long
as the globules were given only in homeopathic doses.
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PROTOPLASM AND BLOOD CONSTITUENTS 29
peutics as applied to the higher animals. The complex
albuminoid material termed protoplasm, which is the ever-
present constituent of living cells, is coagulated and pre-
cipitated by heat, and dissolved by alkalies. It is precipitated
by small quantity, and dissolved by excess, of most mineral
acids. Organic alkaloids resemble acids in lowering the
temperature at which heat coagulates albumin. Protoplasmic
movements, as illustrated in the ameeba, are retarded or
arrested by cold. Heat, slight electric shocks, and common
salt, even in diluted solution, first quicken them ; but a higher
temperature, a stronger electric current, or prolonged ex-
posure to a saline solution, tetanises them, Protoplasm has
the power of absorbing and storing oxygen; and the chemical
energy developed from this oxidation is capable of conversion
into mechanical energy and movements. Protoplasm has
also the power of carrying and transferring oxygen to other
substances, and appears to contribute largely to the diffusion
of oxygen, and interchange of gases, constantly occurring
between the blood, the intercellular fluid, and the cells, and
constituting what is termed internal respiration.
Leucocytes are affected in much the same way as ameebe.
Their movements are, besides, notably arrested by the cin-
chona alkaloids and beberine sulphate. Quinine injected
into the circulation has been found to diminish the migra-
tion of leucocytes from the blood-vessels.
The red corpuscles pass out of the vessels when an excess
of sodium chloride is introduced into the blood, while still
more rapid extravasation is produced by the introduction of
rattlesnake poison. The size of the red corpuscles is increased
by oxygen, hydrocyanic acid, quinine, and cold, and dimin-
ished by carbonic acid, morphine, and warmth.
The important blood constituent hemoglobin, like proto-
plasm, has great capacity for taking up oxygen, thus becom-
ing converted into oxyhzmoglobin, which, however, holds its
added oxygen loosely, and parts with it readily, as it slowly
circulates through capillary vessels. The hemoglobin also
combines with other substances as well as with oxygen—as
with hydrocyanic acid and carbonic mon-oxide, forming
tolerably stable compounds; which, however, neither take
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30 FERMENTS
up oxygen from the air in the lungs, nor give it off in the
tissues, which hence become asphyxiated. Addition to the
blood of such drugs as alcohol, chloroform, quinine, mor-
phine, nicotine, and strychnine, likewise, in various degrees,
diminish the amount of oxygen absorbed, and of carbonic
acid given off by the blood. ‘Uric acid and snake-poison
had a contrary efiect, increasing the absorption of oxygen
and the evolution of carbonic acid. Curare appeared to
lessen the absorption of oxygen, but increased the evolution of
carbonic acid. Mercuric chloride lessened the carbonic acid,
but increased the absorption of oxygen (Dr. Lauder Brunton).
Infusoria have both their rhythmical and ciliary move-
ments increased by heat and diminished by cold. Weak
saline solutions increase their movements; while strong
saline solutions alter the amount of water they contain, and
cause them first to shrivel, and subsequently to swell.
Ferments determine the healthy nutrition of plants and
animals, as well as their decay and many of their diseases.
They are exemplified by the yeast which raises bread and
converts the starch and sugar of barley into beer or spirit,
the rennet which coagulates milk, the filamentous fungus
which causes ringworm, and the bacillus which induces the
deadly anthrax. Ferments are divisible into two classes :—
1. Organic ferments or enzymes contain carbon, are
hence organic, though they are not organised or living. They
are exemplified by diastase, which causes germination in
barley and other seeds, ptyalin from saliva, pepsin from the
stomach, trypsin from the pancreas, with histozyne, a recently
discovered ferment present in blood, and believed to be the
chief agent in the reduction of albuminoids.
2. Organised or formed ferments, such as yeast, mycoderma
vini, moulds, and bacteria, are living vegetable organisms of
parasitic habit.
The reduction of complex carbon compounds into simpler
forms is the work of both classes of ferments. Their effects
are produced, it is believed, in one of two ways :—(1) By
abstraction of water, as in the conversion of starch into
sugar, or the splitting up of glucosides—changes chiefly
effected by enzymes, and analogous to the effects of heat in
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PATHOGENIC AND NON-PATHOGENIC BACTERIA 31
conjunction with diluted mineral acids or alkalies. (2) The
breaking up of the fermentible body is sometimes effected
by transfer of oxygen from its hydrogen to its carbon, as in
alcoholic and lactic fermentations, and in putrefactive
processes—a mode of reduction usually effected by the
organised ferments.
The organised ferments, which are the causes of putrefac-
tion and of various diseases, have been classified as—
1, Yeasts, or sprouting fungi, which consist of ovoid cells,
multiplying by budding, and represented by the torula cere-
visie, mycoderma vini, and, according to most authorities,
also include the aphthous patches of thrush found in the
mouths of young animals.
2. Moulds, or filamentous fungi, occur in threads, which
are agglomerated into masses or tufts, multiplying by
budding and formation of spores, and exemplified by the
common moulds which appear on moist objects, and by
those which cause such skin diseases as favus and tinea.
3. Bacteria, Microbes, or Schizomycetes, are the lowest
forms of vegetable life, but the most widely distributed, in air,
earth, and water. They consist of round, oval, or cylindrical
cells, so minute that they can only be examined with high
powers of the microscope. They multiply chiefly by division,
occasionally by spore formation. Their multiplication is
effected with enormous rapidity, a single individual cell
sometimes producing a million in twenty-four hours. Some
are fixed, others are motile. For their formation and growth
they require organic matter, moisture, salts, and a moderate
temperature; some, further, need oxygen; some thrive with-
outit. They speedily exhaust the nutriment obtainable from
the substance on which they grow, or form in it matters
inimical to their life; but where one species languishes and
perishes, others frequently spring up and flourish.
Bacteria are divided into two groups—(1) Non-pathogenic
or saphrophytic. Many of these feed and live on dead animal
or vegetable matter, and their great function is the conversion
of complex into simpler forms. They are exemplified by the
bacillus of hay infusion, the bacillus termo found in all putrid
fluids, and the bacilli developing the saccharine and lactic
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32 BACTERIAL INVASION
fermentations. (2) Pathogenic or parasitic bacteria live on
or within the bodies of living plants or animals, and when in
large numbers interfere with nutrition and cause disease.
Their pathogenic power is proved beyond all question by
taking cultures from any of the specific disease products,
growing them in suitable media for several generations, and
inoculating these on living subjects, when the original
disease is reproduced. But pathogenic and non-pathogenic
are only relative terms. The organisms, usually harmless,
under certain conditions become harmful; while those that
are pathogenic by cultivation and otherwise sometimes lose
their toxic power, and live and reproduce themselves
amongst dead vegetable and animal matter. The bacilli of
anthrax, hog cholera, and tetanus illustrate these varying
states of activity and change of habit. Microbes which have
had their activity reduced or destroyed may, however, under
certain conditions regain it.
Both pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria are divided
into three classes, each distinguished by the form assumed :
(a) Micrococci or round cells, such as the sarcina found in
the stomach, or the cocci which arrange themselves in
clusters or in chains, and cause strangles in horses, rinder-
pest in cattle, erysipelas and pus formations in all animals.
(b) Bacilli or rod-shaped bacteria, as those of anthrax and
glanders, as well as the short ovoid bacillus of pneumonia.
(c) Spirilli or thread-like bacteria, as of relapsing fever in
man and the comma-like organisms of cholera.
Dr. T. Lauder Brunton states: ‘It is probable that bacteria
are constantly entering the organs of man and animals from
the lungs and digestive canal; but unless they are excessive
in number, and virulent in their nature, they are quickly
destroyed. When only a small number of pathogenic
bacteria, such as the bacillus anthracis, is injected into the
blood at once, they are destroyed in the organism, but when
they are in larger numbers they have the best of the struggle,
and the organism itself is destroyed.’ Fortunately in healthy
subjects, under favourable conditions, the bacilli and their
spores are attacked and destroyed by leucocytes, connective
tissue cells, and probably other healthy textures.
Bie
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BACTERIAL PRODUCTS 33
Both organic and organised ferments, in breaking up
complex vegetable and animal bodies, frequently produce
substances of great activity. The emulsin—the ferment
of bitter almonds—gives rise to a hydrocyanated oil. The
myrosin of mustard seed develops the acrid mustard oils.
The protoplasm of particular plants produces their respective
alkaloids, some of which are active poisons. Certain mush-
rooms produce the poisonous alkaloid muscarine; putrefy-
ing yeast yields sepsin; from putrefied maize is obtained
an extract which contains one substance which tetanises,
and another which narcotises. Animal bodies invaded by
bacteria undergo decomposition, and the bacterial cells,
according to their kind, elaborate their respective alkaloids,
some of which are poisonous. Under healthy conditions
they are excreted, but if retained they are injurious. In the
healthy muscles of living animals, after active exertion, there
are found alkaloids allied to xanthin and creatin. During
digestion of fibrin by pepsin an alkaloid is formed. Bouchard
has stated that the alkaloids formed in the intestines of a
healthy man in twenty-four hours would suffice to kill him
if they were all absorbed and excretion stopped.
The pathogenic, like the putrefactive bacteria, when they
invade the bodies of higher organisms, act as ferments,
cause disintegration of living tissues, and formation of alka-
loidal toxines, and, besides, produce globulins or albumoses,
often as deadly as the alkaloids. Special local effects are
produced by the action of these poisons, notably congestion,
inflammation, and necrosis; but the soluble poisons carried
in the blood-stream further develop general efiects. Thus,
the anthrax bacilli cause local malignant cedema or pustule,
and further lead to nervous collapse. The diphtheria
bacillus causes special throat lesions, while the toxine it
develops, circulating widely, impairs the functions of the
great nerve-centres.
In relation to the prevention and cure of the diseases
depending upon bacteria, it must be noted that these patho-
genic organisms have their activity retarded or destroyed by
exposure to high temperatures, by the action of chemical
solutions, by being reproduced for several generations in the
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34 PROTECTIVE VACCINES
bodies of certain animals, and in other ways. Anthrax virus
is thus attenuated by heat; rabies virus by being grown in
the bodies of rabbits. These attenuated viruses are used as
protective vaccines. The vaccine of anthrax and rabies, as
well as those of black quarter, swine and fowl cholera, when
injected into the bodies of animals liable to these disorders,
render the vaccinated subjects immune. This is demon-
strated by the animals operated upon suffering no harm
when subsequently inoculated with doses of the un-
attenuated bacterium or its products, which would destroy
unprotected animals. One class of these micro-organisms
frequently modifies or arrests the action of others. Thus,
the harmless earth bacillus has been found to protect mice
and rabbits from anthrax, while a similar power is exerted
by the products of blue pus. These important protective
powers conferred by bacteria and their products appear to
depend upon their exerting metabolic changes on the blood
and tissues, with formation of special chemical agents. This
immunity, like that produced by an ordinary attack of
specific disease, may be more or less permanent. It may be
so marked as to be hereditary. In some cases the blood of
such immunes transfused into the veins of susceptible
animals renders them also immune. Such investigations
appear to foreshadow important developments in practical
medicine.
Vaccines exerting a curative as well as a preventive effect
may also be obtainable. This is a justifiable expectation,
for human patients who have been exposed to the contagium
of smallpox, if promptly vaccinated with cow-pox lymph,
have the smallpox attack favourably modified. Perhaps
still more to the point are Pasteur’s experiments with rabies.
He inoculated dogs and rabbits with lethal doses of rabies
virus, and thereafter with repeated doses of vaccine. No
serious results followed, although control animals inoculated
with rabies virus, but not with the vaccine, died.
Another important discovery connected with bacteria has
recently been made. Brieger and Fraenkel have found that
the bacteria of diphtheria produce not only a toxic, but also
a protective substance. Drs. Klemperer, experimenting
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ANTIZYMOTICS : 35
with pneumo-cocci, have obtained a pneumo-toxine and an
anti-pneumo-toxine. Koch’s investigations with tuberculin
also point to the conclusion that both a pathogenic poison
and its antidote are formed by the tubercle bacillus. Ex-
periments may show that others of these pathogenic bacteria
also develop their several anti-toxines, and as the toxines
have been isolated and cultivated, so, doubtless, also will be
the respective anti-toxines.
The general method of fighting these pathogenic bacteria
at present at our command consists in strict isolation of
animals affected by such specific diseases, and fully recognis-
ing and acting on the fact that infected subjects and their
discharges are apt to distribute the virus. Remedial measures
must be adopted early—if possible, before the bacteria
have multiplied, and before the toxines are produced. In
such cases as rabies, which have a long incubation stage,
there will be time for the protective operation of vaccines,
which appear to confer on the tissues a tolerance of the
bacteria, and enable them successfully to cope with the
intruders and their products. Every endeavour must be
made to maintain in its fullest vigour both the part primarily
attacked and the system generally, with the view that the
healthy tissues may, if practicable, destroy the parasites and
their products. The excreting channels, moreover, will be
maintained in healthy action, in order that waste and diseased
materials, as well as the organisms themselves, may be re-
moved, Disinfectants will continue to be used so that the
bacteria and their spores shall be destroyed, and the spread
of the disease prevented.
Many agents inhibit or retard the action of ferments, and
some effectually destroy them. These agents have been de-
signated :—
Antizymotics — substances which arrest fermentation.
They act chiefly in two ways:—(1) Chemically, by direct or
indirect oxidation. Chlorine, iodine, bromine, and potassium
permanganate act in this way. (2) Arresting proliferation
or catalysis of ferments; such is the mode of action of
corrosive sublimate and many other metallic solutions, of
carbolic, boric, salicylic, and benzoic acids, and of tempera-
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36 ANTISEPTICS—DISINFECTANTS—DEODORISERS
tures above 200° Fahr. Antizymotics include antiseptics
and disinfectants, and nearly allied to these are deodorants.
Antiseptics are remedies which arrest putrefaction. They
kill or prevent the development of those bacteria which pro-
duce septic decomposition.
Disinrecrants destroy the specific poisons of communi-
cable diseases. Their special function is to kill, or arrest
the development of, those germs or bacteria which produce
disease.
Deoporisers or deodorants destroy smells. Some of the
most disagreeable smells, and those most injurious to the
higher animals, result from putrefaction, hence their cause
is removed by effectual antiseptics. Smells consisting mainly
of sulphuretted hydrogen are neutralised by chlorine; those
from ammoniacal gases by hydrochloric and nitric acids.
Noisome odours may also be attracted and absorbed by
freshly-burnt charcoal or dried earth.
Enzymes or separable ferments generally have their action
arrested or are destroyed more readily than the organised
ferments, amongst which there is much difference in viability.
Microzymes are more sensitive than bacilli. The bacillus
anthracis is more easily killed than some others. The spores
of all species are specially resistant, and for their effectual
destruction require prolonged exposure to tolerably strong
solutions of potent antiseptics.
The action of watery solutions of various drugs on the
several enzymes has been carefully examined by Wernitz,
and his experiments corroborated and quoted by Dr. Lauder
Brunton. Corrosive sublimate stands pre-eminent in the
certainty of its effects, even in very diluted solution. The
action of emulsin was arrested by 1-65,000th part, of diastase
by 1-50,000th part, of ptyalin by 1-52,000th part, of pan-
creatin by 1-21,600th part ; but it took 1-1766th part to arrest
the action of pepsin, and 1-720th part to arrest that of
rennet. Minute quantities of copper sulphate, chlorine,
iodine, and bromine, and also bleaching powder and sul-
phurous acid, readily destroy these organic ferments.
Salicylic and benzoic acids and chlorinated lime are also
effectual, usually in proportions of about 1-1000th part. Borax
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RELATIVE ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS ANTISEPTICS 37
is effective generally with 1 to 100, although 1-3580th part
arrests the action of the intestinal ferment invertin. Alumi-
nium acetate, carbolic acid, and glycerin in the order men-
tioned are weaker still. Chloroform, thymol, eucalyptol, and
mustard oils have little, if any, action, even in saturated
solution. A temperature over 125° Fahr. weakens or destroys
the enzymes.
Drugs act differently on different ferments. While
1-52,000th part of corrosive sublimate, as already indicated,
arrests the action of ptyalin, 1 part in 720 is needful to
arrest the action of rennet, which is, however, destroyed by
1-1000th part of borax, 1 part of which in 100 is required to
destroy ptyalin. For destruction of rennet, bromine and
chlorinated lime are specially effective. Creosote, although
it has small effect on the enzymes, in solution of 1 part to 500
destroys yeast cells, and, in solution of half that strength,
kills bacteria. The mould fungi are destroyed by the same
agents which kill yeast and bacteria.
Bacteria of different sorts exhibit some differences in
their susceptibility to different antiseptics; indeed, the
susceptibility somewhat varies in the same bacteria when
raised in different media. It is more easy to prevent than
to arrest development of bacteria As already pointed out,
the spores have much greater resisting powers than the
fully-developed bacteria. The fully-developed bacteria are
destroyed by exposure for an hour to a temperature of 150°
to 168° Fahr., but the spores require more prolonged ex-
posure at 212° Fahr. Moist heat, having a greater power of
softening and penetrating the spore envelope, is more
effectual than dry heat. Milk containing the bacillus of
tubercle or other specific disorder may be rendered inno-
cuous by five minutes’ boiling.
Experiments bearing on the power of different substances
to prevent the development of bacteria in various stages
and solutions, to kill them, or to arrest development and
reproduction of their spores, have been carried out by many
good observers. The plan of procedure has generally been
to add to carefully prepared sterilised fluids in test tubes,
known quantities of the disinfectant to be tested, and then
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38 KOCH’S EXPERIMENTS
introduce a drop of liquid containing bacteria or their spores.
Such experiments show that the agents which most promptly
and effectually arrest the action of enzymes also prove the
most destructive to bacteria. Of corrosive sublimate,
1-5805th part kills the developed parasite; 1-25,258th
part prevents the development of bacteria taken from
meat infusions; but it requires a strength of 1 in 2525
to prevent reproduction of spores in unboiled meat infusion,
and still stronger solutions to penetrate and kill the spores.
Chlorine, chlorinated lime, bromine, iodine, and quinine
stand next in activity. Sulpho-carbolates and strychnine
follow in order. Sodium sulphite is about 1-10th the
strength of quinine. Compared with corrosive sublimate,
it requires twenty times the amount of thymol, salicylic
acid, or potassium permanganate to prevent development
of bacteria, and sixty times the amount to prevent repro-
duction of spores. Sodium hyposulphite has very little
action. Carbolic acid did not stand so high as expected.
The fresh blood of an animal just dead from anthrax
must be mixed with its own bulk of a1 per cent. solution
in order to destroy the bacilli, and enable it, without harm,
to be injected into another animal. A half per cent. solution
fails to destroy the bacilli.
Koch’s experiments with anthrax spores constitute the
most recent, extensive, and reliable tests of the value of
disinfectants. Solutions of the several substances, of speci-
fied strength, were placed in tubes, their mouths stopped, as
is generally done, by cotton wool; and threads steeped in
fluids containing bacilli and their spores were carefully
introduced. Some of these threads were removed from day
to day, and subjected to microscopic examination. Even
after one hundred days’ exposure to the antiseptic, some
threads still exhibited bacilli. Chlorine water, freshly made,
bromine 2 per cent. solution, iodine 1 part in 7000, corrosive
sublimate 1 per cent. in water, were found effectually to
destroy these anthrax spores with which they had been in
contact one day. Formic acid, specific gravity 1120, destroyed
all spores after four days’ exposure. In five days all spores
were killed by 5 per cent. watery solutions of chlorinated
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LISTER'S PRINCIPLES OF ANTISEPTIC SURGERY 39
lime and ferric chloride. One per cent. of arsenic in water,
and the same proportion of quinine in acidulated watery
solution, were effective in ten days. Oil of turpentine took
five days, ether thirty days. The results with carbolic acid
were disappointing; a 1 per cent. solution had not much
effect on the spores, even when exposure was prolonged for
fifteen days; and a five per cent. solution was required to
secure their destruction in one day. Like salicylic, boric,
and benzoic acids, sodium chloride, and many metallic
solutions, carbolic acid was thoroughly effectual in destroy-
ing microzymes which had not formed spores, and from its
volatility it is frequently more serviceable than fixed anti-
septics. The infected threads, subjected to the influence of
even the least active of those antiseptics, produced only
scanty and retarded crops of bacilli. Such reliable anti-
septics as corrosive sublimate, bromine, and iodine, when
dissolved in alcohol, ether, or oil, were not nearly so effectual
as when dissolved in water.
The uses of antiseptics—In surgery, zinc and iron
chlorides, pitch and tar, tinctures of myrrh, benzoin, and
other balsams have long been used empirically both in
human and veterinary practice. But Lord Lister has
explained and systematised the antiseptic treatment, and
rendered it both certain and successful. He studied fer-
mentative processes, and the analogous actions of micro-
organisms on living tissues; and in 1867 inaugurated the
aseptic treatment of wounds. Two conditions, he insists,
are essential in dealing with wounds, whether accidental or
made by the surgeon: (1) Nothing septic must be left in
them; and (2) Nothing septic must be allowed to get
into them. Acting on these principles, wounds which for
an hour or two have remained exposed, and into which the
ubiquitous dust-particles and organisms have been intro-
duced, should first be thoroughly cleansed of mechanical
irritants, and then washed, and, if need be, syringed with a
watery solution of corrosive sublimate, zinc chloride, or
carbolic acid. The wound thus rendered aseptic, and the
removal of discharges, if need be, provided for, it is to be
protectedfrom ingress of organisms by antiseptic dressings.
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40 PRINCIPLES OF ANTISEPTIC SURGERY
Wounds become septic not so much from the germs found
in the atmosphere as from those found on the hands of the
operator.—(Lord Lister.)
Any wound from a clean knife, or howsoever produced, if
it is perfectly aseptic, is as quickly as possible covered with
the dressing. This consists of lint, tow, oakum, or other such
absorbent substance, saturated with an effectual germicide
solution of carbolic acid, which has the advantage of being
volatile, of perchloride or biniodide of mercury, or of boric
or salicylic acids. These dressings are removed daily, or as
required, and are continued till healthy granulations cover
and protect the wound. Further, to prevent wounds from
being inoculated by septic germs, the knives, probes,
ligatures, sponges, drainage tubes, and other appliances
used in connection with them, should lie in an antiseptic
solution until required, while the operator, whose hands
should be most scrupulously clean, must repeatedly moisten
his hands with a similar solution.
Wounds kept strictly aseptic heal quickly; if otherwise
properly treated inflammation rarely appears, inasmuch as
the conditions determining irritation are avoided; pain con-
sequently is slight and of brief duration; suppuration does
not occur, its organismal causes being excluded; blood-clots
are preserved from harmful decomposition, and are gradually
replaced by new tissue; portions of damaged structure
without hurt are removed; septicemia and pyzemia cannot
occur when micro-organisms and their products have been
destroyed or prevented from entering the protected wound.
Serious operations, such as opening the chest or abdomen,
exposing joints and tendon sheaths, can be undertaken with
greatly diminished risk when proper antiseptic precautions
are adopted.
Carbolic acid is the antiseptic most frequently used in
veterinary surgery. Its volatility carries it into the recesses
of wounds, and thus in many cases increases its efficacy. Itis
applied, according to circumstances, in the proportion of one
part dissolved in twenty to forty of water; but besides watery
solutions, liniments and antiseptic lints are used. It is em-
ployed alone or in conjunction with corrosive sublimate.
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ANTISEPTICS FOR INTERNAL, USE 41
As an effectual non-poisonous antiseptic and parasiticide,
Professor Fréhner and other German authorities strongly
recommend Jeyes’ creolin, which is a derivative of coal-
tar. Salicylic acid destroys some ferments, but is not
volatile; it is used especially for the dressing of ulcers and
eczema. Boric acid is non-volatile, non-irritant, and is often
serviceable for superficial wounds, where frequent dressings
are unnecessary, where the more active carbolic acid has for
some time been persevered with, and where granulations and
growth of skin require encouragement. The watery solution
of sulphurous acid is cheap and effectual. Chlorinated soda
solution is sometimes used. ‘Sanitas,’ which consists of
camphoraceous bodies and peroxide of hydrogen, is a non-
poisonous and valuable antiseptic. Iodoform readily parts
with its 90 per cent. of iodine, conjoins antiseptic and local
anesthetic actions, and stimulates granulation. It is applied
to ulcers and chronic foul wounds. Such poisonous dressings
require, however, to be used with some care for dogs, as they
are liable to lick them. Iodine tincture undiluted or diluted
according to requirements, proves a useful stimulant and
antiseptic ; zine chloride, chinosol, lysol, Izal, Formaldehyde,
Naphthol, and Thymol are also employed.
Antiseptics used internally are neither so certain nor so
effective as when used externally. Bacteria within the living
body are not easily reached or destroyed; and, moreover,
medicines such as corrosive sublimate and carbolic acid,
which readily destroy the micro-organisms, are also liable to
poison the patient. Dr. Cash, however, has found that the
continued administration of minute doses of corrosive sub-
limate render animals capable of resisting the deadly effects
of the subsequent inoculation of anthrax. Professor Polli of
Milan found that dogs, which for five days previously had
received daily doses of sodium sulphite, suffered compara-
tively little inconvenience from the inoculation of fotid pus,
which destroyed, with gangrene and typhoid symptoms,
dogs not previously protected by the antiseptic. Mr. Crookes
(Cattle Plague Commission, 1866) injected into the veins of
a cow affected with cattle plague 105 grains of carbolic acid,
dissolved in 6 ounces of glycerin and water. Not only
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42 METHODS OF DISINFECTION
were no bad effects produced, but the cow steadily improved
and recovered. But even more to the purpose, as showing
the efficacy of the administration of antiseptics, is the ob-
servation that cattle in plague-infected buildings receiving
daily an ounce of carbolic acid along with their food, and
having carbolic and sulphurous acid fumes frequently
liberated in their sheds, did not contract the disease.
Researches in this direction will probably lead to important
results.
To prevent decomposition of the contents of the digestive
canal, allay irritation and vomiting, and relieve diarrhea
and dysentery, such antiseptics as salol, dermatol, naph-
thol, tannalbin, lysol, creolin, creosote, carbolic, salicylic,
and sulphurous acids are administered. Alcohol, ether-oils,
and other members of the fatty series of carbon compounds,
are prescribed. Most of the bodies of the aromatic
series are also antiseptics; but carbolic and salicylic acids
are more active than salol, exalgin, thallin, and resorcin.
Creolin and lysol are the antiseptics most frequently pre-
scribed in Germany. The notable efficacy of mercurials in
many gastro-intestinal disorders depends upon their anti-
septic properties. In the treatment of phthisis in human
patients, inhalation of spray, containing very minute quan-
tities of corrosive sublimate, has been used with some
success.
The uses of disinfectants.—Perfect cleanliness of the
animals and their surroundings, with sunlight and abundance
of pure air and water, are the chief purifying agents re-
quisite, so long as animals are in perfect health. When,
however, contagious or zymotic disease occurs, it is necessary
to destroy the specific micro-organisms produced, and
prevent their diffusing and attacking healthy subjects.
Pure air dilutes, but it also diffuses, and does not destroy
these contagious organisms.
Water, like air, mechanically dilutes noxious matters, and
hastens their oxidation. Sewage freely mixed with running
water is hence rapidly decomposed and robbed of injurious
properties. Decomposing organic and contagious matters,
insufficiently diluted with water, instead, however, of being
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EFFICACY OF DISINFECTANTS 43
deprived of their activity, are apt to get distributed, and are
liable to assume more dangerous forms. Hence, in purifying
foul or infected places, solid accumulations should be mixed
with some fitting antiseptic, and removed without the addi-
tion of water. Infected stables, sheds, market-stances, trucks,
and ships should be swept out, and, if need be, scraped; and
dry or semi-solid filth, which proves so ready an absorbent
of contagious virus, should be mixed with disinfectants, and
cleared away. The partially cleansed surfaces should then
be well washed with carbolic soap and water, or corrosive
sublimate solution; brickwork subsequently lime-washed,
and woodwork sprinkled with carbolic acid in the proportion
of two ounces to the gallon of water.
It is of paramount importance to attack the infecting
micro-organisms as soon as they are produced, and before
they have opportunity for distribution. Animals affected
with contagious diseases should accordingly be immediately
isolated, provided with attendants who shall have nothing
to do with the healthy stock, their droppings at once dis-
infected, their skin and feet washed daily with some
disinfectant, whilst antiseptic medicine should be given
internally.
Sheds or stables occupied by infected animals should be
fumigated with chlorine or sulphurous acid. The former is
the more effectual, and is evolved gradually by treating
bleaching powder with diluted sulphuric acid, or more freely
by mixing common salt and black oxide of manganese with
sulphuric acid. Half-a-pound of sulphur, mixed with about
one-fourth part of charcoal, and placed in a chauffer or on a
shovel of hot cinders, fumigates a shed about 100 feet long
and 20 feet in breadth and height. Neither chlorine nor
sulphurous gas, properly managed, should cause pulmonary
irritation, either to the animals or their attendants. Carbolic
acid in its impure liquid form is conveniently applied with
a brush over the doors, walls, and mangers; and carbolic
powder should be scattered daily over the floors and manure
heaps. Rugs or sacks, wetted with a strong solution of the
volatile carbolic acid, should be hung about the premises.
The reporters to the Cattle Plague Commission adduced
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44 EFFICACY OF DISINFECTANTS
many striking cases showing the efficacy of disinfectants.
Mr. William Crookes and others used carbolic and sulphurous
acids on many farms during the prevalence of cattle plague,
and these herds, although within centres of contagion,
escaped. Nay, more, individual animals breathing an
atmosphere of carbolic acid, and receiving daily doses of
the acid with their food, resisted the disease for weeks,
although plague-stricken subjects were dying in adjoining
standings. One herd of seventy-three animals in Cheshire
was for months surrounded by cattle plague. The virus was
eventually conveyed to them by one of the milkmen. Four
of the cows milked by him sickened and died: twenty-eight
younger animals, unprotected by disinfection, also perished ;
but disinfection, continuously applied, effectually arrested
further spread of the disease. From the end of February
until the middle of April no new cases occurred. The
disease abating in the neighbourhood, the forty-one surviving
cows were turned out to grass; within, however, a few days
of their removal from the protecting influence of the dis-
infectants, they were, one after another, struck down by
plague, and all died. Carbolic acid sprinkled about the
boxes, sheds, and enclosures of the Jardin d’Acclimatation,
in Paris, proved successful in preventing the spread of cattle
plague in 1865. Similar treatment has secured the like
immunity from attacks of contagious pleuro-pneumonia and
foot-and-mouth disease. Repeated instances have come
under my notice where foot-and-mouth disease has been
arrested, after a portion of the herd has been attacked, by
washing twice a week the walls, floors, doors, and other
woodwork of the infected premises with carbolic acid, con-
fining the animals for several weeks to their sheds or boxes,
and keeping them surrounded by an atmosphere abounding
in the tar acids, freshly evolved by sprinkling M‘Dougall’s
powder daily over the floors and the manure. By similar
disinfection, the progress of influenza and of strangles in
large studs has frequently been arrested. Professor Nocard
has shown that, when a cow aborts, whether from mechanical
and accidental causes, or from virus introduced from subjects
which have previously aborted, further cases of the mishap
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SPREAD OF CONTAGION 45
may be prevented by corrosive sublimate injections into the
vagina, washing the external organs with a similar solution,
and disinfecting and burying or burning the aborted calf
and membranes. Incalvers standing with those aborting
should have the external organs and tail washed daily with
an antiseptic solution.
Burning is the only absolutely safe method of dealing
with the bodies of anthrax subjects, from which removal of
the hides is dangerous to persons employed or, it may be,
to other animals. Cattle plague and swine fever subjects
should be either burned or deeply buried; while for the
diseased organs of tuberculous patients the furnace is the
only safe tomb.
A high temperature, as already indicated, destroys infec-
tive particles. Koch, as above stated, found that the bacilli
of anthrax and swine fever, even when bearing spores, were
deprived of pathogenic power when exposed for four hours
to a temperature of 216° to 220° Fahr.; while exposure for
five minutes to boiling water, or, better still, to steam heat,
is equally effective. The power of steam depends—(1) on
its latent heat ; (2) on its moistening ; (3) on its condensing ;
(4) on its penetrating. It is most effective when employed
under pressure, and when its entrance into the chamber is
occasionally interrupted, so that cold air in the interstices
of bulky and non-conducting bodies may be displaced. Dr.
Russell, Glasgow, exposed all infected washable articles, for
three-quarters of an hour in a chamber, to steam heat, along
with soap and soda, and found that this treatment destroyed
bacilli of anthrax and swine fever, tuberculous pus, and also
the ova of lice. This method should, where practicable, be
adopted in the case of rugs and other articles used by
infected animals.
Conveyance of contagium by attendants is prevented
by sprinkling their clothes with weak carbolic solutions.
After handling animals affected by contagious disease,
or making post-mortem examinations of such subjects,
the hands should be cleansed first with soap and water,
and then washed with a 4 per cent. solution of carbolic
acid, or with a solution of 12-15 grains corrosive sublimate
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46 DISINFECTANTS FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES
to a quart of water, which very effectually destroys any
adhering bacilli.
So soon as the premises in which animals affected with
contagious disease have lived can be emptied, more thorough
disinfection should be carried out. To this end, doors and
windows having been closed, chlorine or sulphurous acid
should be freely evolved, and the place kept shut for several
hours. Walls, floors, and woodwork should subsequently be
scraped, and washed with corrosive sublimate solution or
other disinfectant.
Different disinfectants are suitable for different pur-
poses. For putrefying or contagious matters mixed with
water, the best are mineral salts, of which the most effective
and cheapest are corrosive sublimate; zinc chloride, in the
familiar form of Burnet’s fluid; and iron chloride, the active
constituent of Ellerman’s deodorising fluid. For sewage
disinfection, or where there is much water, aluminium sul-
phate, followed by lime, can be recommended. Sulphites
promptly remove smells, and are most effectual when con-
joined with the tar acids. The mixture of sodium sulphite
and carbolic or cresylic acid, although effectual for deodoris-
ing, has a feeble power in preventing the putrefaction of
night soil, for which Condy’s fluid is most useful. Common
salt, although ineffectual in checking decay when once
established, or in neutralising bad smells, is a cheap pre-
server of many animal substances. It preserves and disinfects
skins. For conserving for manure meat seized as unfit for
human food, Coopeyr’s salts, consisting of refuse commercial
chlorides, are cheap and effectual. Iodine is volatile and
penetrating. It is used in many sick-rooms and hospitals,
conveniently dissolved in the light diffusible pentane. The
solution contains 20 grains to the ounce; an ounce suffices
for four cubic feet of space; distributed by a spray producer,
it volatilises rapidly ; it leaves, when freely used, a film of
iodine, and effectually destroys smells and noxious organic
matter. Its expense, however, precludes its general use in
veterinary practice.
The uses of deodorisers.— Bad smells, however unpleasant,
are not necessarily prejudicial to health, and, although some-
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DEODORISERS 47
times associated with, are perfectly distinct from, the micro-
organisms of zymotic or contagious diseases. Objectionable
smells are largely made up of sulphuretted hydrogen, phos-
phuretted hydrogen, and nitrogen gases, with sulphurous and
ammoniacal compounds. Still more injurious are the noisome
exhalations from the skin and lungs of animals. Some
popular deodorisers only cloak and overpower, instead of
neutralising or destroying offensive smells. Of this descrip-
tion are fumigations with aromatic and balsamic substances,
such as camphor, cascarilla, and lavender, the burning of
brown paper, the sprinkling of scents and essences. Odours
depending upon gases are readily removed by effectual
chemical neutralisers: sulphuretted hydrogen, by chlorine;
ammoniacal emanations, by hydrochloric and nitric acids.
Smells from decomposing organic matters are usually most
effectually got rid of by arresting decomposition by suitable
antiseptics. Noisome odours already floating in the air may
be attracted and absorbed by freshly-burned charcoal, dried
earth, or cotton wool; or altered and broken up by such
gases as chlorine and sulphurous acid. For destroying the
intolerable smell from cochineal dye-works, no deodoriser
has been found so satisfactory as sulphurous acid. For
deodorising the contents of privies, without detracting from
the manurial value, a mixture of common salt and carbolic
acid, or eight parts of calcined dolomite mixed with two of
peat or of wood charcoal, can be recommended.
Powerful mineral antiseptics, such as the zinc and iron
chlorides, especially when used in concentrated solution, are
not good deodorisers. They are apt to evolve disagreeable
fatty acids. Not being volatile, they can only destroy the
odorous particles brought into immediate contact with them.
Iodine, dissolved in spirit, although an expensive, is an
elegant and effective deodoriser. Cresylic and carbolic acids
are good deodorisers, and are volatile, but have the dis-
advantage, when used in concentrated form and in presence
of much water, of evolving sulphuretted hydrogen. A mix-
ture of dry sodium sulphite with carbolic acid is effectual,
and moderate in cost, and should be placed in vessels about
the premises. M‘Dougall’s disinfecting powder is also good,
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48 PARASITICIDES AND ANTIPERIODICS
especially when charged with an extra quantity of carbolic
acid; animals appear to have no dislike to the tar-like
odour, and nothing answers better for removing the smell
and arresting the decomposition of stable or other manure.
Jeyes’ Fluid—one part in 80 to 100 of water—is largely used
as a deodorant for cattle-sheds, stables, piggeries, and kennels,
Chlorinated lime, in the familiar form of bleaching powder,
although possessed of small antiseptic power, is a prompt
and effectual deodoriser, can be employed either for solid or
liquid impurities, gives off chlorine, and never causes any
disagreeable combinations; but breaking up instead of pre-
serving organic matters, it diminishes the value of manure
with which it is mixed. It is applied as powder, or in
solution containing from 2 to 5 per cent., to the walls, wood-
work, and floors of the places requiring purification, or sheets
soaked in the solution are suspended about the premises.
Parasiticwes are killers of parasites, whether animal or
vegetable. The group includes germicides, or killers of
micro-organisms (p. 31), and vermicides, which will be sub-
sequently noticed. They are referred to here as they mainly
consist of antiseptics. The two varieties of ringworm pro-
duced by fungi are destroyed by antiseptic solutions, by
phenol oils, and tincture of iodine. Scab and mange caused
by various acari are treated by sulphur ointments, solutions
of carbolic acid, creolin, or arsenic, or by tobacco infusion.
The strongylides invading the bronchial tubes of young
cattle and sheep, and causing hoose or husk, are destroyed
by inhalation of diluted sulphurous acid, or chlorine, or
by turpentine, chloroform, or terebene, given intratracheally.
Antireriopics are medicines which mitigate or prevent
intermittent intensity of the symptoms of certain diseases.
Such periodical recrudescence is less marked in the lower
animals than in man, but is sometimes observable in the
pyrexia of influenza in horses and distemper in dogs. These
exacerbations usually occur in specific disorders, and are
believed to result from the recurring development of fresh
crops of micro-organisms or their products. Cinchona,
quinine, iodine, arsenic, and salicin, are the most effective
antiperiodics.
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COUNTER-IRRITANTS 49
REMEDIES ACTING ON THE SURFACE OF
THE BODY
RUBEFACIENTS—VESICANTS—PUSTULANTS—CAUSTICS—SETONS
—THE ACTUAL CAUTERY—ASTRINGENTS—DEMULCENTS—
EMOLLIENTS —DILUENTS
Irritants, or Counter-irritants, applied to the skin, produce
nervous and vascular reaction, and reflexly induce certain
remote effects. They relieve or remove congestion and pain,
and, by stimulating functional activity, promote repair. It
is not always easy, however, to explain how these curative
results are produced.
Heat and cold both relieve tension, and hence pain; but
they produce their effects in different ways. Cold reflexly
contracts arteries, and hence lessens the quantity of blood
flowing to an inflamed part. Warmth dilates capillaries
adjacent to the seat of inflammation, and hence slows the
blood current. Cold lessens the amceboid movements of
the white corpuscles, but to be effective it must be used in
the earlier stages of inflammation, and continuously for a
considerable time.
Trritation or inflammation of the skin surface, as indicated,
frequently relieves or removes congestion or inflammation,
and pain of adjacent or deeper-seated parts. To effect such
purposes blisters are applied, in most animals, in sore throat,
bronchitis, pleurisy, inflamed joints, etc. Their curative
actions are thus explained : When the chest walls are blistered
in a case of pleuro-pneumonia, so soon as the skin becomes
hot and tender, a stimulus is conveyed by the afferent nerves
to the vaso-motor medullary centres, and thence is reflected
by the vaso-motor nerves, causing the lung and pleural
capillaries to dilate, and thus diminishing tension and pain.
Dr. Lauder Brunton mentions that when ‘ cantharides collo-
dion was painted repeatedly over the back of a rabbit for
fourteen days, the vessels underneath the skin and the
superficial layers of muscles were congested. The deeper
layers of the muscles, the thoracic wall, and even the lung
itself, were much paler and more anemic than those of the
D
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50 RUBEFACIENTS—VESICANTS
other side.’ A blister is thus believed to act in the same
way as a warm poultice, viz., it dilates the congested or
inflamed capillary network. Counter-irritants may occa-
sionally, however, act reflexly, as cold does, and by contract-
ing arterial vessels, relieve congestion, inflammation, and
pain. But whether a blister dilates or contracts the capil-
laries of affected parts, it certainly increases circulation
through them, promoting cell growth and hastening absorp-
tion. It thus restores healthy action in most inflamed
organs, in swollen glands and joints.
The several classes of irritants used externally differ
materially in the intensity and duration of their effects.
Ruseracients produce slight redness and vascular dilata-
tion or congestion, and are represented by ammonia solu-
tion, iodine, mild preparations of cantharides, and arnica; by
alcohol, ether, and chloroform, if evaporation be prevented
by oiled silk or other means ; by turpentine and other volatile
oils, as well as by smart friction and moderate heat. The
laundress’s smoothing-iron heated and pressed equably over
the skin, either bare or covered with brown paper or flannel,
proves a useful rubefacient in rheumatism and enlarged
joints in delicate young animals. Owing to the colour of
the skin and abundance of hair, reddening in veterinary
patients is, however, less obvious than in man. Massage or
friction with pressure, as in kneading or shampooing, exerts
many of the effects of counter-irritants, and, moreover, assists
in mechanically relieving overloaded lymph vessels and
veins. In this way hand-rubbing reduces the swollen legs
and joints of hard-worked horses.
VESICANTs are more active; cause exudation of plasma,
which, collecting under the epidermis, raises vesicles or
blisters. Vesicles contain a fluid consisting of about 78
parts of water, 18 of albumin, with a little fibrin, and 4 of
salts. Steam and boiling water rapidly produce a large
amount of effusion. Blisters, by whatsoever agent raised,
after some days generally dry up, protecting the parts until
the new epidermis forms. Cantharides, mustard, acetic
acid, turpentine, and strong ammonia, are the vesicants
commonly used in veterinary practice.
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PUSTULANTS AND CAUSTICS 51
Pustuzants inflame the deep-seated cutaneous tissues,
especially the orifices of the sweat glands, cause exudation
of leucocytes and raise pustules. These are the effects of
euphorbium, croton oil, tartar emetic, mercury biniodide ;
and also of cantharides, mustard, and other active vesicants,
when applied with sufficient friction.
Caustics combine with the water and albumin of the
tissues, with which they are brought into contact, and cause
the separation of a slough. Those producing extensive
sloughing receive the title of escharotics. Caustics are
exemplified by the concentrated mineral acids, glacial acetic,
carbolic, and chromic acids, concentrated alkalies, antimony
chloride, arsenic, bromine, and the soluble salts of the heavy
metals.
Caustics are used to destroy parasites or virus in wounds,
and for this purpose penetrating fluid caustics are some-
times preferable to solid. They are employed for opening
abscesses, and for removing warts and other growths, especi-
ally when so deep-seated and vascular that they cannot be
safely extirpated by the knife. When employed to arrest
hemorrhage from accidental or surgical wounds, they receive
the special title of styptics. When thus used, the blood is
removed by a piece of lint or a sponge, and the part lightly
pressed, so that the blood-vessels may be more readily seen,
and the caustic applied to them with precision, and with as
little destruction as possible of surrounding textures. The
effect of the styptic may be seconded by equable pressure
and application of cold. (See Astringents and Styptics.)
But besides these more direct and mainly chemical actions,
they develop more complex and vital reparative effects.
Applied, for example, to indolent or callous ulcers, they
stimulate the trophic nerves and blood-vessels, promote
healthy nutrition, and thus hasten healing. Lightly used,
they condense soft, spongy, exuberant granulations, and
hasten the cicatrisation of sinuses. These beneficial effects
on morbid processes probably result, not only from direct
action on the diseased tissues, but also from indirect reflex
action on surrounding parts; in other words, from counter-
irritation.
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52 THE ACTUAL CAUTERY
Serons are sometimes substituted for blisters or firing, and
are frequently preferred to firing on account of their being
less apt to blemish. The seton consists of a- piece of tape
or cord, and is usually inserted by means of a seton needle.
To prevent slipping out, its ends are tied together, or
knotted. It is usually moved daily ; and if severe effects are
desired, it is smeared with blistering ointment. Setons act
chiefly on the comparatively insensitive subcutaneous cellular
tissues. They are serviceable in combating chronic inflam-
mation of joints, and in relieving some forms of lameness.
Placed in the dewlap, they have also been used as preventives
for black-quarter in calves and young cattle; and the effects
ascribed to them may result from their increasing the phago-
cytes which destroy the specific bacilli.
A rowel acts in much the same manner as a seton. A
wound is made in the skin with a bistoury or rowel scissors,
and is kept open by the insertion of a pledget of tow, or a
disc of leather, which, to increase counter-irritation, is
smeared with blistering ointment.
Acupuncture is effected by needles three to six inches in
length, introduced into fleshy parts, with a rotary movement.
Occasionally anodynes are deeply injected into muscles for
the relief of rheumatic pain.
Tue Actuat Cautery is still much used in veterinary practice
as a counter-irritant. It is generally applied at a full red
heat, and the higher the temperature, the less the pain
attending its application. It is employed for some of the
purposes of active vesicants, and also of caustics. In the
treatment of chronic inflammation of bones, joints, ligaments,
and tendons, for which it is chiefly used, it modifies the
nutrition of the diseased part. Deep cauterisation with
penetration, as in pyropuncturing exostoses, increases the
activity of the inflammatory process and hastens consolida-
tion. Moderate cauterisation, as in linear or transcurrent
firing, acts as a revulsive, and promotes absorption of exudate
and resolution. The fired skin does not, as was once believed,
form a permanent bandage around the parts; for a short
time indeed after the operation the skin is corrugated and
tightened, but it soon resumes its natural elasticity, and does
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USES OF COUNTER-IRRITANTS 53
not embrace the subjacent parts more firmly than in health.
The firing of healthy limbs, with the popular idea of
strengthening and bracing them up, is now deservedly dis-
countenanced, and any benefits apparently accruing really
result from the rest which the operation necessitates. In
nervous, excitable horses, firing occasionally produces irri-
tative fever, especially if several parts are fired at the same
time.
Dry Cupping is occasionally employed as a derivant or
irritant in the human subject, and is equally serviceable in
the lower animals.
The uses of counter-irritants——In influenza, bronchitis,
and other depressing disorders of horses, in order to rouse
the action of the heart and avert lung congestion, rube-
facients, such as soap liniments or mustard paste, are some-
times rubbed into the chest, abdomen, or legs, and when the
surface is warmed, as it generally will be in ten to fifteen
minutes, the dressing is washed off. Counter-irritants are in
common use in certain stages of inflammation of the joints,
air passages, intestines, and their investing membranes. They
are more beneficial in laryngitis and bronchitis affecting the
larger tubes, and in pleurisy, than in pneumonia. In the
outset of inflammatory attacks, by reflex action, they lessen
hyperemia, chiefly by stimulating the dilated paralysed capil-
laries, thus favouring resolution. In more acute stages,
when blood-plasma and red and white corpuscles are escaping
through the walls of the distended vessels, fomentations and
poultices are generally more suitable than irritants. When
the urgency of the febrile symptoms has somewhat abated,
counter-irritants are, however, again useful in promoting
absorption of inflammatory products, and they frequently
invigorate enfeebled, over-distended capillaries, and sub-
stitute higher formative for lower debased action.
Blisters act more powerfully on horses than on cattle, and
require to be used with special caution on dogs, which are
apt to bite and rub the blistered parts, and thus induce
sloughing. For general purposes in canine practice, iodine
is a most useful counter-irritant. The action of turpentine
on the skin of horses is peculiar. Applied over a consider-
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54 CHOICE OF COUNTER-IRRITANTS
able surface, it produces such intense irritation that some
animals for a short time become unmanageable, a result the
more remarkable as turpentine acts but slightly on the more
delicate human skin.
The choice of a counter-irritant and the mode of using
it are determined by various conditions. Promptly to
produce general revulsion, as in combating chill, rousing
nervous depression, or overcoming such functional disturb-
ance as occasions colic, mustard and other rubefacients are
specially indicated. To act more permanently on parts in
which nutrition has been more seriously impaired, cantha-
rides is the appropriate counter-irritant. Where bone,
cartilage, or ligament has been chronically affected, still
more profound and permanent effects result from the use
of mercuric biniodide ointment, the hot needle-iron, or setons.
In inflammatory diseases of the chest in horses mustard
is preferable to cantharides. In well-bred sensitive animals
a pound of mustard flour made into a paste with water is
rubbed into the sides and washed off in half-an-hour. In
the heavier less sensitive breeds paper is laid over the
mustard dressing, and the body-sweater loosely applied.
Some horses show considerable restiveness, and even pain.
So soon, however, as tenderness and swelling are notable
externally, as they usually are in a few hours, the chest
symptoms abate. No other remedy affords such prompt
and effectual relief in these cases. Indeed, when mustard
fails to produce its external irritant results, the patient’s
chances of recovery are small. Professor Williams, how-
ever, disapproves of the use of all blisters in chest diseases,
urging that, besides causing needless pain, they aggravate
the inflammation. He further states that they increase the
liability to hydrothorax, while, when used in diseases of
joints, he declares that the superficial inflammation they
produce extends to the subcutaneous tissues, including even
the periosteum and bones.
These charges are inconsistent with physiological obser-
vations, and are effectually disproved by the five following
experiments, undertaken by Professor M‘Call in 1891 :-—
1, Post-mortem examination of the chest of a horse,
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PROFESSOR M‘CALL’S EXPERIMENTS 55
which, three days prior to slaughter, had mustard as a
counter-irritant applied. Inflammatory congestion of the
skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue, with effusion very
pronounced, but periosteum, ribs, and other tissues unaltered
in colour or consistency.
2. Post-mortem examination of a chronically diseased
hock-joint which had been pyropunctured, and thereafter
blistered, about one week prior to slaughter. Inflammatory
action produced in the skin, and markedly at the points of
puncture on the superficial layer of subcutaneous tissue ;
but all structures deeper placed not in the least affected or
altered in appearance.
3. Post-mortem examination of chronically enlarged fore
fetlock joints of a horse, which, three days prior to slaughter,
had been blistered with cantharides ointment. Inflammatory
action and effusion confined to skin and subcutaneous cellular
tissue.
4, Post-mortem examination of a lady-toed worn harness
horse, having a large splint or bony growth on the inside of
each fore limb, with considerable thickening of the skin from
brushing, and to which diseased parts cantharides blisters
had been applied three days prior to slaughter. Inflam-
matory action marked upon skin and cellular tissue, but no
deeper.
5. Post-mortem examination of a horse which had a con-
siderable growth of bone, involving the last row of small
bones of hock, and head of large metatarsal bone on the
outside, and which had been line fired, and thereafter
blistered with cantharides ointment, three days prior to
slaughter. Evidences of the effect of counter-irritation well
marked, but confined, as in all the previous cases, to the
skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue, and leaving the
periosteum, bones, and deeper structures to the unaided eye
unaffected and unchanged in colour.
Before a blister is applied, the skin should be well
washed with soap and water, and the hair, when long or
thick, removed with scissors or razor. The effect of the
blister may be hastened and increased by subjecting the
part to smart friction, or the action of hot water, and by
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56 ASTRINGENTS CONDENSE LIVING TISSUES
rubbing the agent well in, taking care to spread it over the
surface of the part diseased. Violent, deep-seated action is
seldom desirable. Better curative results are usually attained
by moderate and continuous effects kept up by repeated
applications.
Counter-irritants may generally be applied directly over
the inflamed area, when removal of fluid or inflammatory
products is desired; but should seldom be applied to ex-
tensive acutely inflamed parts, or to tissues immediately
continuous with them. An inflamed joint is sometimes better
treated by placing the blister above and around rather than
upon the acutely painful spot. According to the late
Dr. Anstie, the irritant, if applied over the spinal nerve
trunk, from which the irritated nerve-branch issues, often
produces reflex effects of a beneficial character.
When vitality is low, or the skin irritable, blisters are apt
to cause sloughing. When inordinate local irritation has
been produced, it may be abated by fomentations, while
undue constitutional excitement is removed by opiates,
diluents, a mash diet, and salines. On the next or second
day after a blister has been applied, the part should be
dressed with zinc ointment, lard, vaseline, oil, glycerin, or
acetate of lead lotion.
Asrrincents condense the living tissues. Many pro-
duce their effects by coagulating or precipitating albumin.
These comprise alum, chalk, salts of the heavier metals,
acids, and alcohol, with tannic acid, and such tannin-con-
taining substances as oak-bark and catechu. All caustics
used in small quantity, or diluted solution, are astringent.
Agents, such as ergot, digitalis, turpentine and other volatile
oils, and eucalyptus gum, have no coagulant power on
albumin, but constringe the tissues, in virtue of their action
on the walls of the nutrient arterioles. Gallic acid has
hitherto been regarded as an astringent, but experiments
made by Dr. Stockman (British Medical Jowrnal, 1886)
show that it has no claim to any special coagulant action
nor any effect in lessening, like ergot, the calibre of blood-
vessels, either by peripheral or central action. Like all
other acids, although in less degree, it possesses, however,
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STYPTICS 57
the power of diminishing the alkalinity of the blood,
hence increasing its tendency to coagulate. The remote
effects of vegetable, and probably of other astringents, have
been over-estimated. So soon as their chemical aftinities
havé been satisfied by union with a base or with albumin,
they must evidently lose their power of coagulating or pre-
cipitating albumin ; and it is therefore difficult to compre-
hend how they can exert astringent effects upon either the
respiratory or the urinary mucous membrane.
Astringents are used to diminish excessive, and modify
faulty, secretion, to combat congestion of cutaneous and
mucous surfaces, and to arrest limited recent superficial
inflammation. These results appear to be obtained in several
ways. Heinz has shown that they prevent exudation of
leucocytes. But, howsoever acting, some change is effected
in the vascular walls, not always, however, by narrowing the
vessels, for such notable astringents as alum and tannic acid
dilate vessels; while silver nitrate acts on the cement sub-
stance of the endothelium. Their efficacy is often well seen
in circumscribed inflammation of the conjunctiva or fauces.
Solutions of tannin, eucalyptus gum, or alum, in spray or
gargle, or inhalations of turpentine vapour, mixed with air,
arrest the inordinate secretion, and relieve the congestion of
sore throat and bronchitis. Their application in disorders
of the digestive organs will receive special notice under that
heading. As injections and suppositories, they are used in
irritable and inflamed conditions of the vagina and uterus.
The uterus and rectum, when prolapsed, are washed with
astringent antiseptics, in order to diminish their irritability
and swelling, and to facilitate their safe return. They con-
dense exuberant granulations, lessen and amend discharges
from wounds and ulcers, which they usually coat with a pro-
tective film of albumin.
Sryvprics are astringents specially used to arrest bleeding.
Some, like matico, tow, lint, or pressure, mechanically check
blood-flow from superficial vessels; others, like most astrin-
gents and caustics, coagulate albumin, and thus plug the
leaking vessels; others, like ergot, digitalis, ice, ether spray,
and antipyrine in tannic acid solution, contract capillary
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58 DEMULCENTS—-EMOLLIENTS
vessels, while lead acetate probably acts in a twofold way,
increasing coagulability of the blood, and also contracting
arterioles. In serious internal hemorrhage, it is further
desirable that the patient be kept quiet, and that his food
be given cold. ;
Demutcents soothe and protect parts with which they
come into contact, act chiefly mechanically, and closely
resemble emollients. They include gums, mucilage, linseed,
cotton-wool and collodion, fuller’s earth, starch, treacle,
gelatin, albumin, fats, oils, glycerin, and milk. They take
the place of mucus and other natural demulcents, where
these are deficient or wanting. They lubricate or defend
abraded or irritable parts from external injury, acrid dis-
charges, and poisonous matters. When absorbed, they
exert, although in modified degree, remote demulcent
effects. They are employed in solution, spray, draught,
or enema, to relieve dry, irritable conditions of the skin,
respiratory, digestive, and urino-genital membranes.
Emo.uients soften, soothe, and relax the parts to which
they are applied. They resemble demulcents, and include
many of the articles specified in that class, as well as those
substances which absorb and retain heat and moisture.
They are represented by fomentations, poultices, and
spongio-piline, and by folds of lint, flannel, or woollen
cloth, wrung out of hot water, and covered with water-
proofing. (See Poultices and Fomentations.) Fats, oils,
lanoline, vaseline, paraffin, with soap and other liniments,
are also emollients. Fatty emollients rubbed into the
skin soften and supple it; and when applied with smart
and continued friction, they also increase tissue changes,
and hasten removal of deposits. In the form of watery
vapour, simple or medicated emollients relieve irritability
and congestion of the respiratory mucous membrane. Not
only do they reduce tension and relax tissues to which
they are immediately applied, but, acting on adjacent
vaso-motor centres, they dilate collateral blood-vessels ;
and mainly in this way fomentations and poultices relieve
irritation and inflammation of the throat, lungs, and other
deep-seated organs. In the earlier stages of inflammation
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MUSCULAR STIMULANTS 59
they promote resolution; and in all stages they relieve
heat, tension, pain, and spasm. Although serviceable for
softening and cleansing wounds, they should not be used —
for wounds in process of healing by first intention or
adhesion.
Ditvents are allied to demulcents and emollients, are
liquid or solid substances used along with more active
agents in order to diminish their activity. Water is
generally their basis, and they include most demulcent
drugs. They promote the action of diaphoretics, diuretics,
and cathartics.
MEDICINES ACTING ON MUSCLES
MUSCULAR POISONS—MUSCULAR STIMULANTS
Muscles possess extensibility and retractility. Heat
renders muscles less extensible and more retractile; cold,
and section of an important nerve, have the opposite effects.
Fatigue and acids, notably lactic acid, one of the products of
muscular waste, increase extensibility. Very dilute alkalies
diminish extensibility. Irritability is increased by heat and
physostigmine; while it is diminished by cold, curare, and
other substances which cause muscular paralysis. Con-
traction and relaxation of muscles, possibly consisting, like
other forms of motion, in waves of vibration, appear to be
connected with chemical changes in the muscle resembling
oxidation; oxygen is used up, while sarco-lactic and sub-
sequently carbonic acids are formed. These products, and
the accompanying fatigue consequent on repeated violent
contractions are removed experimentally by washing out
the muscle with a current of blood. A saline solution,
notably potassium permanganate, by ready oxidation, causes
similar results, which likewise follow the use of a mere trace
of veratrine. In practice, removal of these waste products
is hastened by shampooing the muscles or massage, the
effects of which, in overcoming fatigue, are fully recognised.
In like manner thorough grooming and diligent hand-
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60 MUSCULAR POISONS
rubbing of the limbs of horses after hard work lessen
fatigue, and prevent subsequent stiffness and swelling of
joints.
Spasm consists of irregular purposeless contractions of
voluntary and involuntary muscles, usually depending on
faulty action of the higher co-ordinating centres. Spasm
of involuntary muscles, as illustrated by that of the
heart, blood-vessels, bronchi, or intestines, is antagonised
by nitrites, such as amyl-nitrite and nitrous ether (see
Antispasmodics).
‘Rapid alternation of contraction and relaxation, or tremor,
may affect either—(a) a few bundles of muscular fibres;
(b) a single muscle; or (c) groups of muscles’ (Brunton).
Such tremor may occur when the muscle is at rest, or
when it is in motion. This form of insubordination may
probably result from the number of stimuli from the nerve-
centre being either too few or too many. If the stimuli
are insufticiently rapid, veratrine or calcium salts, which
increase the duration of each individual contraction, are
recommended. When a muscle, or its motor nerve, receives
an abnormal number of vibrations, or is over-stimulated,
instead of contraction being followed by relaxation, per-
manent contraction or tetanus ensues.
Muscutar Poisons are divided by Dr. Lauder Brunton into
the following six groups :—
1. Leaves the irritability of the muscle unaffected, but
diminishes the total amount of work it is able to do.
This ‘group contains apomorphine, saponin, salts of
copper, zinc, and other emetics. Antimony, arsenic,
and large doses of iron have somewhat similar but
weaker effects.
2. Diminishes the excitability of the muscle, as well as
its capacity for work. This group contains salts of
potassium, lithium, and ammonium, the cinchona
alkaloids, chloroform, and alcohol, in large doses.
3. Diminishes the capacity for work, and produces marked
irregularity in its excitability, and contains lead,
emetine, and cocaine. Similar effects are also pro-
duced by ptomaines.
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MUSCULAR POISONS 61
4. Alters the form of the muscular curve, as exhibited by
veratrine, and to a similar, although less extent, by
strontium and calcium salts.
5. Increases the excitability, as is notably done by physo-
stigmine.
6. Increases the capacity for work. The agents belonging
to this group cause rapid restoration of the muscle
after fatigue, and are represented by creatin, hypo-
xanthin, caffeine, and glycogen. These substances
must hence be regarded, not only as nerve stimulants,
but as direct muscular restoratives.
Voluntary muscles differ from involuntary, not only in
structure, but in other particulars. Their contraction and
relaxation are more rapid. The nerves in voluntary muscles
terminate in end-plates, while the terminal twigs in involun-
tary muscles form a plexus round the fibres. Small doses
of curare paralyse the motor nerves of voluntary muscles,
but much larger doses are required to paralyse the nerves
of involuntary muscles. On the other hand, small doses of
atropine paralyse involuntary muscles, while much larger
quantities must be used to affect voluntary muscles. Striking
illustrations of the different effects on striated and unstriated
muscle are recorded by ‘Szpilman and Luchsinger, who
found that atropine produces paralysis of the motor fibres
of the vagi supplying the cesophagus, only in those parts of
it where involuntary muscular fibre is present. Thus, the
cesophagus of the frog and the crop of birds consist of in-
voluntary muscular fibre, and atropine destroys the motor
power of the vagus over them. The cesophagus of the dog
and rabbit contains striated muscular fibre, and atropine
does not paralyse the motor nerves. The csophagus of the
cat contains striated muscular fibres in its upper three-
fourths, and non-striated in its lower fourth; atropine
destroys the motor action of the vagus upon the lower
fourth, but not upon the upper part’ (Brunton). The
paralysing effects of drugs upon muscles are believed to
result from their disturbing the relations between the nerves
and the muscular fibres which they excite.
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62 MEDICINES ACTING ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
MEDICINES ACTING ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
On vtTHE BRAIN.—CEREBRAL STIMULANTS — EXHILARANTS —
CEREBRAL DEPRESSANTS — SOPORIFICS —- NARCOTICS —
ANODYNES— ANTISPASMODICS—AN ESTHETICS.
On tHE Spina CorD.—SPINAL STIMULANTS AND DEPRESSANTS.
On Motor Nerves. —STIMULANTS—PARALYSERS.
On Sensory Nerves. —STIMULANTS—LOCAL SEDATIVES—LOCAL
AN ESTHETICS—ELECTRICITY.
The nervous system of the higher animals comprises :—
I. The brain, which takes cognisance of external im-
pressions, co-ordinates movements, and originates
mental or psychical ideas. Relatively to other
parts of the nervous system, the brain of man
is more highly developed than that of animals,
and most drugs, accordingly, act upon it more
powerfully than upon the less-developed brain of
the horse, ox, or dog. The cerebellum is chiefly
concerned in the maintenance of equilibrium.
II. The spinal cord conveys sensory impulses to the
brain and medulla, and transmits motor impulses
to muscles and glands. The cord, moreover, in
several ways, transmits and regulates reflex move-
ments. That part of the cord, or, indeed, of the
nervous system, most essential to life, is the medulla
in which are situated the respiratory, cardiac, and
other vital centres.
III. Nerves of sensation, distributed to all parts of the
body, convey impressions to the brain or cord.
IV. From the cerebro-spinal axis arise nerves which
give motion to muscles, and convey other efferent
impulses to glands.
Concerning the functions and diseases of the nervous
system much has still to be discovered, while the effects
of medicines acting upon the brain and cord have only
recently been thoroughly examined, and still require much
investigation.
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CEREBRAL STIMULANTS 63
ACTION OF MEDICINES ON THE BRAIN
Medicines affecting the brain act either directly on the
nerve-cells or on the general circulation. Blood flowing
freely through the brain increases its excitability; insufficient
circulation diminishes excitability. Many medicines, such
as alcohol and ether, act both directly on the nerve-cells
and on the general circulation. They stimulate nerve-cells,
wherever found, act on most of the brain centres, and,
according to the dose in which they are given, are stimulants
or depressants. Full doses very frequently exert primary
stimulant, and secondary depressant, effects. Such medi-
cines as opium, alcohol, and ether, according to dose, are
stimulant, narcotic, soporific, or anesthetic; and accordingly
have the disadvantage of affecting functions which it may
be undesirable to disturb.
The cerebro-motor centres have their excitability lowered
by alcohol, chloral, and cold. The depression caused by cold,
unless extreme, or applied for a long period, is followed, how-
ever, by reaction. Bromides of potassium and ammonium,
without disturbing the relations of one centre to another,
appear to have a marked effect in lowering general brain
activity. Still more prompt and powerful are anesthetics
which abolish all motor action. Atropine in small doses
increases, but in large doses diminishes, motor excitability.
The motor centres have their excitability increased by
mechanical irritation, as by the point of a needle, which pro-
duces epileptic convulsions. But similar convulsions also
ensue when the vessels of the brain are surcharged with
venous blood, as in asphyxia. Camphor causes excitement
and constant movements, succeeded, after large doses, by
clonic convulsions and death. The active principles of
coculus indicus, cicuta virosa, and cenantha crocata, as well
as cinchonidine and quinine, have similar convulsant effects.
The action of these agents is not confined to the brain motor
centres, but also extends to those in the medulla.
CeresraL Stimunants.—The functions of the brain gener-
ally are stimulated by a large group of agents, sometimes
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64 SOPORIFICS
termed brain stimulants or exhilarants, and exemplified
by alcohols, ethers, and oil of turpentine. A moderate dose
of alcohol, in a somewhat concentrated state, by stimulating
the sensory nerves of the mouth, throat, and stomach,
promptly exerts a reflex action on the vessels of the brain.
Further, but less direct and powerful, brain stimulation
ensues when the spirit enters the circulation and increases
cardiac action. When a large dose has been administered,
the cerebral exhilaration is not, however, long continued ;
the normal relations between one centre and another are
disturbed, delirium ensues, followed by impaired action and
depression. Ammonia vapour, liquor, or carbonate, applied
to the nostrils, reflexly stimulates the cerebral vessels, and
then acting upon the vaso-motor centres, also increases
general blood circulation and pressure. Brisk exercise has
much the same stimulating effect on the cerebral as on
other arteries and capillaries. Mastication and sucking in
young animals have been shown by experiment to increase
circulation in the carotids and cerebral arteries. Chewing
tobacco, betel-nut, or, indeed, anything else, smoking, sipping
stimulants, or even tea, coffee, or cold water, have similar
effects in dilating the human cerebral arteries. Placing the
head on a lower level than the rest of the body favours brain
circulation, and hence wards off syncope.
The functional activity of the brain is lowered by large
or repeated doses of stimulants, such as alcohol, which, after
exhilaration, and, it may be, delirium, produce narcosis,
sleep, and sometimes death. Bromides of potassium and
ammonium, without preliminary excitement or disturbed
function, diminish brain activity. Accumulation of lactic
acid, and probably other elements of tissue waste, appears to
have an effect similar to that of the bromides in lowering the
activity of the nerve-cells.
Soporirics or Hypnorics are agents which induce sleep.
Many hypnotics lessen functional activity of the nerve-cells
of the brain and spinal cord, while others impede the im-
pressions transmitted through the nerves and special sense
organs to the cerebrum. Full doses further depress the
functions of the respiratory and vaso-motor centres in the
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HYPNOTICS 65
medulla, as evidenced by slower respiration, dilatation of
surface-vessels, and lowering of arterial tension. During
sleep, certain parts remaining in a state of partial unregu-
lated activity, induce the phenomena of dreams, which occur
in the domesticated animals as well as in man.
A perfect hypnotic has not yet been found even for
human patients. Those prescribed are liable to be uncertain,
and injuriously disturb motor, organic and trophic functions.
Hypnotics act still less satisfactorily on the lower animals.
Their effects do not appear to be so notably concentrated
on the brain. Dogs and pigs are, however, brought under
their influence more readily than horses or ruminants. Those
most trusted are opium and morphine, chloral hydrate,
croton chloral, hyoscyamus, cannabis indica, and bromides.
Opium and morphine prove of special value, not only in
depressing cerebral functional activity, but also in antagonis-
ing pain and irritation which interfere with sleep. Bromides
diminish conduction of impressions, and hence notably quiet
cerebral excitement. Chloral is a powerful hypnotic, but in
large doses it is irritant, and sometimes produces dangerous
delirium and convulsions. It induces sleep mainly by its
action on the brain, and by dilating vessels generally.
Chloralamide is prescribed for human patients as a safe and
effectual hypnotic. Some recently discovered substances of
the fatty carbon series possess marked hypnotic action.
Paraldehyde, even in full doses, has none of the disadvan-
tageous secondary effects of opium or chloral, causes quiet
sleep in dogs, but is rather nauseous, and not one-third of
the strength of chloral. Sulphonal is more active, but being
insoluble, hypnosis is slowly established. It has been used
especially in cases of motor unrest. Large doses diminish
excitability of the reflex functions of the spinal cord, and also
of peripheral sensations. Trional is allied to sulphonal, but
is more soluble and active; and in experiments on dogs it pro-
duced sleep more rapidly. Hypnone, urethane, and amylene
hydrate, recently brought into notice, are feeble hypnotics.
Warmth to the body and legs, and comforting warm drinks
withdraw blood from the brain, and hence favour the anemia
which occurs in sleep.
E
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66 NARCOTICS AND ANODYNES
Narcotics are drugs which disturb the relation of the
mental faculties with the external world. This disturbing
effect is produced by full doses of alcohol, ether, chloroform,
and most stimulants. After a variable amount of excite-
ment, locomotor inco-ordination ensues, and the animal
staggers in its gait. Where the effect is still further
developed, fatal paralysis of the respiratory centre occurs.
Opium and Indian hemp produce little vascular excitement,
and their narcotic effects are stated to be due chiefly to
alterations in the relative functions of the different parts
of the brain. Belladonna and its analogues produce active
delirium, perpetual movements associated with debility, and
depending, Dr. Lauder Brunton states, on the combined
stimulant action of these drugs on the nerve-centres in the
brain and spinal cord, and their paralysing action on the
peripheral ends of the motor nerves.
Anopynes or analgesics are agents which relieve pain by
diminishing excitability of nerves or nerve-centres. Pain
may originate in the hippocampal region, which Professor
Ferrier regards as the central seat of sensation, and some
abnormal excitement of these nerve ganglia is believed to
occur in hysteria. It may depend upon stimulation of the
grey matter of the cord, through which painful impressions
are conveyed. It may begin in the trunk of a nerve, but
frequently its origin is in the peripheral endings of the
sensory nerves.
Pain, thus produced in various ways, requires diverse
treatment. Its cause should, if possible, be discovered and
removed. When merely local, it is combated by local
anodynes, such as opium and belladonna, with their alkal-
oids; by cocaine, veratrine, carbolic acid and other phenols ;
by menthol and thymol, local blood-letting, heat and mois-
ture as by poultices and fomentations, and by cold, in the
form of ice or cold water. Counter-irritants also act reflexly
as analgesics.
When pain is not localised, general anoydnes are adminis-
tered, either by the mouth or hypodermically. Many act
mainly as sedatives or paralysants of the hippocampal
centres. Chloral hydrate, Indian hemp, hemlock, bromides,
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ANTISPASMODICS 67
and anesthetics are types of this class. But others, with
less marked action on the brain, more notably diminish the
conductivity of the sensory nerves, and are exemplified by
atropine, cocaine, aconite, and veratrine. Opium and
morphine, and indeed most effective anodynes, produce,
however, their paralysant effects on all nerve-cells with
which they come into contact, and hence act in both ways.
Several of the newly-discovered bodies of the benzol or
aromatic series conjoin antiseptic and anodyne properties.
Such are salol, a salicylate of phenol; antifebrin, which
controls many varieties of pain; while exalgin is still more
generally effectual. Salicylic acid and salicylates have a
special power of controlling the pain of acute rheumatism.
Electricity applied along the course of the stimulated
nerves, and, in acute rheumatism, nerve-stretching, are
sometimes tried. Dividing the nerves supplying the seat of
injury, as is done in navicular and some other diseases of the
feet, prevents the feeling of pain, but of course does not
arrest local inflammation or other mischief. In horses, as
in other animals, a dose of physic is often an effectual
anodyne, probably owing to its relieving irritability of the
cerebro-spinal centres.
AntiIspasmopics are agents which prevent or remove spasm,
which is an irregular painful contraction of voluntary or
involuntary muscles. In the medulla oblongata, where it
joins the pons, is a centre which, when stimulated, causes
general spasms. These are excited by direct irritation of the
centre with chemicals, by contact action of such poisons as
strychnine, nicotine, picrotoxine, and ammonia, by rabies
and other animal toxines, as well as by the altered condition
of the blood in asphyxia, and by sudden anemia of the
medulla from copious blood-letting. This spasm centre
appears to be in an abnormal state in epilepsy, when its
inordinate action is directly controlled by bromides. The
tonic spasms of tetanus, and strychnine-poisoning, are
relieved by bromides, chloral hydrate, and nicotine.
But spasms are more frequently local than general. They
are defined by Dr. Lauder Brunton as a kind of insubordina-
tion, in which the individual muscles or nerve-centres act
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68 TREATMENT OF SPASM
for themselves, without reference to those higher centres
which ought to co-ordinate their action for the general good
of the organism. Spasm may be due, therefore, to an excess
of action in the muscles or local centres, or diminished
power of the higher co-ordinating centres. As a rule, it is
due to diminished action of the co-ordinating or inhibitory
centres, rather than to excess of action in the motor
centres. It is, therefore, a disease rather of debility and
deficient co-ordination than of excessive strength. Local
irritation is frequently the cause of spasm.
Excessive exertion develops in the muscles of locomotion,
especially when employed in unwonted work, waste products,
which produce spasm or cramp. Both cause and effect are
frequently removed by smart friction. In the intestine,
cramp may be due to the presence of a local irritant, which
ought, in the normal condition, to produce increased peri-
stalsis, and thus ensure the speedy removal of the offending
substance. ‘From some abnormal conditions, the muscular
fibres around the irritant contract excessively, and do not
pass on the stimulus to those adjoining. From this want of
co-ordination, painful and useless spasm occurs. In order
to remove it we apply warmth to the abdomen, so as to
increase the functional activity both of the muscular fibres
and of the ganglia of the intestine. Peristalsis then occur-
ring instead of cramp, the pain disappears, and the‘offending
body is passed onwards and removed. Or we give, inter-
nally, aromatic oils, which have a tendency to increase the
ordinary peristalsis; or, yet again, we may give opium for
the purpose of lessening the sensibility of the irritated
part, and thus again bringing it into relationship with other
parts of the body’ (Brunton). In the treatment of colic in
horses, these several modes of attack are usually conjoined.
A diffusible stimulant such as ether or alcohol is given to
increase the powers of the higher nerve-centres, and thus
bring the disturbed lower centres and the muscles into
subordination; an opiate is associated to lessen local excit-
ability; while a purgative is, besides, administered in order
to remove the indigestible food, which is usually the cause
of the mischief.
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ANTISPASMODICS 69
The convulsions of epilepsy, as already mentioned, are
warded off by bromides, while endeavour is also made to
remove the conditions which produce them by the adminis-
tration of salts of arsenic, silver, zinc, and copper. Chorea,
depending probably upon some lesion of the sensori-motor
ganglia at the base of the brain, is treated by arsenic and
copper salts, and when the patient is anemic by iron and a
generous oleaginous diet. Spasm affecting the heart is
usually controlled by the judicious use of alcohol, ether,
digitalis, or nitrites. These nitrites, exemplified by amyl-
nitrite, nitro-glycerine, and nitrous ether, are pre-eminently
relaxers of spasm of involuntary muscles. They relieve
the heart and blood-vessels in angina pectoris of human
patients, and the dyspnea of bronchitis, as well as intestinal
cramp in all animals. In overcoming spasm of particular
parts, it is, as already indicated, important to exalt the
power of the controlling centres of the brain and spinal
cord by such stimulants as alcohol, ether, camphor, and
bromo-camphor, and thus regulate or co-ordinate the
lower disturbed centres. This twofold stimulation of the
higher central and lower topical centres is also exerted
by valerian, asafcetida, musk, and volatile oils. Other
antispasmodics as borneol and menthol, instead of exalting
nervous excitability, lessen irritability, and paralyse motor,
sensory, and reflex centres of the brain and cord, and thus
often relieve spasm. In the successful treatment of spas-
modic diseases which generally depend, as already indicated,
on deficient and imperfect nervous power, restoratives,
tonics, and good hygiene are essential factors.
AvzsTHETIcs are substances that produce insensibility to
pain, diminish muscular action and other phenomena.
They are allied to anodynes, but act more promptly and
powerfully. A state of brief and imperfect anesthesia may
be induced by checking or arresting circulation of blood
through the brain and higher centres, as by copious blood-
letting, pressure on the carotids, or by inhalation of charcoal
fumes, or other suffocating vapours. It may be produced
locally. by firm pressure, or ligature impairing circulation in
the part. These methods, however, cannot safely induce
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70 ANASTHETICS
such profound or prolonged unconsciousness as is requisite
for the performance of surgical operations. But certain
volatile drugs, brought into contact with the nerve-cells,
reduce or arrest for considerable periods their functional
activity, probably in virtue of chemical action.
Local anesthetics produce paralysis of the peripheral
endings of sensory nerves. They include cocaine, eucaine,
holocaine, ethyl-chloride, methyl-chloride, carbolic acid,
antipyrine, iodoform, extreme cold, and aconite. Cocaine is
generally preferred. The part is painted or injected with a
solution of the hydrochloride, until the requisite insensibility
is secured. Cocaine proves particularly serviceable in di-
minishing irritability, and facilitating examinations of the
eye and larynx, as well as for the performance of minor
operations. Iodoform conjoins anesthetic and antiseptic
effects, and is used for operations connected with the rectum
and vagina.
General anesthetics, when inhaled, are carried by the
blood-stream to the centres of the brain and cord, which
they paralyse. They comprise nitrous oxide gas, chloroform,
ether, and other substitution compounds of the methane
(CH,) and ethane (C,H,) series. Nitrous oxide produces its
effects rapidly, induces a venous condition of the blood, with
contraction of arterioles and rise of blood-pressure, and there
is hence no risk of its causing syncope. In human practice,
aneesthesia is sometimes induced by nitrous oxide, and sub-
sequently maintained by chloroform or ether. Chloroform
is generally used both in human and veterinary practice. It
is the most effectual and, rightly used, the safest known
anesthetic. It acts in smaller quantity, more rapidly, and
with less excitement than ether. Ether, first employed in
America, is preferred by many English practitioners, on the
plea that it is less apt than chloroform to impair cardiac
action. But it has the disadvantage of causing more irrita-
tion and excitement than chloroform, while its administration
requires the use of an inhaler.
The A. C, E. Mixture consists of one part of absolute
alcohol, two of chloroform, and three of pure ether. It is
rouch used on the continent of Europe, and is stated to be
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THE FOUR STAGES OF ANASTHESIA 71
more stimulant than chloroform, and less likely to depress
heart action. A mixture of equal parts of ether and chloro-
form is used in various parts of France and Germany. The
Austrian Government has advised one part of chloroform
with six of ether in winter, and with eight of ether in
summer. Chloral hydrate is given by the mouth or rectum,
or by intravenous injection. It depresses the heart and vaso-
motor centres, and consequently the vessels dilate and blood
pressure falls. Meraynenr (CH,Cl,), containing an atom
more of hydrogen and an atom less of chlorine than chloro-
form, causes more rapid anesthesia, but requires to be used
in larger amount. The pure drug has also the disadvantage
of being costly, and that usually sold is stated to be a
mixture of chloroform and alcohol. Meruytat which has
also been used, acts quickly and effectually on dogs without
apparent injurious after-effects, and is also serviceable for
local anzesthesia.
Anesthesia is generally divided into four stages—I. Sti-
mulant; II. Narcotic; III. Anesthetic; IV. Paralytic.
I. The stimulant stage is characterised by symptoms of
inebriation, more marked in the case of ether than of chloro-
form ; excitation of cerebral and cardiac functions ; vigorous
animals struggle; the special senses and general sensibility
are blunted. This stage usually continues from one to three
minutes, but is shortened when the drug is given quickly in
full doses.
II. The narcotic stage is marked by paralysis of the
motor centres, the voluntary muscular system gradually
becomes relaxed, the force and volume of the pulse are
lowered, the functions of the higher brain centres are im-
paired, but reflex functions are slightly if at all affected.
This stage, usually reached in less than five minutes, is that
suitable for anodyne and antispasmodic effects, and for
moderating violent and irregular labour pains.
III. The anzsthétic stage exhibits complete muscular
relaxation, unconsciousness, and insensibility; the frequency
and force of the pulse are increased, the functions of the
cerebrum and spinal cord are paralysed, the oculo-palpebral
reflex is impaired or abolished, but the centres of the
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72 THE HYDERABAD CHLOROFORM EXPERIMENTS
medulla presiding over respiration and heart action are only
slightly affected. This full insensibility may be safely main-
tained for an hour or two by small doses of the anesthetic,
and is the condition requisite for the performance of serious
surgical operations.
IV. The paralytic stage occurs when the functions of the
medullary centres are abolished. It includes two distinct
phases—suspension of respiration, and subsequently suspen-
sion of cardiac action. Implication of the respiratory centre
is indicated in animals by irregular sighing or shallow
breathing, with long pauses between the respiratory move-
ments. Up to this point the animal is in no serious danger.
But if anzesthesia is further pushed, the heart centre is
paralysed, the pulse beats very quickly then stops, and
usually within two minutes heart action also ceases.
The action of anesthetics has been very fully elucidated
by two series of investigations undertaken at the instance of
the Nizam of Hyderabad. The first, made in the spring of
1888, under the supervision of Surgeon-Major Lawrie, com-
prised 141 experiments, chiefly on dogs; while the second,
made in the later months of 1889, under the direction of
Dr. Lauder Brunton, included 571 experiments on dogs,
monkeys, horses, goats, cats, and rabbits. Chloroform, ether,
and the A. C. E. Mixture were used. The investigations demon-
strate that the action of these anesthetics is the same on
man and on the animals mentioned; that lethal doses, of
chloroform or ether, whether poisoning be slow or rapid,
arrest the respiratory before the cardiac action; that the
heart is never primarily or directly affected, but in uncom-
plicated cases stops two to six minutes after respiration.
Consequently, as was taught by Simpson and Syme, the
careful observation of the respiration is the safeguard in the
administration of anesthetics. Although the patient is safe
so long as the anesthetic vapour continues to be eliminated
by respiration, whenever the heart stops, unless artificial
respiration is had recourse to, the chances of resuscitating
the animal are small. This important practical point was
established by numerous experiments.
In the use of chloroform, and indeed of all anesthetics,
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RESPIRATORY PRECEDES HEART FAILURE 73
in animals, these investigations emphasise the necessity of
constantly watching the breathing, and, moreover, ensuring
that nothing shall in any way interfere with it. The animal
should be in the recumbent position—the head placed so that
air passes directly into the lungs; no girths, straps, or pres-
sure must interfere with respiratory movements. Monkeys,
encased in plaster of Paris, or bound with abdominal
bandages, died quickly. The paralysed tongue, dropping
back upon the larynx of the unconscious patient, may cause
suffocation. Respiratory failure is also hastened by having
the limbs of the subject firmly bound; while struggling, or
shallow, gasping breathing, by filling the lungs with the
volatile vapour, intensifies its effects. Respiratory arrest was
accelerated, and heart failure followed rapidly, when chloro-
form administration was slow and prolonged, and when one-
third of a grain of atropine was injected subcutaneously
before inhalation. That chloroform has no direct paralysant
effect on the heart was further demonstrated by the injection
in some cases of ten, in others of twenty minims into the
jugular vein, when only ordinary and safe anesthesia was
induced.
Deaths occurring during anesthesia, both in men and
animals, have been ascribed to syncope, or surgical shock,
and in order to elucidate this matter numerous experiments
were made on dogs and monkeys. When full anesthesia
was produced, teeth were extracted, nails evoluted, incisions
made into the abdomen, portions of intestine ligatured, and
the testicles sharply struck; but in no case was any marked
effect produced on the heart action. To test the effect of
chloroform on animals with enfeebled heart, dogs and
monkeys were fasted, others were freely bled, while others
were given grain doses of phosphorus during several days,
in order to produce fatty degeneration of the heart muscle.
But neither syncope nor heart-shock was observable when
these subjects were deeply chloroformed ; respiratory failure
invariably preceded cardiac failure ; and when breathing was
stopped by full doses, the animals, like others in perfect
health, were restored by artificial respiration. Occasionally,
however, death occurs suddenly through paralysis of the
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74 USE OF ANESTHETICS
heart; and experiments prove that healthy horses can be
killed in a few minutes by rapid administration of concen-
trated chloroform vapour.
The post-mortem appearances of animals dying under
anesthesia consist in general congestion of the lungs, liver,
kidneys, and spleen, which is also puckered, and two or
three times larger than usual. The left heart may be empty
and the right heart distended with blood.
Anesthetics are used in painful, delicate, or protracted
operations, as in castration, neurectomy, excision of portions
of the hoof, and other operations on the foot ; reduction of
herniz, and removal of tumours; extraction of firmly-fixed
teeth, especially in dogs and cats; in tetanus, and strychnine
poisoning; in difficult parturition, especially in the mare ;
and in destroying injured, useless, or old animals.
Administration to horses may be made while the animal
is standing, but more safely and effectually when he is cast
and secured. A sponge or piece of lint, saturated with the
anesthetic, is placed in a tolerably close-fitting nose-bag,
which is adjusted to the head. Inhalers, bags or muzzles
for the purpose have been designed by Mr. Roalfe Cox,
Messrs. Carlisle & Bell, Mr. Gresswell, Mr. Dowell, and other
veterinary surgeons. Many practitioners, when the horse
-is cast, place the lint, moistened with chloroform, over one
nostril, that on the upper side being preferable, while, to
prevent undue evaporation, a napkin is laid over both
nostrils. Endeavour is sometimes made to dilute the chloro-
form vapour with about ten volumes of air. But as far as
possible air should be excluded, as diluted chloroform vapour
acts slowly, and the stage of excitement is prolonged. Un-
due excitement and struggling can be overcome by giving
the anesthetic freely or by previous subcutaneous injection
of morphine. But chloroform anesthesia can be most satis-
factorily induced in horses by slow administration. Be-
ginning with half an ounce poured on a warm sponge and
adding a drachm or two at short intervals until the requisite
degree of insensibility is reached, which is ascertained by
testing the conjunctival reflex. Small quantities of the
drug suffice to maintain insensibility safely for an hour or
more, provided a careful watch, as already stated, is kept
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TREATMENT OF ANAZSTHESIA NARCOSIS 75
on the respiration. An ounce and a half to three ounces of
chloroform properly given, without waste, will fully anes-
thetize an average horse or ox in from five to ten minutes.
Four times the quantity of ether isrequired. Young animals
are more readily aneesthetized than old ones.
Dogs are very susceptible to the action of anesthetics, but,
with rational precautions, may be kept under their influence
for an hour or longer. It has frequently been stated that
chloroform is not so safe as ether; but the Hyderabad ex-
periments seem to disprove this. The dog should be fasted
for two or three hours. The drug may be placed on a
sponge, or on lint, in a wire muzzle covered with a towel;
or it may be given through an inhaler. During anesthesia
free respiration by the mouth should be ensured by separating
the jaws with a piece of wood. Savage dogs are coaxed into
a kennel, or covered with a packing case, and pieces of cotton
waste or blotting paper, saturated with the drug, are then intro-
duced. Small dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., are speedily and safely
anesthetized when placed under a bell jar or tin pail enclosing
cotton wool saturated with chloroform. In dogs the last
reflex is furnished by the upper incisor gum, which when
irritated induces quick elevation of the lower lip. This
reflex is abolished in complete anesthesia.
The aspect of an animal perfectly anesthetized is that
of an inert body, in which movements of the thorax and
heart alone show that life is not yet extinct (Guinard).
When anesthesia has been pushed too far, inhalation
of the drug must immediately be stopped, and any im-
pediment to breathing of fresh air removed. The mouth
should be widely opened and the tongue pulled forward ;
if breathing has ceased, artificial respiration must at
once be adopted. But unless the lungs are surcharged
with the anesthetic, as when it has been given in large
quantity and for some considerable time, artificial respira-
tion, properly employed within thirty seconds after natural
breathing has ceased, will revive most animals in two or
three minutes. In the Hyderabad experiments some animals
were recovered fifty, but none sixty, seconds after natural
breathing had stopped. In narcosis occurring in ordinary
practice, recovery, however, need not be despaired of so long
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76 SPINAL DEPRESSANTS
as cardiac movements continue. Artificial respiration should
be persisted with for at least half an hour after natural
breathing has ceased. Insuflation of air through a tube
inserted in the trachea may be tried. Hypodermic injec-
tion of ether, strychnine, or hot brandy, and a continuous
galvanic current, the positive pole being placed in the rectum,
and the negative moved rapidly over the chest wall, are recom-
mended in the hope of stimulating the arrested respiratory
movements; and bleeding from the jugular is enjoined to
relieve the right heart.
ACTION OF DRUGS ON THE SPINAL CORD
SPINAL DEPRESSANTS—SPINAL STIMULANTS
On the spinal cord different drugs act in various ways.
Caffeine, injected into the circulation, was found by Dr.
Hughes Bennett to paralyse the sensory columns of the
cord, while morphine and chloral diminish its conducting
power. Antagonising these are strychnine and other
convulsant poisons, which so increase excitability that
slighter stimulants cause increased effects. Reflex action
is diminished by chloral and morphine, and is increased
by strychnine and such other convulsants as nicotine and
ammonia.
Spina, Depressants such as methyl-conine, directly para-
lyse; and others, as aconite and digitalis, produce paralysis
indirectly, by impeding circulation. Pharmacologists classify
spinal depressants as (1) those which depress without
marked previous excitement, including hydrocyanic acid,
methyl-conine, saponin, physostigmine, turpentine, the
alcohol group, ergot, emetine, salts of antimony, zinc,
and silver; (2) those which excite first and afterwards
paralyse, comprising the morphine group, ammonia, cam-
phor, carbolic acid, chloral, nicotine, veratrine, arsenic, and
mercury. Sulphonal, with hypnotic effects, also diminishes
activity of the reflex functions, and is given in motor
unrest.
Spinal depressants are prescribed to lessen increased
excitability of the cord, as in tetanus, chorea, and some
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VIBRATORY THEORY OF NERVE STIMULATION 77
forms of paralysis. By diminishing the conducting power
of the grey matter of the cord, they impede the trans-
mission of painful impressions. It is often, however, difficult
to determine how the curative effects of agents like mor-
phine and chloral are produced, inasmuch as they act in
various ways on different parts of the nervous system,
sometimes depressing, sometimes stimulating.
Some of these differing results are believed to depend on
the inhibitory or restraining power which certain of the
nervous centres exert on other centres. But Dr. Lauder
Brunton propounds a more satisfactory explanation of the
nature of inhibition. He believes that nervous stimuli
consist in vibrations in nerve-fibres or nerve-cells, analogous
to the vibrations of light or sound. When two waves of
light or sound fall upon each other so that their crests
coincide: the intensity of the light or sound is increased ;
but when they fall so that the crest of one wave occupies
the trough between the two preceding or succeeding waves,
such two waves of light cause darkness, or two such waves
of sound cause silence. Moving the one wave forward or
backward upon the other intensifies or diminishes the
vibrations of light or sound. ‘Supposing nervous stimuli
to consist of vibrations like those of light and sound, the
action which any nerve-cell would have upon the others
connected with it would be stimulant or inhibitory accord-
ing to its position in relation to them.’ If nerve-force, as
believed, consists of vibrations similar to those of light or
sound, the relative position of nerve-cells in action will
often determine a stimulant or inhibitory result. If one
nerve-current meets another in such a way that the waves
of which they consist coincide, the nervous action will be
doubled, but if they interfere the nervous action will be
abolished. If they meet so as neither completely to coin-
cide nor to interfere, the nervous action will be somewhat
increased, or somewhat diminished, according to the degree
of coincidence or interference between the crests of the
waves. The relation of these waves to one another may
be affected by the distance each travels and the rate of
transmission.
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78 SPINAL STIMULANTS
This hypothesis seems to explain why different doses of
poisons sometimes produce very different results. The
phenomena of strychnine poisoning thus appear to depend
upon the nervous vibrations being thrust crest upon crest,
when intense convulsions occur; while, from one or another
wave dropping half a length behind, the interval of rest or
relaxation follows. In like manner may be explained the
similar effects of cold and heat. Cold retards, while
heat accelerates, transmission of vibrations, and either
agent may thus alter one of the waves, causing coin-
cidence and consequent stimulation, or separation by a
half or a quarter of a wave and consequent inhibition
or restraint.
Spina, Stimutants increase the functional activity of the
cord. They apparently act much in the same manner as
mechanical irritation or electricity. They seem to increase
conductivity through the nerve-cells. Small doses heighten
reflex excitability; large doses cause tetanic convulsions;
but such convulsions, as already indicated, also result from
large doses of drugs which exert a sedative or paralysing
action, as opium, morphine, and belladonna. Spinal stimu-
lants include strychnine, brucine, and thebaine, as well as
nicotine, calabarine, caffeine, absinthe, and ammonia. They
are used in cases of general debility, in paralysis unaccom-
panied by inflammation, and to rouse sluggish action, as of
the bowels.
ACTION OF DRUGS ON THE NERVES
PARALYSERS—STIMULANTS—ELECTRICITY
Nerves may be acted upon in various parts of their course ;
in the nerve centres in which they originate; in their cords
or trunks; or in their minute endings distributed in muscles
or glands. Motor nerves have their excitability more readily
disturbed or destroyed than sensory nerves. Injuries of
compound nerves frequently arrest motor function, but leave
the sensory function slightly, or only temporarily, impaired.
The nerve trunks are much less susceptible than the end
plates, and are only acted upon by strong solutions directly
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PARALYSERS OF MOTOR AND SENSORY NERVES 79
applied to them. Many medicines, acting on the terminal
nerve fibrils, also act on other parts of the nervous system.
It is always, however, important to realise the order in
which different parts are affected, inasmuch as the primary
action frequently modifies those which may be subsequently
produced. Different effects are often caused by the same
drug when given in different doses, and many medicines,
such as alcohol and ether, first increase and subsequently
diminish nervous irritability.
Paratysers of motor nerves have their most powerful
representative in curare, which seems to destroy the con-
ducting power of the minute nerve fibrils by acting on their
cement substance at Ranvier’s nodes. Numerous other agents
also paralyse motor nerves, of which the best known are
conine, ammonium cyanide, and iodide, and the ammonium
iodide compounds of ethyl, methyl, amyl, and phenyl.
Increased excitability of motor nerves is more difficult to
measure than paralysis; but, like the latter, it occurs in the
nerve-endings, and is produced by aconite, camphor, nicotine,
pilocarpine, and pyridine, and in warm-blooded animals by
physostigmine. Alcohol, ether, and chloroform, applied
directly to nerves, first increase and then diminish their
irritability. Atropine applied in like manner diminishes
irritability of the intra-muscular endings, and afterwards of
the trunks (Brunton).
Sensory nerves are readily affected by many drugs; their
local effects are comparatively easy to determine; but when
the drug enters the circulation many structures are liable
to be affected, and definite results are difficult to obtain.
Much trustworthy information has, however, been got by
experiments on frogs, chiefly by ligaturing the sciatic artery
of one leg, injecting into another part of the body the drug
to be tested, and by pinching, pricking, heat, or electricity,
noting the difference in sensation between the poisoned limb
and the ligatured unpoisoned limb. By these and other ex-
periments it has been demonstrated that nervous sensibility
is diminished by aconite, belladonna and atropine, carbolic
acid, chloroform and chloral, veratrine, with opium and
morphine. Hydrocyanic acid exerts topical paralysing effects
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80 ELECTRICITY
on sensory nerves. Notable reduction of the sensibility of
sensory nerves is likewise effected by several members of
the aromatic series of carbon compounds, such as exalgin
(methyl-acetanilide), antifebrin (acetanilide), and antipyrine
(phenazone). Diminishing excitability of sensory nerves,
such agents relieve pain, and are accordingly anodynes.
Some exert marked paralysing effects on the terminals of
cutaneous nerves, temporarily destroy sensibility, and hence
are useful local anesthetics. Amongst these are cocaine,
ether spray, cold, in the form of ice or freezing mixtures,
and carbolic acid.
The irritability of sensory nerves is increased by topical
irritants. Aconite, whether applied locally, or carried through
the circulation, produces peculiar numbness and tingling of
the tongue and lips, and indeed of all parts supplied by the
fifth nerve. Veratrine causes similar sensations in the joints
and extremities.
Etecrriciry in the form of galvanism or faradism, is used
in medical, and in veterinary practice. Faradism as ‘a
galvanic current momentarily interrupted is most generally
employed. Batteries, coils, and appliances for veterinary
purposes are now manufactured by Messrs. Arnold, West
Smithfield, London. Slight electric currents stimulate both
motor and sensory nerves and muscles; more powerful or
long-continued currents exhaust, paralyse, or tetanise.
Like nux vomica and other excito-motors, electricity stimu-
lates depressed nervous action, controls disordered action,
and hence improves impaired nutrition. For strains of
muscles and ligaments, after the primary inflammation and
effusion are relieved by fomentations and rest, faradism over
the seat of injury lessens pain and stiffness. A current
of suitable strength applied for six or eight minutes, and
repeated if needful twice daily, frequently benefits and some-
times removes muscular rheumatism, and is also serviceable
in chronic articular rheumatism, which has resisted other
treatment.
Paralysis depends upon various conditions, functional and
molecular, and hence demands very different methods of
treatment. Electricity, however, is often useful alike in
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ELECTROLYSIS 81
diagnosing its exact seat and extent, and also in abating or
removing the depressed or disordered conditions on which
it depends. Torpidity of the bowels, resulting from im-
perfect intestinal peristalsis, is sometimes overcome by fara-
disation. To stimulate contractions in muscular atrophy one
electrode is placed over the principal local nerve-centre, or
nerve of the wasted part; while the other is moved over the
altered muscles, for ten or fifteen minutes twice daily. Cases
of roaring have thus been treated. One electrode is applied
to the jugular furrow above the larynx, while the other is
moved over the surface of the larynx and down the trachea.
Only gentle, occasionally interrupted currents should be used.
The application is continued for five to fifteen minutes, and
repeated twice daily.
Clonic spasms, represented according to their cause or
site by trifling tremors or violent convulsions, are some-
times treated by electricity. The current may be directed
to the faulty centre in the brain or spinal cord, to the nerve
trunk, the conductivity of which is morbidly affected, or to
the local centres which are acting abnormally. Chorea in
dogs, especially when of the chronic paralytic type, has been
benefited by electric treatment.
When insulated needles are placed in the tissues, and
traversed by a galvanic current, decomposition ensues, and
this process of electrolysis is occasionally employed for the
removal of tumours. Cauterisation is sometimes effected by
heating a platinum wire by a current, now conveniently
derived from one of Faure’s portable accumulators.
Electro-therapeutics as applied to the domestic animals
deserves more extended practical study. The primary con-
ditions for its rational and safe employment consist in a
thorough understanding of the instruments used, and a
knowledge of the strength of currents and their proper
distribution to the parts to be influenced.
F
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82 MYDRIATICS AND MYOTICS
ACTION OF MEDICINES ON THE EYE
In the local treatment of the cornea and conjunctiva the
fitting astringents are zinc sulphate and silver nitrate.
When the surface of the cornea is abraded, lead salts are
unsuitable, as they form an insoluble albuminate, which may
cause opacity; while alum and potassium permanganate are
undesirable, on account of their tendency to dissolve the
corneal cement. The antiseptics generally used are mer-
curic chloride and boric acid, the latter frequently conjoined
with an equal quantity of sodium sulpho-carbolate. The
sedatives preferred are aqueous solution of opium, morphine,
atropine, cocaine and eucaine. The sensitiveness of the eye
is increased by strychnine. It is diminished, and local
anesthesia produced, by cocaine, which, accordingly, is
serviceable in some examinations, as well as in operations
on the eyes. The lachrymal secretion is increased by such
volatile oils as mustard and onion, and by physostigmine.
It is diminished by atropine.
The pupil is dilated by belladonna, atropine, homatropine,
cocaine, daturine, and hyoscyamine. Such dilators are
termed mydriatics ; they paralyse the ends of the third nerve.
The pupil is contracted by calabar bean, eserine, opium,
morphine, pilocarpine, and nicotine. They are termed
myotics. Anzsthetics, and some narcotics in full doses, first
contract, and afterwards from circulation of venous blood
dilate, the pupil. The action of most mydriatics and
myotics is purely local. Stimulation of the third nerve
causes contraction of the pupil, while section of it causes
the pupil to dilate. Stimulation of the sympathetic dilates,
and its section contracts, the pupil.
Mydriatics are used to allay irritation, inflammation, and
pain, and in iritis to prevent adhesions. Dilating the pupil,
they facilitate examination of the lens for cataract and of
the retina. Myotics are used alternately with mydriatics to
discover adhesions of the iris, and to break them down, to
restrict the passage of light in painful diseases of the eye;
and in the earlier stages of glaucoma to lessen intra-ocular
tension.
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THE RESPIRATORY FUNCTIONS 83
ACTION OF MEDICINES ON RESPIRATION
ERRHINES AND EXPECTORANTS
Respiration consists in the alternate enlargement and
diminution of the cavity of the chest, whereby air is alter-
nately inspired and expired. These movements, so essential
to the life of all the higher animals, are chiefly presided over
by a nerve-centre or group of ganglionic cells, situated in the
medulla, posterior to the vomiting centre, and extending into
the anterior part of the spinal cord. This centre is normally
stimulated by venous blood, and inspiratory movements are
thence co-ordinated. The diaphragm is drawn back, the
intercostal, scaleni, and other muscles raise the ribs, and air
enters the lungs, distending the elastic walls of the air-cells.
In ordinary circumstances, almost passively, the chest, with
little muscular exertion then contracts, and air is expired.
Expiratory effort, although scarcely realised in ordinary
breathing, is, however, evoked in coughing and sneezing, as
well as in producing vocal sounds. Inspiration and expira-
tion thus alternate, in healthy adult horses at perfect rest,
from twelve to sixteen times, in cattle about fifteen to twenty
times, in sheep from thirteen to eighteen times, and in dogs
from fifteen to twenty times per minute.
The respiratory centre is stimulated by heat, and by
strychnine, ammonia, atropine, thebaine, apomorphine, sub-
stances of the digitalis group, and salts of zinc and copper. It
is first excited and then depressed by caffeine, nicotine, chloro-
form, ether, alcohol, quinine, and saponin. Its activity is
diminished, with consequent slow and shallow respiration, by
cold, opium, physostigmine, and aconite. The vagus branches
distributed to the lung (and, when slightly stimulated, all
sensory nerves), are mainly nerves of inspiration, and when
stimulated cause quickened shallower respiration. The
expiratory nerves are the nasal branches of the fifth, the
laryngeal, and the cutaneous nerves, particularly of the chest
and belly. When these are stimulated, the respiratory
movements become slower and deeper. When respiration
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84 ERRHINES
is paralysed, as in narcotic poisoning, subcutaneous injection
of strychnine is sometimes useful.
Erruines or sternutatories, when applied to the nostrils,
cause irritation, sneezing, and increased secretion. They
include tobacco in a finely divided state, hellebore, ipeca-
cuanha, euphorbium, and saponin. Errhines, although now
seldom used, were formerly prescribed to cause counter-
irritation in diseases of the eye and head, and to expel, by
inducing sneezing, foreign substances lodged in the nostrils.
facial sinuses, and respiratory passages.
Exrecrorants facilitate the removal of secretions from
the air-passages. The healthy respiratory mucous mem-
brane is moistened and protected by a thin, slightly adhesive
solution of mucin, which is gradually moved outwards by
the cilia. Cold applied to the surface of the body, dust and
foreign particles, and microbes, as in cases of influenza,
readily excite irritation of the respiratory tract, and alter
the amount and character of the mucus.
While the irritated membrane is dry and vascular, as in
the earlier stages of catarrh and bronchitis, the breathing of
warm, moist air, diffused from a steam kettle, or nose-bag
containing steamed hay, beneficially dilates the congested
vessels, and promotes secretion. In such cases, and notably
in laryngitis, heat and moisture should also be applied
externally by means of poultices, or flannel or woollen
waste wrung out of boiling water, covered with thin water-
proofing, and kept in place by a properly adjusted hood.
Further counter-irritation may subsequently be needful.
In the dry stage of inflammation of the respiratory mem-
brane, expectorants of a depressant type, lessening blood-
pressure and increasing secretion, are indicated, such as
antimonials, alkalies in small doses, ipecacuanha, lobelia,
jaborandi, apomorphine, and potassium iodide, the last of
which, moreover, increases and liquifies many other secre-
tions. Frequently in chronic bronchitis, when the respiratory
membrane is congested and blood stagnates in the lungs,
good results follow the combination of depressant expector-
ants with digitalis.
The bronchial mucus, when superabundant, is diminished
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DEPRESSANT AND STIMULANT EXPECTORANTS 85
by belladonna, opium, turpentine, and many volatile oils.
When the secretion becomes thick and adhesive, and irri-
tating cough is hence provoked, stimulating expectorants,
which increase blood-pressure and diminish secretion, are
indicated. The most trusted of these are acids, ammonium
salts, nux vomica, senega, squill, balsams, terebinthinates,
sulphur, sulphur oils, and saccharines. Terpine, oil of
turpentine in a vaporised state, or the old popular remedy of
the fumes of burning tar, prove effectual in moderating
vascular congestion and profuse secretion in many cases of
bronchitis. A relaxed throat generally indicates the exist-
ence of a similar condition throughout the respiratory tract.
An appropriate remedy is a combination of terebene and an
acid given as an electuary, which exerts beneficial effects
both topically and generally.
Expulsion of the respiratory secretions is produced by
increased activity of the cilia, which are believed to be
stimulated by ammonia solutions, and by increased activity
of the respiratory centre, which, as already stated, is also
stimulated by ammonia salts, as well as by ipecacuanha,
belladonna, and senega.
Influenza colds, so common amongst horses, and notori-
ously infectious, very probably depend upon specific micro-
organisms, which attack the upper, sometimes the lower
air-passages, and not infrequently also induce gastro-intestinal
catarrh, and other complications. Occasionally such seizures
may be checked or mitigated in their early stages by
moistening the parts first affected with solution of carbolic
or sulphurous acid or eucalyptus oil, applied in the form
of spray, gargle, or inhalation. Similar treatment proves
beneficial in the later stages, by lessening congestion or
by exerting antiseptic effects. The washing out of the
nostrils is conveniently done by an ordinary syringe, by
Higginson’s enema apparatus or by Rey’s nasal funnel.
Coven is a modified, usually involuntary, respiratory act,
whereby gaseous, liquid and solid substances are forcibly
removed from the air-passages. This sudden expulsive
expiratory effort is brought about by faulty mucus or other
irritant, lodged in the pharynx or larynx, by irritation of the
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86 THE TREATMENT OF COUGH
lower air-passages, and reflexly, by impressions produced on
surfaces other than the respiratory mucous tract, as by cold
applied to the skin, or by nasal, buccal, pleural, gastric, or
hepatic irritation.
Soothing gargles and electuaries, even if they do not
actually reach the seat of irritation, frequently abate cough.
Mechanically acting mucilaginous or saccharine substances
may be rendered more effectual by combination with mor-
phine, which diminishes irritability of the respiratory centre,
and decreases secretion of mucus. The latter result is still
more notably effected by atropine. A combination of these
alkaloids is hence specially valuable where there is trouble-
some cough and profuse secretion of mucus. A somewhat
different effect is obtained by conjoining morphine and
apomorphine, which, with diminished excitability of the
respiratory centre, produce increased bronchial secretion,
and are hence serviceable where there is cough, and the
membrane is dry, or coated with thick, sticky mucus.
A comfortable loose box, with abundance of pure fresh
air, at a temperature of about 60° Fahr., in several ways
benefits the patient suffering with respiratory disease. More
perfect aération of blood is secured, while the cool, pure air,
moreover, contracts dilated vessels, combats congestion, and
hence will often remove cough, especially when depending
upon irritation of the larynx, trachea, or larger bronchi.
But while in many stages of respiratory disease the breath-
ing of cool air is grateful and beneficial, draughts and cold
must be scrupulously guarded against, and the body and legs
of the patient kept comfortably warm, with extra covering,
in order to promote free circulation in the superficial
vessels, and thus antagonise congestion of the internal
organs. Experiments on small healthy animals show that
ice applied to the surface of the belly immediately induces
paleness of the respiratory membrane, speedily followed by
congestion, and gradually developing venous lividity, accom-
panied by increased secretion of mucus. Removal of the
ice and substitution of a hot poultice gradually restore the
parts to their normal state, and this acute congestion and
gradual return to health may thus be alternately demon-
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HEART STIMULANTS 87
strated. These effects of cold and heat strikingly illustrate
the causation of congestion of the respiratory organs, and
also an effectual manner of relieving the hyperemia.
Cough depending upon gastric derangement, not un-
common in young animals, is often relieved by antacids.
Cough resulting from bronchial filarie is abated by the
usual soothing remedies, and sometimes removed by tur-
pentine administered in drench or intratracheally, or by
inhalation of diluted chlorine or sulphurous acid, which is
rendered still more effectual for destruction of the parasites
when conjoined with carbolic vapour.
In dogs with bronchitis or pneumonia, when the breathing
is difficult, relief is often obtained by giving an emetic of
ipecacuanha and squill. Venous congestion is overcome,
and the state of the bronchial secretions improved. These
good effects may often be maintained by the subsequent use
of frequently repeated doses of ammonium carbonate, which
is also serviceable earlier, or when the patient is too weak to
justify the use of an emetic. In dogs recovering from acute
attacks, or suffering from chronic bronchitis, cod liver oil
is often useful, possibly on account of its furnishing readily
assimilable nourishment for the delicate epithelial cells.
ACTION OF MEDICINES ON THE CIRCULATION
STIMULANTS—TONICS—SEDATIVES
Many agents act in various ways on one or more portions
of the circulatory system. An able authority on the subject
—Dr. Lauder Brunton—divides them into agents acting on
the heart and on the vessels, and again subdivides these two
groups into three classes of stimulants, tonics, and sedatives.
Heart Stimunants increase the force and frequency of
the pulse in conditions of depression. The most important
are ammonia and its carbonate, alcoholic solutions, ether,
chloroform, camphor, oil of turpentine, and other volatile
and aromatic oils, with heat and counter-irritants to the
chest. They exert their effects in somewhat different ways.
The alcohol group mainly stimulate the motor ganglia.
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88 HEART STIMULANTS
Strychnine, physostigmine, and camphor are believed to
act chiefly on the heart muscle, exciting it to pulsate rhyth-
mically. Strychnine stimulates the cardiac excito-motor
apparatus (Habershon). Ammonium carbonate and sal
volatile, with turpentine and other volatile oils, chiefly
stimulate the vaso-motor centres. Alcoholic, etherous, and
ammoniacal solutions, especially when given in tolerably
concentrated form, immediately stimulate the mouth, throat,
stomach, and other parts with which they come in contact,
and thus their effects often anticipate and increase the
stimulation resulting from their actual conveyance in the
blood stream to the heart and other organs.
Cardiac stimulants are used to counteract failure of the
heart’s action from shock, physical injury, overwork, or
depression dependent on disease. Stimulants, when acting
favourably, produce a more vigorous heart-beat—the pulse,
previously slow, is accelerated ; or if quick, unequal, or weak,
it becomes slower, stronger, and more regular. The heart
pulsating more quickly, and propelling at each contraction
a larger volume of blood, arterial pressure is increased. A
combination of two stimulants, acting as indicated in more
ways than one, is often more effectual than any single drug.
Hence alcohol is frequently conjoined with ether, ammonia,
or aromatic volatile oils. Strychnine is prescribed with
caffeine; and in serious cases hypodermic injections may be
needful. Heat used in the form of warm drinks, and also
externally, as warm rugs, fomentations, or poultices, is a
heart stimulant, especially when the applications are made
to the chest.
VascuLar Stimutants dilate the peripheral vessels, and
thus accelerate the blood-flow through them. They do not
increase the action of the vaso-motor centre, nor the con-
tractility of the vessels, but, on the contrary, diminish their
contractility and cause their dilatation. Prominent amongst
remedies acting in this way are alcoholic solutions, ether,
nitrous ether, amy] nitrite, nitro-glycerine, and nitrites, which,
by dilating peripheral vessels, lower blood pressure. Alco-
holic solutions, combining the twofold action of stimulating
the heart and dilating arterial and capillary vessels, usefully
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HEART TONICS 89
combat chill, equalise circulation, and prevent or relieve
congestion. Horses brought in chilled and exhausted are
frequently saved from congestion and inflammation of in-
ternal parts by the timely use of a stimulating drink, the
good effects of which are further ensured by an extra rug,
and flannel bandages to the legs. More permanent dilatation
of external vessels is effected by frequently repeated doses of
nitrous ether and ammonium acetate, with which camphor
may also be conjoined. In combating chronic inflammation,
vascular stimulants are also serviceable, and their operation
is further promoted by hot applications, friction, and counter-
irritation.
Heart Tonics produce their effects more gradually and
slowly than heart stimulants. All are muscle poisons, and
exert fuller effects on the heart than on other muscles, on
account of its receiving much larger supplies of blood.
Although large doses induce violent, irregular heart action,
repeated moderate doses prolong the diastole, and render
the contractions slower, stronger and more regular. Most,
besides, contract the muscular coat of the arteries, and
hence are vascular tonics. On the muscular coat of the
digestive canal they are also liable to act, producing nausea,
spasms, and sometimes diarrhea. Heart tonics comprise
digitalis and its alkaloids, casca, and its active principle
erythrophlcine, strophanthus, veratrine, convallaria majalis,
squill, caffeine, nux vomica, and strychnine.
Digitalis has hitherto been the heart tonic generally used,
notwithstanding the disadvantage of its preparations being of
irregular strength, and its so-called active principle, digita-
lin, usually consisting of several bodies, differing consider-
ably in their actions. Digitalis is prescribed where the left
ventricle, from weakness caused by reducing disease, or
from incompetence of the bicuspid or mitral valve, is
unable to drive the blood into the aorta. In hard-worked
horses compensating hypertrophy gives increased propelling
power, and hence sometimes mitigates the results of valvular
disease. When dilatation occurs, and the mitral valve is
insufficient to close the orifice, blood is liable to regurgitate
into the left auricle, retarding the blood flow from the lungs,
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90 VASCULAR TONICS
and leading to general venous congestion. Heart tonics,
notably digitalis, relieve this condition by imparting to the
contractions the needful regularity and strength ; while,
moreover, by slowing the beats, the ventricle is more com-
pletely filled. In dilatation of the right side of the heart
usually depending upon serious attacks of influenza, bron-
chitis, or emphysema, heart tonics are seldom so beneficial
as in mitral disease. In the various diseases for which digi-
talis has been used, strophanthus, which is not cumulative,
is now generally preferred, both in human and veterinary
practice, on account of its solubility, and less liability to
produce nausea and gastro-intestinal irritation. In heart
failure, whether depending on nervous asthenia or on muscular
weakness, strychnine in continued small doses is specially
useful. Where there is marked irritability, it may be con-
joined with cocaine, and, in anemia, with preparations of
iron. Where there is cardiac pain, nitro-glycerine is pre-
scribed. Where blood pressure is abnormal, it is usually
desirable in vigorous subjects to relieve venous congestion
by purgatives or diuretics before even the most cautious
use of heart tonics is attempted.
VascuLar Tonics cause increased contraction of arterioles
and capillaries. They stimulate the vaso-motor nerves, and
thus raise blood pressure, and also promote outflow and
absorption of lymph. The most important are digitalis,
iron, and strychnine, with friction of swollen, infiltrated
parts, equable pressure of well-applied bandages, and exer-
cise, which secures oxidation and muscular movements
favouring removal of lymph and waste products. Vascular
tonics are chiefly used to combat local edema, resulting
mainly from changes in the walls of the capillaries, and
general dropsy depending upon tardy removal of lymph,
from the lymph spaces or serous cavities, upon a watery
condition of the blood, or upon vaso-motor paralysis. Dropsy
resulting, as it often does, from anemia is appropriately
treated by iron salts.
Inflammatory cedema or lymphangitis attacking usually
the lymph glands and vessels of the hind limbs of the
heavier breeds of horses, and occurring chiefly in well-fed,
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VASCULAR SEDATIVES 91
hard-worked animals after a day’s rest, is probably caused
by a toxine, and connected with imperfect oxidation, the con-
sequent formation of sarcolactic acid, obstruction and con-
gestion of veins, capillaries, and lymph vessels. The result-
ing acute inflammation is combated by hot fomentations, a
smart purgative, antiseptics, and saline diuretics, while the
tediously chronic cedema, which is apt to follow, is removed
by friction, vascular tonics, and stimulants, and regular
exercise.
Carpiac Sepatives lessen the force and frequency of the
heart’s action. For such purposes aconite, gelsemium, vera-
trine, and antimonials are chiefly prescribed. In veterinary
patients aconite is most effectual, especially when given
in small doses, at intervals of two or three hours. It is
chiefly used in antagonising violent palpitating action of
the heart, or lowering the quick, full, bounding pulse, and
other febrile symptoms of laryngitis, laminitis, acute lymph-
angitis, and other local inflammations.
Vascu.ar Sepatives contract blood-vessels, lessen the flow
of blood through them, and hence limit local inflammation,
and arrest hemorrhage. They are represented by ergot,
lead acetate, and opium, full doses of digitalis and other
heart tonics, and topical application of cold. Ice or re-
frigerant lotions applied to circumscribed spots contract the
capillaries, and even considerable arteries, and thus relieve
congestion, inflammation, and pain. In like manner, ice,
when swallowed, arrests bleeding from the stomach, reflexly
checks bleeding from the lungs, and, moreover, acts as a
cardiac sedative. When the bleeding vessels cannot be
reached, either directly or reflexly, ergotin is injected hypo-
dermically.
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92 SIALAGOGUES
MEDICINES ACTING ON THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
On tHE Sativary GLanps.—SIALAGOGUES—ANTISIALICS—
REFRIGERANTS.
On tHE Stomach. — ANTACIDS — GASTRIC TONICS —
STOMACHICS — BITTERS —EMETICS—ANTI-EMETICS—GASTRIC
SEDATIVES.
On tHe InrTesTiInEs.— PURGATIVES — CARMINATIVES — INTES-
TINAL ASTRINGENTS—ANTISEPTICS.
On re Liver. — HEPATIC STIMULANTS — CHOLAGOGUES —
HEPATIC DEPRESSANTS.
On THE PancREAS AND SPLEEN.
On Worms.—ANTHELMINTICS—VERMICIDES—VERMIFUGES.
Suatacocues are drugs which increase the secretion of
saliva. This alkaline fluid comes from the secreting glan-
dular cells, which are replenished with fresh materials from
the blood-vessels of the glands. The process of salivation
is regulated by a nerve-centre in the medulla, and subsidiary
nerve-centres in the several glands. By food or other sub-
stances moved in the mouth, by irritation of the stomach, or
even of the eyes or nostrils, stimulation is conveyed by their
respective nerves to these ganglia, and reflexly salivation
ensues. In this way the presence of food in the mouth and
the movements of the jaws naturally provoke salivation. In
like manner, through different nerves distributed within the
mouth, acids, alkalies, ethers, mustard, ginger, and other
pungent substances reflexly increase secretion of saliva.
Tartar emetic and other nauseants exert similar effects re-
flexly by acting on the stomach. Another group of siala-
gogues, consisting of jaborandi, calabar bean, and their alkal-
oids, with muscarine and nicotine, produce salivation when
injected into the blood, stimulate the peripheral ends of
the secreting nerves within the glands, and are termed
specific sialagogues. Another group, including mercury,
tobacco, and potassium iodide, induce their effects, partly by
acting reflexly on the membrane of the mouth, and partly by
absorption and stimulation of the secreting nerves.
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ANTISIALICS AND REFRIGERANTS 93
The salivary and buccal secretions moisten the mouth and
fauces, and hence facilitate mastication and swallowing, and
lessen or prevent thirst. The ptyalin of the saliva, more-
over, helps the solution of starch, and the alkaline fluid, when
swallowed, promotes secretion of the acid gastric juice, and
thus further assists digestion. Graminivora secrete propor-
tionally large quantities of saliva for the moistening of the
dry food, on which they chiefly live. The horse in twenty-
four hours secretes 84 lbs. In all animals the fluid is more
alkaline the larger the amount of the starch food.
Antisialics are medicines which lessen the salivary secre-
tion. Borax and potassium chlorate frequently remove the
faulty irritable conditions of the mucous membrane, which
lead to over-secretion. Opium and morphine diminish irri-
tability of the nerve-centres, while atropine is the most
effective paralyser of the peripheral endings of secreting
nerves. The fermentative action of ptyalin is diminished by
alcohol, alkalies, and acids, and checked by 1 per cent. solu-
tions of carbolic acid. It is promoted by small quantities of
quinine, strychnine, and morphine.
Refrigerants, in contact with the buccal and pharyngeal
membrane, induce a sensation of coolness, and allay thirst,
which is locally manifested by dryness of the mouth and
fauces. Thirst is quenched by washing out the mouth with
water, or lubricating the dry throat with bland mucilaginous
fluids, sucking portions of ice, which horses with sore throats
soon learn to do, or swallowing slowly slightly acidulated
drinks, which, by stimulating secretion of saliva, moisten
the parched membrane. But thirst also depends upon a
deficiency of fluid in the body, and excess of soluble or
saline substances in the blood—conditions which are
remedied by ingestion of water or other diluents. The
extreme thirst which occurs in horses affected with polyuria,
or diabetes insipidus, is best controlled by a combination of
iodine and opium, the former probably exerting its anti-
septic effect, the latter perhaps lessening excitability of the
thirst-centre.
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94 GASTRIC ABSORPTION IN DIFFERENT ANIMALS
ACTION OF DRUGS ON THE STOMACH
The stomach of the horse is small relatively to his size;
the cardiac portion is lined with stratified epithelium, and
secrets no digestive fluid. The pyloric portion, which occu-
pies about one-half of the viscus, is the active digestive part,
and is lined with a vascular villous membrane, in which
lie the gastric glands. Gastric absorption in horses has been
questioned or denied since Bouley and Colin published their
experiments with strychnine; but probably slow absorption
does take place from the right sac in a normal condition.
In ruminants, the first three compartments of the sub-
divided stomach are lined with cuticular mucous membrane,
are chiefly occupied in the reception, maceration, and sub-
division of the bulky fibrous herbage, which constitutes their
principal diet. This thick epithelial covering, and the
amount of food always lodged in these three stomachs, ex-
plain the tardy action of many medicines administered to
ruminants, and their taking with impunity large doses of
irritants. The fourth stomach is lined with vascular velvet-
like mucous membrane, and secretes the gastric juice, while
from its walls slow absorption takes place, In the dog and
hog the stomach and digestive organs resemble those of
man, and in both animals absorption commences in the
stomach.
Secretion of gastric juice is stimulated by gentle mechani-
cal and chemical irritation, by introduction of suitable food
into the stomach, and by administration of dilute alkalies,
alcohol and ether. When indigestion occurs from pre-
sumed insufficiency of the gastric juice, two modes of treat-
ment are available—(1) dilute acids and a little spirit are
given to stimulate secretion ; but (2) where, from reducing
disease or other causes, the stomach is enfeebled, a substi-
tute for the gastric juice should be given in the form of
diluted mineral acid, conjoined, where the food is albumin-
ous, with pepsin. Moreover in all such cases, the food must
be readily digestible. For horses, well-prepared mashes are
substituted for dry corn and hard fibrous hay; while calves
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ANTACIDS 95
or foals, when their undiluted milk disagrees, should have
it mixed with water, or, better still, with linseed tea, in
order that the tough curd may be more easily broken down.
In dyspepsia, acids and bitters are frequently conjoined, the
latter being serviceable probably on account of their stimu-
lating the movements of the stomach, and of their action on
the liver.
Awtacips.—Certain forms of dyspepsia depend upon, or are
aggravated by, undue gastro-intestinal acidity, which is
counteracted by antacids. These comprise the alkalies—
potash, soda, and ammonia; the alkaline earths—lime and
magnesia ; and carbonates and bicarbonates of these bases.
The neutral salts which these alkalies form with vegetable
acids, notably the tartrates and citrates, after acting primarily
as salines, are converted in the blood into carbonates, and
secondarily exert alkaline effects on the tissues and secretions
with which they are brought into contact. It is thus that
they are serviceable in rheumatism, eczema, some cases of
pyrexia, and in counteracting acidity of the urine. As an
antacid, the volatile ammonia is less permanent than the
fixed alkalies. Potash and its salts are more active than
soda and its corresponding salts. Lime salts, being soothing
and astringent, are indicated in diarrhoea; magnesia salts,
being laxative, are appropriate where acidity concurs with
torpidity of the bowels. Lithium carbonate, present in
Baden-Baden and Bath mineral waters, is prized in human
medicine as a solvent of urinary calculi and deposits.
Horses fed irregularly, or too closely restricted to dry
food, frequently suffer from gastric acidity, instinctively lick
the lime-washed walls of their stables, or eat earth, and are
usually promptly relieved by antacids and suitable feeding.
Calves carelessly managed manifest the same disposition to
allay their discomfort by eating earthy matters. Antacids
given before meals excite gastric secretion; given after meals
they neutralise gastric and intestinal acidity. After pro-
ducing local and direct effects on the digestive organs, they
undergo absorption, and produce remote antacid effects on
the blood and urine.
Gastric Tontos or stimulants, sometimes called stomachics,
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96 EMETICS AND VOMITING
aid gastric digestion and improve the appetite. Such results
occur when, in experiments, the stomach walls are gently
irritated, and are also produced by small doses of stimulants
and bitters. In certain conditions of gastric irritation,
stimulants or bitters are, however, unsuitable, and small
doses of mineral acids, or of gastric sedatives, such as
bismuth, strontium bromide, ammonium chloride, or prussic
acid, are prescribed.
Emetics are agents which cause vomiting. This is effected
by firm compression of the stomach between the diaphragm
and the abdominal muscles, and by the simultaneous con-
traction of the longitudinal fibres which pass from the
cesophagus round the gastric walls. When the stomach is
thus compressed from behind, and drawn forward, the
familiar spasmodic movements of retching result. When
concurrently, however, with these movements, the cardiac
orifice is dilated, the contents of the stomach are thrown up,
and vomiting occurs. Dr, Lauder Brunton thus describes
the phenomena of vomiting :—‘ Uneasiness is felt; the in-
spirations become deeper; several swallowing movements are
made, which sometimes carry down sufficient air to distend the
stomach moderately. After several deep inspirations, there
suddenly comes one which is deeper still. Then, instead of
this being followed by expiration, the glottis shuts to prevent
the escape of air; the diaphragm again contracts still more
deeply into the abdomen, and pulling the ribs together, the
abdominal muscles forcibly contract; the left half of the
stomach is drawn upwards, and the cul-de-sac flattened out ;
the cardiac orifice dilates, and the contents of the stomach
are forcibly expelled. The pylorus remains firmly contracted,
and allows but little escape into the intestines,’
The movements of vomiting are modified respiratory and
ruminating actions, and are presided over by nerve-centres
in the medulla. The ganglia regulating respiration and
vomition lie close together. Certain cells probably take
part in both actions, and are acted upon by the same agents.
‘Emetics usually quicken the respiration considerably be-
fore they produce vomiting, and, if injected into the veins,
they not only quicken the respiration, but prevent the
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THE PHYSIOLOGY OF VOMITING 97
condition of apnoea being produced by vigorous artificial
respiration. On the other hand, the desire to vomit may be
lessened, to some extent, by taking frequent and deep
inspirations, and narcotics which diminish the excitability
of the respiratory centre also lessen the tendency to vomit’
(Brunton).
That the vomiting centre, rather than the stomach itself,
is the prime factor in the production of emesis, is evident
from Magendie’s famous experiment of removing the stomach
of a dog, attaching to the severed cesophagus a pig’s bladder
filled with fluid, which, when tartar emetic was injected into
the veins, was compressed between the abdominal muscles and
the diaphragm, and emptied of its contents by vomiting.
When the fauces of men, dogs, or other animals which
vomit readily, are tickled with a feather, or when the
interior of the stomach is irritated mechanically, or by a
solution of mustard, the stimulus is conveyed by afferent
nerves to the vomiting centre with which the special
motor impulses are correlated. Many other parts of the
body, through their afferent nerves, have communication
with the vomiting centre, and hence vomiting is produced,
not only by irritation of the fauces and stomach, but by
irritation of the brain, lungs, liver, and gall ducts, the
intestines, kidneys, and bladder, sometimes even by pain
or injury of the extremities.
Dogs, cats, and pigs vomit as readily as men. Indeed,
in dogs, vomiting is induced by most disagreeably-tasted,
nauseous, or acrid substances, and sometimes is brought
on purposely by eating certain grasses which instinct
readily enables them to discover. But horses, ruminants,
rabbits, and guinea-pigs rarely if ever vomit, and are in-
sensible to the action of powerful emetics. In horses
emesis only occurs from extreme distension and spasm of
the stomach, from dilatation of the lower part of the gullet,
from complete obstruction of the intestines, and from the
action of large doses of aconite, which, however, induce
retching and discharge of excessive secretion of saliva rather
than true vomiting. The insusceptibility of horses to the
action of emetics is due apparently to some undiscovered
peculiarity of the nervous mmechanis, concerned in vomi-
G
98 HORSES AND RUMINANTS DO NOT VOMIT
tion in most other animals. The horse’s inability to re-
gurgitate matters from the stomach, even when attempts
to vomit are excited, depends upon several conditions—on
the smallness of the stomach, which prevents it, even when
tolerably full, from being grasped and squeezed between
the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm; on the strong
horse-shoe-like band of fibres which guards the cardiac
orifice; and on the greater length of that portion of the
cesophagus between the diaphragm and stomach, which
bends on itself, and thus more securely obstructs the cardiac
orifice when the tube, under the influence of emetics, is
shortened by the contraction of its longitudinal fibres. The
contents of the horse’s stomach, even if discharged upwards,
owing to the position and length of the soft palate, would
pass out by the nostrils, and not by the mouth. As cattle
naturally ruminate, it might be supposed that they might
also readily perform the analogous act of vomiting; but
the substances which cause emesis in other animals have
no such effect on cattle or sheep. This, in part, depends
upon the large size of the subdivided stomach, which
cannot be grasped and compressed between the abdominal
walls and diaphragm. In horses and ruminants, the
arrangement of the digestive organs thus virtually pre-
venting vomiting, the vomiting centre would not be
required; if it ever existed amongst earlier races, it has
become dwarfed or ineffective, as seems evident from the
notable tolerance which horses have of tartar emetic. Pro-
fessor M‘Fadyean suggests that in ruminants the power to
vomit has perhaps been merged into the habit of rumination.
Emetics are divisible into two classes :—
(1.) Those which mainly act locally on the pharynx
or stomach, such as copious draughts of tepid
water, bitter infusions, solutions of salt, mustard,
alum, and ammonium carbonate, with copper and
zinc sulphates.
(2.) Those which act, through the circulation, on the
vomiting centre, such as tartar emetic, ipeca-
cuanha and emetine, apomorphine, senega, and
squill. Muscarine and digitalis are general emetics,
although not used medicinally.
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USES OF EMETICS 99
Emetics, acting locally, stimulate the vomiting centre
reflexly from the stomach. Those of the second class may
be carried direct to the vomiting centre; but many are
also attracted to the stomach, and thus, in part, at any
rate, act reflexly. Tartar emetic injected into the blood
is believed thus to act in both ways. The effects of
local emetics are not of long duration, ceasing usually
when the cause of irritation is expelled, and leaving little
depression. The effects of general emetics are more per-
sistent, and are followed by nausea, depression, and increased
secretion of saliva and sweat, as well as of mucus, alike
from the digestive and respiratory tracts.
Emetics are used on dogs and pigs for removing from
the stomach foreign bodies, acrid, irritating, undigested
food, and poisons. Where prompt and effectual results
are desired, as in cases of poisoning, copper and zinc
sulphates are most suitable. By relaxing the longitudinal
fibres of the gullet, and exciting anti-peristaltic movements,
they are also serviceable in expelling obstructions from
the fauces and upper part of the esophagus. They expel
bile from the gall ducts, and gall bladder, and force in-
spissated mucus and small gall stones into the intestine,
thus relieving jaundice resulting from obstruction. By
clearing out both the stomach and biliary system, they
remove biliousness, and, used at the outset, they thus
mitigate distemper, and other febrile attacks, and some-
times arrest epileptic seizures. In animals which vomit
easily it is better that irritants lodged in the anterior
parts of the digestive tube should be promptly got rid of
by the mouth, rather than make the longer and more tedious
route through the intestines, running risk of absorption,
and thus probably doing further mischief. By stimulating
the respiratory as well as the vomiting centre, emetics
beneficially promote secretion and expectoration in the
dry stage of catarrh and bronchitis, and sometimes in
congestive as well as spasmodic asthma. In respiratory
disorders, ipecacuanha and squill are often conjoined, and,
where there is cardiac depression, ammonium carbonate
is prescribed, alone or in combination. Relaxing muscular
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100 EMETICS AND ANTI-EMETICS
fibre, they were wont to be given to assist in the reduction
of dislocations, but for such purposes anzsthetics are
much more effectual. Their paralysing effect on muscle
explains why emetics in excessive doses often fail to cause
vomiting. .
Emetics are contra-indicated in gastric inflammation, cere-
bral congestion, and hemorrhagic conditions, and require
cautious use in pregnancy and hernia.
A safe and convenient emetic for a medium-sized dog
consists of a teaspoonful each of common salt and mustard
dissolved in three ounces of tepid water. More prompt
and certain effects are produced by two or three grains of
copper or zine sulphate dissolved in a couple of ounces
of warm water, rolled in a piece of meat, or mixed with
other food. Greater depression follows the administration
of three grains tartar emetic and ten grains ipecacuanha,
given dissolved in three or four ounces of tepid water.
Apomorphine, the most prompt and certain of emetics,
acts by whatever channel it enters the body, and produces
full effects on dogs in doses of one-tenth to one-fifth of a
grain.
To check vomiting, which occasionally proves trouble-
some in dogs, three methods of relief are indicated—(1) the
removal, by appropriate means, of the irritation of the fauces,
bronchi, stomach, or other part which excites the reflex
act; (2) lessening irritability of the gastric nerves by giving
small pieces of ice, or cocaine, carbolic acid, creasote, silver
nitrate, or hydrocyanic acid; (8) quieting over-activity of
the irritable vomiting centre by morphine, atropine, chloral,
potassium or ammonium bromide, or amyl-nitrite.
ACTION OF DRUGS ON THE INTESTINES
PURGATIVES—CARMINATIVES—INTESTINAL ASTRINGENTS
AND ANTISEPTICS
Purcatives or CaTHARTics cause intestinal evacuations
by stimulating the muscular coat, and accelerating the
peristaltic movements of the bowels; by increasing secre-
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PURGATIVES 101
tion from the intestinal mucous membrane; and sometimes
by limiting absorption of the intestinal fluids.
Intestinal movements are dependent on the ganglia of
Auerbach’s plexus, situated between the outer longitudinal
and inner circular layers of muscle. Secretion is believed
to be influenced by Meissner’s plexus, lying in the sub-
mucous coat; but these ganglia, immediately regulating
intestinal movements and secretions, are controlled by
cerebro-spinal centres and nerves, notably by the vagi,
which, when irritated, cause increased peristalsis, and by
the splanchnics, which, although containing both stimulant
and inhibitory fibres, generally diminish intestinal move-
ments. When all the cerebro-spinal nerves, going to a
portion of intestine, are divided, copious fluid discharges
pour into the intestine; but Dr. Lauder Brunton and Dr.
Pye Smith, who thoroughly investigated the subject, found
that the nerves which specially restrain secretion are the
inferior ganglia of the solar plexus, with the superior
mesenteric offshoot from them. The blood-supply of the
intestine is mainly regulated by the splanchnics, but also in
part by the lumbar portion of the cord.
Purgatives vary in the degree and method of their action.
Some, like castor oil, act tolerably uniformly on the whole tract;
podophyllum operates mainly on the duodenum; jalap and
salines chiefly on the small intestine; the several species of
rhamnus or buckthorn and aloes mostly on the large bowel.
Purgatives are frequently classified as follows :—
Laxatives or aperients, such as small doses of oil, mag-
nesia, sulphur and treacle, with fruits, roots, and green
vegetable food.
Simple purgatives, such as full doses of oils, aloes, various
species of rhamnus, produce more copious, softened, or fluid
evacuations, and act mainly by increasing the intestinal
secretions.
Drastic purgatives, such as croton oil, colocynth, ela-
terium, gamboge, and podophyllum, greatly increase both
peristalsis and secretion ; violently stimulate intestinal con-
tractions, causing more or less pain; promptly produce
copious, fluid discharges; and in large doses may cause
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102 CLASSIFICATION OF CATHARTICS
serious intestinal irritation and inflammation. Eserine and
barium chloride exert similar effects.
Hydragogues, such as elaterium, gamboge, croton oil, and
other drastic cathartics, with large doses of the more active
salines, excite copious intestinal secretions.
Cholagogue purgatives, such as mercurial preparations,
aloes, podophyllum, and euonymin, remove bile, and will
receive special notice later.
Saline purgatives consist of neutral salts of the alkalies
and alkaline earths, such as magnesium sulphate and citrate,
sodium sulphate, potassium tartrate, and bitartrate.
The salines have been specially investigated by Professor
Matthew Hay, Aberdeen University. His admirable observa-
tions show that, without causing much increased peristalsis,
they notably increase the alimentary secretions, and impede
absorption. They do so chiefly in virtue of their specific
irritant and bitter properties. They act especially on the
small intestines, but only slightly increase the secretion of
bile or pancreatic fluid. When the accumulated fluid
mechanically distends and stimulates the intestine, some
extra peristalsis is excited. Saline solutions weaker than 10
per cent. provoke little or no secretion in the stomach, and
not much in the bowels. A 20 per cent. solution given to
dogs or men rapidly increases secretion, which reaches its
maximum in one to one anda half hours. But the larger
the amount of fluid given with the saline, the more prompt
will be the purgation. Magnesium and sodium sulphates
are in part decomposed, their acid being more rapidly
absorbed than their base. No increase of secretion is pro-
duced, as was formerly taught, by the acid or salt, when,
after absorption, it 1s excreted into the intestine; and
neither of these salines excites intestinal secretion when
injected into the blood, or subcutaneously. More inorganic
than organic matters are removed by salines from the
blood. The amount of fluid secreted has been measured by
Dr. Lauder Brunton, who experimented on cats with con-
centrated solutions of Epsom salt tied into a loop of intes-
tine. In four hours he found that from 42 to 56 minims of
serous fluid were outpoured for every inch of surface acted
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PRECAUTIONS IN THE USE OF CATHARTICS 103
on. In cattle or horses upwards of 12 square feet of
intestine must often be directly stimulated by even a
moderate dose of physic. A secretion of 50 minims to the
inch would give a discharge of nine pints of fluid. Such
considerations illustrate the depurative and febrifuge effects
of an active cathartic.
The intestines of the horse are voluminous, presenting
about 550 square feet of vascular mucous membrane.
Purgatives and other irritants hence require to be used with
much caution. For a day previous to the exhibition of a
purgative, the animal, if possible, should be restricted to
mash diet or green food. The dose should be moderate, and
its effect may be accelerated and increased by administering
it while the animal is fasting, by occasional gentle exercise,
until it begins to operate, and by the repeated use of
clysters. This last auxiliary, when properly employed with
sufficient perseverance, is indeed so effectual in promoting
the action of the bowels that one of the most successful of
army veterinarians was wont to trust almost entirely to its
use, seldom giving, except in extraordinary cases, any purga-
tive medicine whatever. In serious, obstinate impaction of
the large intestines, a flexible tube, six feet long, should be
screwed on to a Read’s pump, and copious enemata introduced
into the colon.
For horses, aloes is the best cathartic. Linseed and castor
oils are tolerably good, but less certain; while croton is
much too drastic, unless in small amount, and largely mixed
with some bland oil. Salines in cathartic doses are irregular,
and sometimes act with unexpected violence. Senna, colo-
eynth, buckthorn, and other drugs used as purgatives for
men and dogs have little effect on horses.
With a warm mash the previous night, and subsequent
abstinence from solid food, a moderate dose of aloes given in
the morning, assisted by further mashes and occasional
draughts of tepid water, purges most horses in ten or twelve
hours. Without this desirable preliminary preparation,
purgation seldom occurs within eighteen or twenty hours.
In acute febrile cases absorption is usually tardy, and the
action of the purgative is hastened by combination with a
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104 CATHARTICS FOR CATTLE, SHEEP, AND DOGS
small dose of calomel, nux vomica, or tartar emetic. A
horse should never have purgative medicine when his
strength is reduced as in the advanced stages of inflamma-
tory disease of the air-passages, in influenza and other
debilitating epizootics, and seldom when the bowels are con-
gested or inflamed. I have known horses affected by bron-
chitis die from superpurgation, induced by three and four
drachms of aloes; and similar susceptibility to the action of
moderate doses is also observable in influenza, purpura
heemorrhagica, and laminitis.
In cattle and sheep the magnitude of the quadrisected
stomach, the large amount of food which it always contains,
the relatively small size of the true digestive compartment,
and, compared. with the horse, the greater length but smaller
capacity of the intestines, explain the tardy, uncertain
action of purgatives and some other drugs. For these
ruminants saline cathartics are preferable, and their action is
materially hastened by encouraging the drinking of water,
rendered palatable by sweetening it with treacle. In
obstinate constipation, or torpidity of the bowels, gamboge,
croton, and calomel are often useful. Purgation may usually
be produced in cattle in twelve to sixteen hours; but cases
frequently occur where, in spite of treatment, the bowels
remain unmoved for several days. The best purgatives for
sheep are common and Epsom salts and castor oil, in doses
of about one-fourth of those given to cattle. Calomel and
croton are apt to act too violently. As sheep drink sparingly,
their medicine should be given with a liberal quantity of
fluid.
The dog, on account of his small stomach and short
alimentary tube, and the concentrated nature of his food, is
peculiarly susceptible to the action of purgatives. Jalap,
with a little calomel, or a mixture of equal parts of linseed
and castor oils, is most generally approved of, and usually
operates in from five to eight hours. Aloes acts more slowly
and uncertainly, while saline medicines are apt to cause
vomiting, or, if retained, to purge with undue violence.
Pigs are acted on by cathartics much in the same way as
men and dogs, and are best physicked by administering,
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USES OF CATHARTICS 105
from a shallow spoon or bottle, three or four ounces of
Epsom salt dissolved in water, or a like amount of linseed
or castor oil.
The uses of purgatives are numerous. Few medicines are
applied to so many important purposes.
(1.) They empty the alimentary canal of undigested
food, feces, bile, some poisons, and worms. Sweeping away
partially digested food, they diminish the amount of blood-
making materials, and thus diminish plethora and obesity.
In horses fully two-thirds of the fluid ingesta, under
ordinary circumstances, is removed by the bowels, and this
large amount is greatly increased when physic is given.
They remove noxious gases and fluids, micro-organisms,
ptomaines, and other intestinal toxic matters which are the
causes of dyspepsia, colic, and diarrhea; and which, more-
over, secondarily or reflexly produce nervous depression, skin
irritation, and local hyperesthesia.
Constipation is usually dependent in great part on
deficient peristalsis, and hence, when of frequent occur-
rence, is often advantageously combated by conjoining a little
nux vomica with the cathartic. When the general vigour
of the patient is defective, the aperient may be conjoined
with iron or arsenic; and where there is venous stasis with
belladonna. Horses restricted to dry food are frequently
affected with constipation, and in such cases the diet should
be varied with an occasional mash, a little linseed cake or
green food, while water ad libitwm should be allowed at least
four times daily. The bulky and comparatively indigestible
nature of the horse’s food induces copious alvine evacua-
tions, which are passed usually at intervals of four or five
hours. Impaired intestinal action, or obstruction, hindering
or arresting these frequent evacuations, causes more serious
and rapidly fatal results in horses than in dogs, or ruminants,
in which the bowels naturally act less frequently. Torpidity
or obstruction which has resisted ordinary treatment is now
usually relieved—even in horses—by the hypodermic injec-
tion of a grain of eserine and one or two grains of pilo-
carpine; or by intravenous injection of a solution of
barium chloride. Constipation, troublesome in dogs kept
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106 PURGATIVES RELIEVE PYREXIA
in the house, or on the chain, is best treated with a dose of
oil, and prevented by attention to diet.
Diarrheea, at its outset, is usually most effectually treated
by a dose of oil, containing a little laudanum or hyoscyamus
—a combination which removes the cause of irritation, and
prevents irregular peristalsis and griping. When diarrhea
depends, as it sometimes does, on diminished absorption of
fluid from the bowels, a little ether proves serviceable.
(2.) Purgatives, notably salines or hydragogues, increase
the secretion of intestinal fluid, and hinder its absorption,
and thus purge the blood of waste products, relieving febrile
attacks, and lowering blood-pressure.
The blood, thus left in a state of concentration, speedily
recuperates itself, absorbs water and lymph from the tissues,
thus relieving edema, dropsy, and lymphangitis. ‘To secure
this special action, such salines as Epsom salt and alkaline
tartrates are specially useful, and their efticacy is increased
when they are prescribed in tolerably concentrated form,
and given when there is comparatively little fluid in the
alimentary canal. When catharsis caused by a saline has
almost ceased, another concentration of the blood occurs,
which has also an influence in reducing dropsical swellings.
(3.) Purgatives lower fever temperature, but how this
effect is produced is not definitely known. They diminish
the force of the circulation, and may in this way lessen the
production of heat, and, moreover, hasten removal from the
body of waste or other deleterious matters, which are a
frequent cause of fever. In animals in health purgatives do
not, however, produce any appreciable lowering of tempera-
ture. (See Antipyretics.)*
CarMminaTives are agents which assist the expulsion of
gases from the stomach and intestines. When digestion is
in any way interfered with, the contents of the stomach are
liable to undergo excessive or irregular fermentation, giving
rise to large quantities of carbonic acid and hydrogen, which
unite with sulphur, sometimes derived from the food, some-
times from the bile, and produce the noisome sulphuretted
hydrogen. Formation of these gases is favoured by accumu-
lation of mucus on the walls of the stomach, and by venous
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CARMINATIVES 107
congestion of the organ, both of which conditions interfere
with the natural absorption of oxygen and excretion of
carbonic acid. These gases cause uncomfortable distension,
and often provoke spasm and pain. (See Antispasmodics.)
Carminatives are closely allied to Antispasmnodics, and
include the aromatic oils of the umbellifere, labiate, and
other orders, with ginger, mustard, and peppers, alcohol,
ethers, and chloroform. Carbonic acid gas is neutralised by
ammonia preparations, sulphuretted and carburetted hydro-
gen, and by solution of chlorine or chlorinated lime.
They are used to expel flatus, relieve spasm, and pain,
whether resulting from direct intestinal irritants, or, second-
arily, from chill or other causes. Their effects mainly
depend upon their controlling irregular peristalsis. They
stimulate contraction of the distended stomach, and thus
promote escape of gas by either the cardiac or pyloric open-
ing. Regulating, in like manner, intestinal peristalsis, they
displace and expel gases from other parts of the canal. They
are usefully conjoined with purgatives. In cattle, owing to
the large amount of food in the first stomach, it is some-
times difficult to remove accumulations of gas, by either
carminatives or antispasmodics, the use of a gag fixed in the
mouth, or even by the probang. Where these means fail,
and distension is so great as to interfere with breathing or
circulation, it is necessary to remove the gas by opening
the rumen, with either a trochar and canula, or a tolerably
large knife. In serious distension, threatening rupture
of the large intestines, in horses, the gas is liberated by
puncture of the cecum or colon with a special trochar and
canula.
InrestivaL AstRiNcENTs diminish excessive or unduly fluid
intestinal evacuations. They are specially used to antagonise
various forms of diarrhea. Some, like opium and chloral,
lessen the excessive peristalsis on which diarrhea generally
in great part depends. Some, like antacids, neutralise acids
which provoke both peristalsis and increased secretion.
Some, like creasote, check fermentation and putrefaction,
and thus arrest formation of irritants. Others, like catechu
and tannin-containing substances, coagulate albumin, and
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108 INTESTINAL ASTRINGENTS
consequently dry up both discharge of mucus and of blood.
Others, like copper and iron sulphates, usually conjoin anti-
septic and astringent actions. Coto-bark and its alkaloids,
although devoid of astringency, exert antiseptic effects, and
besides, by increasing absorption, remove superfluous fluid
from the intestines. Mineral acids and metallic salts are
specially indicated when the mucous membranes are relaxed
and flabby.
Drs. Lauder Brunton and Pye Smith experimented with
various agents, with the view of discovering any which would
arrest the copious discharges of cholera. The conclusion
arrived at was that most cases of diarrhoea, whether continuous
or alternated with constipation, were best checked by castor
oil, administered with a few drops of opium tincture. Where
the diarrheea still persists, opium in moderate doses is given.
Where active peristalsis occurs after eating, drinking, or the
excitement of quick work, as in some nervous horses and
dogs, liquor arsenicalis is prescribed. Undue relaxation of
the bowels, occurring in irritable horses during active work,
is mitigated by careful attention to diet, by using the best
food in digestible form, allowing water in small quantity at
a time but frequently, and withholding water for several
hours previous to putting the animal to quick work.
Intestinal antiseptics or disinfectants are sometimes pre-
scribed in the treatment of disorders of the bowels, and of
diseases which are believed to depend on the presence of
pathogenic bacteria or their toxines in the intestine. Naph-
thol, salol, iodol, dermatol, lysol, creolin, carbolic acid, sali-
cylates, iodine, iodides, tannoform, thymol, tannalbin, tannic
acid, terebene and boric acid are the disinfectants generally
employed. Experiments show that repeated small doses of
beta-naphthol, salol, or creolin, rapidly diminish the number
of micro-organisms expelled with the feeces ; and the admini-
stration of these or other intestinal antiseptics in hemoglo-
binuria, parturient apoplexy, South African horse sickness,
some cases of tetanus, and in distemper and other infectious
diseases, deserves further trial. To ensure full effects within
the bowel, the agent selected should be given encased in kera-
tin, which is unattected by the gastric secretion. A course of
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FUNCTIONS OF THE LIVER 109
intestinal antiseptics may be preceded by a dose of purgative
medicine, ’
ACTION OF MEDICINES ON THE LIVER
HEPATIC STIMULANTS—HEPATIC DEPRESSANTS—CHOLAGOGUES
The liver is the largest gland in the body. It not only
secretes and excretes bile, but part of the bile, mingled with
the food materials, is again taken up from the intestine and
again excreted, and this circulation through the liver and
back to the intestine is accomplished within five minutes.
The liver, moreover, forms glycogen, and is concerned with
the general metabolism of the body, the breaking up of the
blood globules, and the formation of urea. Medicines taken
up by the vessels of the small intestine enter the liver, where
they may be retained, destroyed, or neutralised. Some are
eliminated in the bile. Arsenic, copper, and mercury are
retained, and morpine, atropine, strychnine, veratrine,
antipyrine, cocaine, and other alkaloids, are detained and
modified. It further acts upon peptones, and probably upon
ptomaines and waste products (which, accumulating in the
blood and tissues, prove injurious, and indeed poisonous),
and forms them into sugar, glycogen, and simpler forms,
which are stored, as it were, “in a coal-bunker,’ as Dr.
Lauder Brunton aptly puts it, for the production of heat and
muscular energy. This important power of the liver to
destroy poisons, elaborated in the vital processes or intro-
duced from without, is illustrated in Lautenbach’s experi-
ments. One-twentieth of a drop of nicotine does not killa
frog, but half that dose suffices when the liver has been
removed. When the glycogenic function of the liver is
impaired, retained or transformed toxic substances exert
unexpected activity. In this way liver toxines formed in ill
health affect nervous and other tissues, and produce tem-
porary sickness, fatigue, and lassitude.
The bile has various functions. It promotes absorption
and assimilation of fats. Containing a diastatic ferment, it
transforms starch and glycogen into sugar. It moistens the
intestinal walls, and excites contraction of their muscular
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110 HEPATIC STIMULANTS AND DEPRESSANTS
coat, thus acting as a natural laxative. The action of various
medicines upon the liver has been ascertained chiefly by
Rohrig, Rutherford, and Vignel, who curarised fasting dogs,
ligatured the common bile duct, and inserted a canula
through which the bile secreted was discharged and collected.
Numerous drugs were experimented with, usually by injec-
tion into the duodenum. As food increases the secretion of
bile, the experiments were made on fasting animals. These
experiments demonstrate that medicines acting upon the
liver are divisible into three classes :—
(1.) Hepatic Stimutants or Direct Cxotacoaues increase
the functional activity of the organ and the formation
of bile, and are represented by dilute nitro-hydrochloric
acid, sodium phosphate, sodium sulphate, salicylate, and
benzoate, corrosive sublimate, turpentine, podophyllum,
euonymin, aloes, rhubarb, jalap, colocynth, colchicum, and
ipecacuanha. Some of these drugs augment the quantity
of bile without altering its quality; others, like sodium
salicylate, increase the quantity and fluidity; others, such
as toluylendiamine, increase the solid parts, rendering
it so viscid that it cannot readily pass through the bile
ducts, and hence becomes reabsorbed, and may produce
jaundice. Podophyllum is a powerful hepatic stimulant, in
small doses, but loses this effect when given in large doses,
in which it causes purgation; and similar results occur when
other hepatic stimulants are given in such doses as actively
to move the bowels. Many aromatic bitters slightly increase
bile secretion. Healthy dogs with biliary fistule, liberally
fed with fats and oils, were found to secrete more bile than
when freely fed on albuminoids or carbo-hydrates.
(2.) Hepatic Depressants or AnTIcHoLAcocues diminish the
quantity of bile secreted by the liver. Professor Rutherford
found that calomel, castor oil, gamboge, and magnesium
sulphate lessened the secretion probably by lowering blood-
pressure in the liver; while these and other purgatives
besides diminish secretion by sweeping out of the intestine
bile which might otherwise be reabsorbed, and partially
digested food which might furnish fresh bile. In this way
cholagogues are also hepatic depressants.
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CHOLAGOGUES 111
(3.) Inpirecr CHoLacocues remove bile from the body
mainly by increasing intestinal action. Superfluous bile
cannot be got rid of by a hepatic stimulant alone, which
increases the secretion, nor even by a hepatic depressant,
which diminishes secretion, for, as already indicated, excess
of bile is apt to lodge in the small intestine, and become re-
absorbed. Effectually to get rid of it, the bowels must be
freely moved, preferably by a purge, which will produce
sufficient fluid to wash out the small intestine. The drugs
which effect this are calomel and other purgative mercurial
salts, given with a cathartic, such as aloes, jalap, podophyllum,
or sulphates of magnesium and sodium. Their effects are
increased by active exertion. In dogs and other animals that
vomit, emetics effectually remove bile by compressing the
liver between the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles,
diluting the bile with abundant mucus, and promptly dis-
charging it by the mouth as well as by the rectum.
Owing to the low blood-pressure in the portal vein, and
also the low pressure at which bile is secreted, there is little
vis a tergo to overcome obstruction in the gall ducts, and
hence the bile flow is rather liable to stagnation, with conse-
quent increased reabsorption. This is apt to occur in human
patients living largely on albuminoid food, and not taking
sufficient brisk exercise. It also occurs in cattle forced for
exhibition, and in all animals as a concomitant of intestinal
catarrh. It is frequent among horses suffering from in-
fluenza, and the circulation of bile accounts not only for the
yellow membranes, but also, in great part, for the dulness
and languor characterising such complaints. The removal
of this superfluous bile, with the waste products it has helped
to neutralise, in these cases is suitably effected by half a
dose of physic, or by some calomel or grey powder, followed
by or conjoined with salines. Nitro-muriatic acid and iron
salts, which experience shows to be subsequently serviceable,
owe their good effects, at least in part, to their action on the
liver. In jaundice, the late Professor Robertson prescribed a
purgative, followed by salines, and subsequently administered
twice daily a bolus of inspissated ox bile, alternately with
aromatic spirit of ammonia.
The pancreas phas;zbeepy teymed,@m abdominal salivary
112 AGENTS WHICH KILL OR EXPEL WORMS
gland, but its secretion not only converts starch into sugar,
but also digests proteids, and breaks up and emulsifies fat.
Not much is accurately known regarding the action of drugs
upon the pancreas. Its secretion is increased when ether is
introduced into the stomach, and diminished in dogs by
atropine and vomiting. Calomel and salicylic acid check
decomposition of pancreatic juice.
Few investigations have yet been made regarding the
action of drugs on the spleen.
MEDICINES WHICH KILL OR EXPEL WORMS
ANTHELMINTICS—VERMICIDES—VERMIFUGES
ANTHELMINTICs are agents which kill or expel intestinal
worms. They include vermicides, which kill the parasites,
and vermifuges, such as purgatives, which, without neces-
sarily killing, detach them from the walls of the canal, and
wash them away with the mucus in which they are usually
imbedded.
The parasites most frequently infesting the alimentary
canal are—bots, the larvee of the cestrus bovis, found in the
stomach of the horse; various tape-worms and round worms,
occurring in the intestines and stomach of most animals;
and fluke-worms, which invade the liver, gall-ducts, and in-
testines of sheep, and occasionally of cattle and deer.
The appropriate vermicides are—
1. For bots, green food, a combination of aloes, asafcetida,
turpentine, and ether; iodine tincture, or carbon bisulphide.
2. For tape-worms, areca nut, male fern, kamala, kousso,
pomegranate root bark, turpentine, and chloroform.
3. For ascarides, popularly known as round worms, the
remedies used are teenicides, with santonin, bitters, arsenic,
strontium salts, lysol, and creolin.
4, For strongyli or thread-worms, turpentine and essential
oils, thymol, tannin, and tannin-containing substances, lysol,
carbolic acid, naphthol, turpentine oil, with enemata of
common salt, ferric-chloride, or lime water.
5. For fluke-worms infesting the liver and gall-ducts of
sheep, and occasionally of cattle and other animals, the
treatment consists in maintaining the patient’s strength by
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BOTS AND TAPE-WORMS 113
good feeding ; furnishing common salt and soluble iron salts,
which exert general tonic effects and limited vermicidal
action, and giving a dose of physic, which hastens the re-
moval of flukes which have migrated into the intestines.
Prevention is ensured by keeping the flock on sound pastures,
free from the developmental forms of the parasite.
Bots in horses complete their larval stage in spring, and
their discharge is then readily promoted by the laxative
fresh grass. During autumn or winter they are dislodged
with difficulty, and unless numerous, and causing much
irritation, their removal is seldom attempted; but animals
seriously infested with them require liberal feeding A
considerable number of the larvee may be dislodged by
giving, after twelve hours’ fast, two drachms each of aloes
and asafcetida, dissolved in hot water, to which is added,
when cold, half an ounce each of oil of turpentine and ether.
The mixture is administered in gruel or linseed tea, and
repeated on several consecutive days. Carbon bisulphide,
in half-ounce doses, given for several days before feeding,
and followed by a purgative, causes discharge of the dead
bots; and iodine tincture one ounce diluted with two ounces
each of glycerin and water kills bots lodged in the stomach.
Tape-worms of the three species infesting horses are
usually expelled by aloes, turpentine, and oil. Drs. Fried-
berger and Fréhner place first on their list of tenicides
three to five drachms of male fern extract. Professor John
Gamgee (Veterinarian’s Vade Mecwm) recommends two
drachms of asafcetida, a drachm each of powdered savin and
calomel, with thirty drops of male fern, made up with
treacle and linseed meal, given at night, and followed by a
purge next morning. Mr. Robert Littler, both for tape and
and other worms, gives for three or four consecutive morn-
ings a ball containing two drachmns of copper sulphate, and
follows this with a purgative dose of aloes. Whatever
remedies are used, it is essential that the bowels be emptied
as thoroughly as possible by twelve to fifteen hours’ fasting,
or by a gentle aperient, in order that. the vermicide shall be
brought into contact with the head of the worm.
Dogs in some localities, in the proportion of fifty to every
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114 VERMICIDES
hundred, are infested with tape-worms. The most effectual
remedy is powdered areca nut; 15 to 20 grains, in half an
ounce of linseed oil, is the dose for an animal 25 to 40 lbs.
weight. Amongst other remedies are male fern extract,
now reputed the most certain remedy for tape-worm in man ;
pomegranate root bark, the flowers of the Abyssinian kousso,
followed by a purge; the American remedy, emulsion of the
pumpkin seed; tenaline, a registered preparation of areca
nut; and kamala, obtained from a Euphorbiaceous plant, is
effectually used in India. A drachm of turpentine in two
ounces of castor or linseed oil is frequently used.
Sheep, and especially lambs, are victimised by the Tenia
expansa, which grows very rapidly, and sometimes does
wide-spread mischief. Areca nut, or extract of male fern,
in the dose suitable for large dogs, is most effectual. Poultry
harbour various species, for which areca nut followed by a
laxative is the best remedy.
Ascarides are more readily removed than tape-worms.
British practitioners usually treat the Ascaris nvegalocephala
(which chiefly occurs in the small intestine of horses) with
drenches containing one to two drachms of aloes, and half a
drachm each of chloroform and turpentine, given fasting on
two consecutive mornings, and repeating the treatment a
week later. German authorities recommend three or four
doses of one drachm of tartar emetic, conjoined with bitters,
at intervals of three hours, or a drench of arsenic, aloes, or
absinthe, thrice daily, either prescription being followed by
an aloetic purge.
The Oxyuris curvula, met with in the colon and rectum
of the horse, is removed by similar prescriptions, and when
confined to the rectum is still more readily dislodged by
enemata of quassia decoction or other bitters, creolin solu-
tion, lime water, or solution of common salt.
The Ascaris marginata, the most common lumbricoid of
dogs, is killed by three to five grains of santonin, the active
crystalline principle of artemisia or wormwood. Turpen-
tine and oil, gentian and other bitters, aconite and various
other medicines also remove round worms. The effect of
vermicides, as already indicated, is greatly increased by first
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ASCARIDES AND STRONGYLI 115
emptying the intestines by fasting, or by a purgative, in
order that the drug may act more directly on the parasite.
Occasional doses of salines and mineral tonics remove super-
fluous mucus, which shelters the worms. The spread of
parasitism is prevented by isolating infested animals, de-
stroying their excreta, and by keeping healthy animals in
uncontaminated quarters, and supplied with pure water and
sound food.
The Strongyli include many species, two of which infest
the horse, and, imbedding themselves in the mucous mem-
brane usually of the large intestine, are difficult to expel.
The S. contortus invades the fourth stomach of sheep and
goats, and not infrequently concurs with the S. filaria,
infesting the bronchi. Other species attack dogs, cats, pigs,
and poultry ; while the S. pergracilis is the cause of disease in
grouse. Empyreumatic coal-tar oils, lysol, creolin, thymol,
and chloroform are the remedies used.
Some cases of parasitism, unfortunately, are beyond the
reach of anthelmintics. Trichine get immured in the
muscles ; the palisade worms develop aneurisms ; Strongylus
tetracanthus, which causes fatal enteritis in many horses,
becomes encysted in the mucous coat of the cecum, colon
and rectum, and is thus protected from the action of
medicinal agents. Several species of Uncinaria burrowing
in the mucous coat of the bowels of dogs and cats produce
a pernicious anemia (Friedberger). The treatment of such
cases is limited to a dose of aloes, with antiseptics, nutritive
food, and tonics, to sustain failing strength.
MEDICINES ACTING ON THE SKIN
DIAPHORETICS—SU DORIFICS—ANHYDROTICS
The skin, in the domesticated animals, besides being pro-
tective and tactile, secretes sweat and sebaceous matter,
exerts a modified respiratory function, and, on account of
its constant and large secretion of fluid, is an important
factor in regulating animal temperature. Sanctorius’s ex-
periments show that of eight parts of food taken into the
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116 FUNCTIONS OF THE SKIN
healthy body, about three parts leave it in the feces and
urine, three by the lungs, and two by the skin.
So important are the cutaneous functions that when they
are impaired by covering one half the body of horses, dogs, or
pigs with a gelatin varnish, the temperature falls, and there
is much weakness. When these animals are wholly en-
veloped in varnish, or when one-eighth of the body of a
rabbit is similarly coated, the temperature rapidly falls, blood
is imperfectly arterialised, and the animal gradually dies
from loss of heat. The poisonous action of retained per-
spiration is illustrated by Rohrig’s experiment of the injection .
of 34 centimétres of freshly-filtered human sweat into the
external jugular of a rabbit, which was nearly killed, the
temperature promptly rising from 99:2 to 1043, the pulse
mounting from 192 to 315, the respirations from 85 to 105.
The sweat Glands, placed in the subcutaneous adipose
tissue, number 2000 to 3000 on every square inch of the
surface of men and horses. Their activity is regulated by
the special centres which are situated in the spinal cord.
The amount of natural perspiration depends mainly upon
the dryness and temperature of the air. Sweating in
men and horses begins, even while they are at rest, at
a little over 80° Fahr. It is chiefly determined—(1) by
increased circulation of blood through the cutaneous
vessels; and (2) by increased activity of the sweat glands.
The taking of food, the drinking of warm water or other
bland fluids, the administration of strong tea and coffee,
and active exercise, by raising arterial pressure increase
blood circulation through the cutaneous vessels, and pro-
mote perspiration, The sweat glands are stimulated by
various aromatic and volatile substances which are excreted
by them. The sweat centres are stimulated by ammonia
salts, ipecacuanha, opium, camphor, nicotine, and antimony
salts, by mental emotions and nausea, by a venous condition
and high temperature of the blood, and reflexly by warmth
to the surface, warm drinks, alcohol, and pilocarpine.
Diaphoretics and sudorifics are agents which increase
the skin secretions. They include (1) agents which stimu-
late the sudoriparous glands, or nerves connected with them,
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DIAPHORETICS 117
comprising jaborandi, physostigmine, and warmth to the
surface ; (2) agents which increase superficial blood supply,
including such vascular stimulants as alcohol, ethers, and
ammonia acetate solution, vaso-dilators such as amyl-nitrite,
sweet spirit of nitre, and such nauseants as ipecacuanha
and tartar emetic. Diaphoretics are less prompt and certain
in veterinary than in human patients. Horses are made
to sweat more readily than cattle, while the skin of horses
and cattle is more easily acted upon than that of sheep,
dogs, cats, or pigs. In all animals the readiest way of pro-
moting copious cutaneous secretion is by heavy clothing,
warm diluents, and keeping the animal in a dry atmosphere
of about 70°, and administering small and repeated doses of
ammonia acetate solution, or sweet spirit of nitre. General
stimulants in small doses raise arterial pressure, and hence
usually increase skin secretion. When, however, blood-
pressure is high, as in the early stages of acute inflammation,
‘sedatives, such as aconite, or blood-letting, by reducing the
action of the heart and blood-pressure, notably increase
cutaneous secretion. Friction or grooming with suitable
brushes beneficially excites the action of the skin in all
animals. Warm and vapour baths, at temperatures varying
from 100° to 120° Fahr., are useful diaphoretics.
Hydrotherapy affords a ready means of producing dia-
phoresis in the lower animals, as well as in man. The
patient may be enveloped in a sheet saturated with either
cold or tepid water. Over this are placed three or four
large horse-cloths. The legs should be subjected to similar
treatment, or rolled in warm bandages. After the patient
has been thus clothed for half an hour or an hour, he will
steam and perspire very freely. The sheet and rugs should
then be removed, and the animal dried by hand-rubbing,
and comfortably clothed. This practice has been success-
fully adopted both with horses and cattle. The evil effects
of chills are thus counteracted, colds are cut short, and
rheumatism, especially in gross subjects, removed. Hydro-
therapy should not, however, be adopted unless with due
consideration, and under competent supervision. Pro-
tracted or violent diaphoresis, howsoever produced, proves
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118 DIURETICS
debilitating. It removes from the body an undue proportion
of its solids, and especially of its saline matters.
Diaphoretics are used for the following purposes :—
(1.) They restore checked cutaneous secretion, and hence
equalise irregularities of circulation, counteract congestion of
internal organs, and lower abnormal temperature. They are
hence often serviceable in cutting short chills, colds, and
simple febrile attacks, especially amongst horses.
(2.) They remove injurious waste products, and other
morbid matters, which are apt to accumulate, particularly
in febrile, inflammatory, and rheumatic disorders. These
depurative services are especially valuable when the
eliminating functions of the kidneys, bowels, or pulmonary
membrane are impaired. In such cases the skin may be
made to undertake a vicarious duty, and excrete waste
matters usually removed by other channels.
Awxyprotics are drugs which lessen cutaneous secretion.
Their effects appear to be induced (1) by diminishing the
activity of the sweat glands; (2) by lessening excitability of
the sweat centres; or (3) by acting on the circulation, usually
by stimulating the respiratory centre, and thus overcoming
that venous condition of the blood which in weakness and
disease is a frequent cause of sweating. It is in this manner
that belladonna and atropine, jaborandi, ipecacuanha, nux
vomica, and salts of zine check sweating; but belladonna
and its alkaloid, moreover, are effective by their paralysing
the terminals of the secreting nerves of the skin.
MEDICINES ACTING ON THE URINARY ORGANS
ON THE KIDNEYS: DIURETICS
Diuretics are agents which act on the kidneys and in-
crease secretion of urine.
The amount of urine is liable to much variation, depending
mainly on the nature of the food, the quantity of water
drunk, and the proportion of fluid removed by the bowels
and skin. Horses during the twenty-four hours pass from
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CONDITIONS MODIFYING SECRETION OF URINE 119
two quarts to two gallons, or on an average about ten
pints. Secretion is augmented during digestion, especially
when the diet is rich in proteids, by such food as heated
oats or musty hay, and by vetches, particularly when animals
are unused to them. More urine is passed during rest than
when the horse at active work is losing fluid freely by the
skin and lungs. Veterinary-Major Smith, from a series of
examinations of the urine of horses, finds the specific gravity
averages 1036, and that 3% ounces of urea are excreted in
the twenty-four hours. Cattle pass 10 to 40 pints of urine
per diem, the specific gravity ranging from 1007 to 1080.
Sheep pass 10 to 30 ounces of alkaline urine having a specific
gravity of 1006 to 1015. Pigs excrete 3 to 14 pints of urine,
which may be acid or alkaline. The quantity of urine, 15 to
35 ounces, excreted by the dog depends upon the diet and
the size of the animal. The specific gravity ranges from
1016 to 1060.
The urinary secretion is increased by a variety of con-
ditions, notably by raising the pressure of blood in the
Malpighian tufts, by cardiac stimulation, as also by con-
traction of the blood-vessels of other vascular areas, as
when cold diminishes cutaneous activity. Irritation of the
medulla in the floor of the fourth ventricle experimentally
produced by mechanical injury, or naturally produced by
circulation of venous blood, greatly increases secretion, owing,
it is believed, to stimulation of the special vaso-motor centre
which controls the renal arteries. Similar subsidiary centres
are also found in the spinal cord, and in connection with the
solar and mesenteric plexuses.
The proportion of the several urinary constituents is
altered by different conditions. Urea, uric acid, and
hippuric acid are increased by nitrogenous food, by
common salt, phosphoric acid, leucin, and glycocol, and
are also augmented during the early stages of most acute
diseases. They are diminished by alcohol, turpentine,
arsenic, and large draughts of water. Horses at rest pass
a maximum of uric acid and a minimum of the less per-
fectly oxidised hippuric acid, but these proportions are
reversed during and immediately after exertion, when dis-
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120 CLASSIFICATION OF DIURETICS
integration of albuminoid tissues freely uses up oxygen and
increases production of carbonic acid.
Albumin is not a normal constituent of urine, but occurs
in convalescence from febrile disorders, temporarily in
horses receiving excess of albuminoids, and also in hemo-
globinuria in horses, and red water in cattle. It appears
where contraction of the renal arteries has been induced by
digitalis or strychnine; and is likewise produced by full
doses of cantharides, which also causes hematuria. Such
exudation of albumin, more apt to appear suddenly and
temporarily in horses than in man, is lessened by administra-
tion of tannin, and by arbutin, the active principle of uva
wrsi, and also by keeping the bowels and skin in proper
action, clothing the patient comfortably, but avoiding active
diuretics. Bile constituents are occasionally found in the
urine of the lower animals, but sugar is rarely present.
Classifying diuretics as refrigerant, hydragogue, and
stimulant, Dr. Lauder Brunton presents the subjoined tabular
view of their probable modes of action :—
Digitalis.
Increased action of the { Digitalis Erythrophleum.
heart: ) Alcohol Strophanthus.
Generally. : Squill.
Contraction of vessels in intestines . ee
and throughout the body : C rycomne .
affeine.
| Cold to surface.
Raise Contract efferent) By action on
arterial arterioles of glo-| vaso motor
pressure, meruli, so as to] centres.
raise pressure | By local action) Broom.
in glomerulus, (on vessels or Turpentine.
| The same as in
J ' preceding list.
~-
or lessen absorp- LT
Locally in J tion in tubules pace Mae | Copter:
kidney. or both : kidney itself. ? Cantharides.
(Paralyse vaso-
motor nerves,
e Nitrites,
3 ae orinvoluntary ,
ek affer i ev iseulay fibre \ Alcohol.
or stimulate | “T°
vaso - dilating
nerves.
Increase water ex- Urea.
ereied: Caffeine.
Act on the secretory nerves : Calomel.
or secretory cells of the,
kidney itself. Increase solids ex. | Liquor Potasse.
erated « Potassium Acetate, etc.
. Other Saline Diuretics.
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THE USES OF DIURETICS 121
The selection of a diuretic must in great part depend
upon the purpose for which it is given. A diuretic ball,
commonly used for horses standing for several days in the
stable, or affected with swollen or itching legs, is made with
half an ounce each of nitre, resin, and soft soap, and may
be repeated daily for four or five days. The same ingredients
dissolved in a pint of water make a diuretic drink for the
cow. For a medium-sized dog, Stonehenge advises six
grains of nitre, a grain of digitalis, and three grains of
ginger, made into a pill with linseed meal and water.
Another useful combination for dogs consists of thirty
drops of sweet spirit of nitre and five grains of saltpetre in
a little water. Diuretic effects are best ensured by conjoin-
ing several drugs, by giving small and repeated doses, by
encouraging the animal to drink water, thin gruel, or other
bland fluids, and otherwise promoting excretion of the
medicine by the kidneys rather than by the skin or bowels.
Diuretics are used—
(1.) To increase the proportion of water in the urine,
thus preventing deposition of its solids in the kidneys or
bladder, and mechanically washing out such solids when
they have been formed. Along with medicinal diuretics,
diluents in such cases are freely supplied.
(2.) To hasten expulsion of waste products and poisonous
matters from the body, as in febrile or rheumatic disorders,
or where the kidneys are acting tardily. In these, as in
other cases, a combination of diuretics is desirable, and
digitalis, turpentine, or oil of juniper is often usefully
conjoined with nitre. In human practice caffeine is pre-
scribed.
(3.) To remove excess of fluid from the tissues or serous
cavities. When dropsy is connected with cardiac disorder,
digitalis, and other drugs which act on the vascular system,
are indicated, their efficacy being rendered more certain by
combination with some saline diuretic, such as_nitre.
Copaiba is added to the prescription when the liver is
affected. In dropsy connected with chronic kidney disease,
nitrous ether and oil of juniper are preferred ; but they should
be used with extreme caution.
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122 URINARY DEPOSITS
Calomel augments secretion of urea, and hence promotes
secretion of urine. In excessive or too frequently repeated
doses diuretics are apt unduly to stimulate the kidneys and
urinary organs, and provoke strangury, inflammation and
hematuria. In cystitis, urethral disease, or obstruction, to
prevant alkaline decomposition of the urine, antiseptics,
benzoic and salicylic acids, citrates and tartrates are
prescribed.
MEDICINES ACTING ON THEH BLADDER
LITHONTRIPTICS—URINARY SEDATIVES, TONICS, AND
ASTRINGENTS
The movements of the urinary bladder are mainly regu-
lated by a centre in the lumbar portion of the spinal cord,
but in all the higher animals there is also a presiding centre
in the brain, which may be set in action either voluntarily
or reflexly. Most drugs influencing the bladder appear,
however, to come into actual contact with it, and produce
their effects reflexly. Some horses will not urinate while in
harness; others will not while the rider is in the saddle. As
with other animals, the desire to urinate is suggested, and
the act facilitated, by seeing or hearing other animals stal-
ing, or even by the sound of flowing water. If, as is often
the case, the horse is in the habit of being whistled to when
urinating, the act will be encouraged by whistling to him.
Hard-fed and hard-worked horses are liable to suffer from
urinary deposits, which are sometimes found in the kidney,
but more commonly in the bladder, and in male animals
in the tract of the long urethra. In horses, as in other
herbivora, urinary deposits consist mainly of calcium and
magnesium salts, sometimes derived directly from drinking
water, from earthy matters mixed with fodder or grain, or
from lime salts, abundant in clovers and other fodder, which
unite with the carbonates produced by oxidation of the
vegetable acids also present in the food. These calcareous
deposits are sometimes in a finely-divided pulverulent
state; sometimes they are aggregated into masses or calculi.
Whether occurring as sediment, gravel, or stone, they cause
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PREVENTION OF URINARY DEPOSITS 123
more or less difficulty, straining, and pain in urination; the
stream is interrupted, and from irritation of the lining
membrane of the passage the urine usually contains excess
of mucus; while the portions last discharged are often
turbid. When such symptoms are caused by a calculus in
the bladder, medical treatment is unavailing. No medicine
can be safely given in sufficient amount or sufficiently con-
centrated to dissolve calcareous urinary deposits within the
body. Hence a stone which cannot be naturally discharged
can only be removed by a surgical operation. When small
it may be extracted by lithotomy; when large or of
awkward shape, it should be crushed and removed in
pieces. Calcareous sediment can usually be got rid of in
great part, or entirely, by giving liberal supplies of barley
water, linseed tea, or other diluents; or with a syringe and
flexible catheter the bladder may be filled with tepid water,
and deposits thus washed out. Successive quantities of
water may be introduced until they come away tolerably
clear.
LitHontriptics are defined as remedies which prevent
deposit of solids from the urine, or cause their resolution.
In veterinary patients, as already indicated, they cannot
resolve calculi, although they may mechanically remove
them, and may check their formation. Such preventive
treatment.in the case of horses mainly consists in furnish-
ing abundant, regular, and pure supplies of drinking water.
Waters rich in calcareous matters are theoretically more
liable to deposit such earthy constituents, especially under
conditions where their carbonic anhydride is diminished. A
weekly mash, containing any simple saline, somewhat lessens
the tendency to these urinary deposits; and it is further
important to remove conditions which interfere with regular
urination or any obstruction to the outflow. It is accord-
ingly advisable, from time to time, to wash out the horse’s
sheath with soap and tepid water, and thus get rid of
accumulating sabulous matter.
Bulls and oxen, and still more frequently rams and
wethers, when liberally supplied with albuminoid food, and
having little or no exercise, are liable to deposits, chiefly of
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124 VESICAL SEDATIVES AND TONICS
ammonio-magnesian phosphates, in the bladder and curved
or tortuous urethra. Amongst feeding sheep, fatal uremic
poisoning may thus be produced. The patients must be
turned up, and endeavour made by manipulation to displace
the deposits which block the urethra. Where these means
fail to effect a passage, the vermiform appendage may be
excised, or the canal may be opened, when a full stream
of urine will be discharged, and with it a considerable
amount of deposit. Prevention is effected by withholding
or reducing the allowance of cake and corn, supplying soft
laxative food, raising the sheep and moving them about at
least thrice daily, so as to encourage urination, and by
prescribing potassium bicarbonate.
Dogs, when freely eating animal food, suffer occasionally
from deposits of uric acid and acid urates, the tendency to
which is combated by suitable diet, diluents, and salts of
potassium and lithium, both of which form soluble salts with
uric acid, but the lithium having a lower atomic weight,
unites with a larger proportion of uric acid.
VesicaL anD Urinary SepaTives are agents which lessen
irritability of the bladder and urinary passages, and thus
remove straining and pain. Diluents, such as linseed tea or
other mucilaginous drinks, are often serviceable. Irritability
when caused by the presence of calculi is diminished by
administering calcium carbonate, and when due to acidity of
the urine alkalies are beneficial. In cystitis, rugs wrung out
of hot water and laid over the loins, and hot fomentations to
the perineum, afford much relief. Irritability of the nerve-
centres is soothed by opium, belladonna, and hyoscyamus.
Chronic inflammatory conditions are relieved by such astrin-
gents as uva ursi, buchu, and Pareira brava. Copaiba, sandal-
wood oil, and terpenes are excreted in considerable amount
by the kidneys, and exert their antiseptic and astringent
effects throughout the urino-genital tract. Relaxed and
hemorrhagic conditions may be treated by sulphuric acid
and iron sulphate, alternated by salicylic acid.
VesicaL anp Urinary Tonics are agents which increase the
contractility of the bladder. Strychnine and cantharides
strengthen the sphincter muscle and thus prevent involun-
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APHRODISIACS 125
tary escape of urine. Belladona acts upon the regulating
nerve-centres, and is believed to lessen their sensibility.
MEDICINES ACTING ON THE ORGANS OF GENERA-
TION AND THE MAMMARY GLANDS ~
APHRODISIACS—ANAPHRODISIACS—ECBOLICS, OR OXYTOCICS
The sexual function is regulated by two nerve-centres
which influence and react on each other.
(1.) The cerebral is believed to lie in the crus cerebri, is
stimulated reflexly by the special nerve of smell, sight, or
hearing. (2.) The spinal centre, situated in the lumbar
region, regulates the vascular supply of the erectile genital
tissues. Irritation of this centre causes turgid rigidity.
Erection is also produced reflexly by local stimulation of the
genital organs, as well as by irritation of the bladder, prostate,
and lower intestines.
ApHropisiacs are agents which increase sexual desire.
Deficient sexual activity usually depends upon want of
general vigour, and the rational treatment consists in
the administration of tonics—notably of iron and of strych-
nine, which latter, in addition to its general action as a
nervine tonic, has also a special effect in stimulating the
sexual centres. Cantharides exerts aphrodisiac influences
mainly by irritating the urinary mucous membrane, and
hence is an unsafe remedy. Alcohol, although stimulating
the cerebral sexual centre, appears to paralyse the lumbar
vaso-motor centres, and hence interferes with the proper
performance of the generative act.
Awapuropisiacs are agents which diminish the sexual pas-
sion. Some, as applications of ice, or cold water, act locally
on the organs themselves; others, as potassium iodide, and
bromide, purgatives, digitalis, and hemlock, act generally on
the genital nerve centres. A spare diet and steady work
exert anaphrodisiac effects. Irritation of the genital lumbar
plexus is produced reflexly by distension of the bladder with
acrid urine, by accumulation of filth around the prepuce, by
ascarides, and even by feces in the rectum. Removal of
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126 AGENTS AFFECTING SECRETION OF MILK
such causes of irritation accordingly diminishes undue
sexual excitement.
Ecszouics.—The involuntary muscular fibres of the uterus
have the power of rhythmical contraction, but are besides
controlled by higher nerve-centres in the lumbar portion of
the cord, and in the brain. Experiments have demonstrated
that stimulation of the cerebellum, crura cerebri, corpora
striata, and optic thalami produces uterine contractions.
Ecbolics cause expulsion of the contents of the uterus.
They include ergot, hydrastis, savin, and thuja; but ergot is
the only one in general use. It induces uterine contractions
even when all nervous connections have been divided, but it
also acts on the special centre. It is occasionally used in
veterinary patients—particularly in the bitch—to hasten par-
turition when no obstruction is present, but when expulsive
power is deficient. As it induces persistent contraction of
the uterus, with consequent arrest of placental circulation, it
must be used sparingly and cautiously during parturition. It
is serviceable, however, subsequently in promoting contrac-
tion and checking hemorrhage. Prompt contraction of the
flaccid uterus, with arrest of dangerous bleeding, is best
secured by subcutaneous injection of ergotin, and also by
injection of warm water.
The local irritation of metritis and leucorrhwa can be
relieved by injection of warm water, which is rendered still
more effectual by addition of Condy’s fluid, creolin, or car-
bolic acid. Suppositories of opium and belladonna may be
subsequently introduced.
AGENTS ACTING oN THE Mammary Gtanps.—A full stream
of healthy blood passing through the mammary glands is
essential to the abundant secretion of good milk. Animals
which are to milk well must accordingly be well fed. Their
diet must contain a sufficient proportion especially of albumi-
noids and fatty matters, which furnish the casein and cream
of the milk. There are no drugs of much practical value
as galactagogues, or increasers of milk. Jaborandi exerts
only a temporary effect. Many drugs, however, pass into the
milk, communicating to it their flavour and medicinal pro-
perties. Ether-oils promptly taste the milk of any animal
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TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF THE UDDER 127
to which they are given. Fixed oils and salines administered
to milking mothers, purge the sucking offspring. Acids,
diuretics, opiates, potassium iodide, arsenic, and other active
drugs given to suckling mothers frequently exhibit notable
effects on their susceptible progeny.
By careful selection of good milking breeds, and by suit-
able management, the quantity of milk yielded by first-class
dairy cows is many times that obtained from cattle in their
natural or semi-feral state, which furnish only sufficient for
the rearing of one calf. But the highly developed mammary
organs of these improved dairy animals become increasingly
susceptible to disease, and less amenable to treatment.
Acute inflammation frequently attacks the udder, causing
much constitutional disturbance, and necessitating the
administration of purgatives, febrifuges, and antiseptics. In
order to relieve its weight, the inflamed udder should be
suspended by a broad web passed over the loins, and pro-
vided with holes for the teats. The web will conveniently
support the light poultice of spent hops, which is often
advantageously applied. A teat-syphon is generally useful
to withdraw the milk or exudate, and to introduce disinfec-
ants. The inflamed parts are dressed with belladonna, which
paralyses the terminations of the nerves, and diminishes
lacteal secretion; and also relieves tension, and relaxes the
sphincters of the teats. These desirable results are some-
times obtained by the hypodermic injection of atropine.
With the view of hastening the drying of cows, belladonna
is sometimes applied topically to the udder, and is also
administered; but the desired object is more practically
attained by restricting the cow to dry food, milking her at
gradually lengthening intervals, and, where the result has to
be quickly secured, giving a dose of purgative medicine.
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128 RESTORATIVES
REMEDIES ACTING ON TISSUH CHANGE
RESTORATIVES—TONICS—HEMATINICS—ALTERATIVES—
ANTIPYRETICS—BLOOD-LETTING
The various structures of healthy animal bodies are con-
tinually undergoing reconstruction, change, and devolution.
Fresh materials or restoratives, in sufficient abundance, and
containing in suitable proportion the constituents of the
several tissues, are required. By digestion and assimilation,
the food materials are prepared for their special uses. But
these complex nutritive processes sometimes become de-
ranged. Some fault occurs in the digestive enzymes; some
want of activity or co-relation overtakes the presiding nervous
centres; some delay takes place in the prompt and effectual
removal of waste products by the bowels, kidneys, or skin.
Hence arise muscular and nervous depression, expressed by
dulness, debility, and diminished capacity for exertion. For
such weakened, relaxed, unfit conditions, the appropriate
remedies are tonics. Within the living organs and tissues
themselves, further subtle reparative processes constantly
occur, and certain drugs, termed alteratives, modify these
remoter tissue changes in a manner not fully understood.
The maintenance of a tolerably uniform temperature is
essential to the performance of normal tissue changes in
warm-blooded animals. In fever, however, the temperature
is increased, and the remedies employed for its reduction are
antipyretics, or febrifuges.
Resroratives.—The bodies of all animals, especially when
at work, undergo disintegration and waste, and their growth
and repair hence require continual recuperation. Food
must be provided in sufficient amount, of suitable quality,
and with its several constituents in fitting proportion, to
furnish appropriate nutriment for every tissue. Water,
which constitutes four-fifths of the total weight of most
animals, is being constantly removed by the lungs, skin,
kidneys, and intestines, and, unless restored at short intervals,
thirst and impaired health ensue. Not only are water and
watery fluids requisite for the normal nutrition of the tissues,
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DIETING OF SICK ANIMALS 129
and for dissolving and carrying away their waste products,
but in sick animals they besides assist the removal of the
products of disease. Even more imperative is the need of
pure air to oxygenate the blood, maintain internal respira-
tion and normal tissue change, and remove waste products.
Animals require, either in the form of food or as restora-
tive medicines, varying supplies of many constituents—
phosphorus, specially for blood, bone, brain, and nerves;
sulphur, for the skin and bile acids; fats, for cell-growth
generally; iron, for the blood globules; salines, for the
healthy restoration of the blood and most other parts.
These requirements, essential in health, are even more
important in animals affected by disease. Food then
requires to be given with especial care, and in an easily
digested form, for in all serious diseases the digestive func-
tions are impaired. In many febrile complaints, of horses
and cattle, the ordinary grains and dry fodder, being imper-
fectly digested and assimilated, are apt to produce or aggra-
vate gastric derangement. Animals suffering from febrile
and inflammatory disorders should therefore be restricted to
mashes, gruels, or cooked food, to which extra nutritive value
can be given as required by addition of milk, eggs, or meat
extracts. Food should never be allowed to lie long before a
sick animal. If not promptly eaten, it should be removed,
and in a couple of hours, or less time, replaced by a fresh
supply. During and after attacks of debilitating diseases
patients fed, as they should be, on small quantities of rapidly-
digested fare, obviously require food more frequently than
in health. With returning appetite a convalescent occa-
sionally greedily eats more than can be easily digested, and
against this contingency well-intentioned attendants require
to be warned. Relapses of colic and lymphangitis sometimes
occur by allowing horses, immediately after recovery, their
full allowance of dry corn and hay.
Unless when affected with diarrhea, dysentery, or diabetes,
animals do not injure themselves by taking too much water
or watery fiuids, but are often rendered uncomfortable by
undue restriction. A supply of water should always be
within the patient's reach. Cold water seldom does harm,
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130 HYGIENIC REMEDIES
and is more palatable and refreshing than when tepid.
Salines, chalk, and other simple medicines, sometimes given
with the water offered to sick horses, should be sparingly
added, or administered in some other way.
Much mismanagement occurs with regard to the ventila-
tion and temperature of the habitations of sick animals.
Even for horses or cattle accustomed to comfortable boxes,
a temperature of 60° to 65° Fahr. is sufficiently warm.
Avoiding draughts, cool air should be freely admitted. No
restorative or tonic is so effectual as cool, pure air, and it is
especially needful in diseases of the respiratory organs and
in zymotic cases. Sunlight is also an essential factor of
health, especially in young animals. It increases the capa-
city of the blood and tissues for oxygen, favours healthy
excretion, and is an excellent disinfectant.
A comfortable bed greatly conduces to the restoration of
most sick animals. A sick, exhausted horse, who to his dis-
advantage would continue to stand if kept in a stall, will
often at once lie down and rest if placed in a comfortable
box. In febrile and inflammatory attacks, and during
recovery from exhausting disease, alike in horses and cattle,
a warm rug or two, and bandages to the legs, help to main-
tain equable temperature and combat congestion of internal
organs; but at least twice daily these rugs and bandages
should be removed, the skin wisped over, and the clothing
at once replaced. In fever, when the skin is hot and dry,
great comfort results, a natural moist state of skin is secured,
and more active blood purification and restoration ensue,
from sponging the body several times a day with tepid
water acidulated with vinegar, quickly drying, and at once
putting on the clothing.
Attention to the position of the patient is frequently
important in the treatment of disease. The debilitated
horse allowed to lie long on his side is apt to suffer from
congested lungs. The horse with severely injured knees is
advantageously placed in slings. The cow, in the uncon-
scious stage of milk fever, if permitted to lie on her side,
speedily becomes tympanitic, and her chances of recovery
are seriously impaired. In this and other cases, in which
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MECHANICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REST 131
she has to lie even for a few hours, she must be propped up
in a natural position on her breast-bone.
Mechanical and physiological rest are great restoratives.
The pain accompanying most injuries and diseases, and
greatly aggravated by performance of the natural functions
of the part, instinctively enjoins as much rest as possible.
Mechanical rest is frequently secured by splints and bandages,
applied in all animals in cases of fractures of long bones of
the limbs, and serious muscular and tendinous strains.
Slings are also of similar service in horses suffering from
fractures, open joint, and occasionally in laminitis, An
inflamed part, when practicable, should be raised above the
level of surrounding parts. Any pressure likely to interfere
with circulation should be removed. To relieve irritation,
pressure, and tension, the inflamed udder of the cow is
suspended. In irritable and inflammatory states of the
digestive organs, the simplest and most digestible food is
given, and as little action as possible exacted from the
stomach and bowels. When the kidneys are diseased, their
work should be lightened, by promoting the action of the
skin and bowels. Emollients and demulcents, as well as
opium, belladonna, and other agents which paralyse the
endings of sensory nerves, exert their curative effects mainly
by ensuring physiological rest. But when acute disease has
passed away, the gradual use of an affected part generally
does good. Exercise in such circumstances proves a health
restorer, improving appetite, and stimulating most of the
bodily functions.
The medicinal restoratives in common use are as follows:
Linseed, in the form of gruel, tea, or cake, proves a soothing,
palatable, digestible laxative combination of food and medi-
cine. Cod-liver oil, especially in dogs and cats, conveniently
supplies assimilable fatty matters. Iron salts, possessing
tonic and hematinic, as well as restorative properties, are
specially serviceable in anzemia; phosphates are prescribed
for ill-thriving, weakly young animals; salines are indicated
in skin eruptions and itching, often met with amongst hard-
worked, liberally-fed horses; pepsin, liquor pancreatis, and
malt extract, are sometimes administered to foals, dogs, and
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132 TONICS
calves, when the natural digestive ferments are deficient or
faulty. Kreochyle is an excellent restorative for dogs.
Tontcs.— When digestion is enfeebled, nutrition impaired,
circulation languid, or waste products not promptly removed,
there is apt to ensue weakness, want of energy, and unfitness
for work—conditions treated for the most part by tonics.
They are defined as remedies which impart tone or strength
to the parts on which they specially act. They are allied to
nutrients and restoratives. They resemble stimulants; but
their effects are more slowly and gradually produced, are
more permanent, and not succeeded by subsequent depression.
While stimulants usually call forth strength previously latent,
tonics frequently give strength. They are also allied to
astringents, but do not exhibit the same chemical power of
coagulating albumin and constringing tissues. The same
drugs, in different doses, often appear, however, in two or
more of these classes. Alcohol, for example, is nutrient,
tonic, and stimulant. Iron salts, according to their dose and
the state of the patient, are nutrient, tonic, and astringent,
but, used improperly, are sometimes irritant.
Tonics exert their curative effects in one or more of the
following ways :—
1. By influencing primary digestion, usually increasing
gastric secretion. Gentian, calumba, chiretta, and other
bitters are chiefly serviceable as gastric stimulants or
stomachics.
2. By promoting secondary digestion, thus improving the
chemical and physiological condition of the blood, secretions,
and tissues. The most important members of this class are
heematinics, noticed below.
3. By acting on other special organs and structures, notably
on the heart, nervous centres, or liver.
In using tonics it is accordingly essential to discover what
part or organ is primarily and chiefly at fault. When diges-
tion is enfeebled, gastric or intestinal tonics are prescribed.
When the pulse is soft and weak, with a tendency to local
congestion and cedema, cardiac and vascular tonics are used.
When nervous functions are imperfectly performed, nervine
tonics are appropriate. In the early stages of tuberculous
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ALTERATIVES INFLUENCE METABOLISM 133
disease of the mesenteric glands, in cattle and horses, copper
sulphate is often useful, probably on account alike of its
tonic and antiseptic properties. Cold, in the form of baths,
douches, and sponging, proves a valuable tonic, applicable for
general as well as local purposes, relieving irritability, bracing
up soft, flabby textures, and equalising circulation.
Hezmatinics, or blood tonics, constitute an important group
of tonics, which increase the quantity of red corpuscles and
hemoglobin in the blood. ‘The red blood corpuscles are
probably formed in the spleen, the medulla of bones, the
liver, and possibly other parts of the body, from leucocytes,
which lose their nucleus, take up hemoglobin, and alter their
form to that of the red corpuscles’ (Brunton). These red
corpuscles are in great part destroyed in the liver and spleen,
and it hence appears probable that disorder of these organs is
an essential cause of aneemia, which is very common amongst
badly reared young animals. In order to restore iron and
fatty matters which are deficient in anzemic blood, daily doses
of soluble iron salts are prescribed, while easily assimilated
fatty matters, such as boiled linseed, or linseed cake, are
given to horses and cattle, and cod-liver oil to dogs. An
improvement of general health is further effected by judi-
cious feeding and comfortable quarters. The anemia result-
ing from debilitating disease requires similar treatment. To
ensure their good effects, tonics are generally given in
moderate doses, two or three times daily, for six or eight
days, and throughout their administration the bowels should
be kept in a normal state.
Atreratives are drugs which influence the amount and
kind of tissue change going on in different organs and
cells. Their results are usually readily recognised, but the
way in which they are produced is difficult to explain. ‘They
produce no marked corresponding changes in assimilation,
circulation, or excretion. It is uncertain how they act; it is
possible that they may alter in some way the action of
enzymes in the body, but it is also possible that they
act by replacing the normal constituents of the tissues, and
forming compounds which tend to break up in a different
way from those which are ordinarily present. Thus, chloride
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134 MODIFY TISSUE CHANGE
of sodium, and nitrogenous bodies such as albumin are
amongst the most important constituents of the body; and
we find that among the chief alteratives are substances
which will replace chlorine, sodium, or nitrogen in many
compounds. Thus, we have iodine and iodides, and nitric
and nitro-hydrochloric acids, which will displace or replace
chlorine. We have chlorine itself, and chlorides, which may
alter the proportion of the chlorides to other salts in the
blood and tissues, and thus modify the solubility of various
constituents of the tissues. We have salts of potassium and
calcium, which may replace those of sodium; sulphur and
sulphides, which may replace oxygen; phosphorus, hypo-
sulphites, antimony, and arsenic, which may replace nitro-
gen; mercury and its salts, which may replace calcium.
Besides these, we have organic alteratives, regarding the
action of which we can at present form no hypothesis, unless
they influence the processes of digestion. Nitro-hydrochloric
acid, taraxacum, and small doses of mercurials probably
act either by modifying the digestion of food in the duo-
denum and jejunum, or by modifying the changes which
it undergoes in the liver after absorption’ (Pharmacology,
Therapeutics, and Materia Medica).
Sodium chloride, sulphate, phosphate, acetate, and biborate,
potassium nitrate, ammonium chloride and carbonate, and
probably all salts excreted by the kidneys, increase tissue
change and the amount of urea excreted. Fats and fatty
acids lessen decomposition of albuminoids and excretion of
urea, but glycerin has no such action. Alcohol, in small or
moderate doses, lessens, and in large doses increases tissue
change. Benzoic and salicylic acids increase tissue change.
Quinine lessens, iron appears to increase it. Mercury also
causes a slight increase, but has a peculiar power of breaking
up new deposits of fibrin, and hence is used to remove lymph
deposits and prevent adhesions. Iodine, iodides, and pro-
bably also chlorides, apparently act on the lymphatic system,
promoting absorption. Potassium iodide arrests the progress
of actinomycosis. In general malnutrition, without definite
symptoms, mercurials, nitro-hydrochloric acid, and taraxa-
cum are indicated, and especially when the liver appears to
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ANTIPYRETICS LESSEN PRODUCTION OF HEAT 135
be at fault. Antimony, arsenic, and phosphorus exert their
actions notably on the glandular, nervous, respiratory, and
cutaneous systems, and large or continued doses affect the
liver in a marked manner, producing fatty degeneration.
Antimony is prescribed in acute disorders of the respiratory
organs; arsenic, in chronic consolidations, which it probably
softens, by fatty degeneration. Arsenic is also employed in
chronic skin diseases, such as psoriasis, lichen, and eczema.
Phosphorus and arsenic are prescribed in nervous debility.
Antiryretics lower the temperature of the body in fever.
They are sometimes termed antithermals, and correspond to
the old group of febrifuges. Their effects are more notable
when the temperature is abnormally high. Animal heat is
chiefly produced by oxidation, in the muscles, both volun-
tary and involuntary, and in glands, especially when they
are ina state of activity. It is given off by the skin and
lungs, in small amount by radiation; in still larger amount
by contact with cold water or cold air, the latter abstracting
heat with especial rapidity when it is damp or in motion.
Owing to diminished activity of the cerebro-vaso-motor
centre, and consequent dilatation of the surface vessels, loss
of heat is greater when animals are asleep than when awake.
Conversely, more heat is produced when the animal is in
active motion, and blood circulates freely through the heat-
producing apparatus of the muscles and glands. Small
animals, having a cooling surface relatively larger than their
internal heating appliances, are more rapidly cooled than
large animals. A centre has been found in the corpus
striatum, which appears to regulate the production of heat
(thermotaxis), and certain antipyretics appear to develop
their effects by stimulating this centre.
Antipyretics are divided by Dr. Lauder Brunton into two
classes—those which lessen production of heat, and those
which increase loss of heat; and these again he subdivides
as shown in the following table :—
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136
Antipyretics.
ANTIPYRETICS INCREASE LOSS OF HEAT
(Cinchona Alkaloids,
Benzoic and Car-
bolic Acids.
Salicylic Acid.
Salicylates.
‘Acting on Tissue Change: + Salicin.
Camphor.
Eucaly ptol.
Thymol and other
Essential Oils.
Lessen pro- \Alcohol.
duction of*
heat. Antimony Salts.
Aconite.
Generally, Digitalis.
| Veratrine.
_Thallin.
Local Blood-letting.
Poultices.
Blisters.
Guaiacol.
Acting on the Cir-
\ culation:
\ Locally
By dilating cutaneous ves- | Alcohol.
sels and increasing radia-- Nitrous Ether.
tion : Antipyrine.
Antimonial pre-
parations.
Opium and Ipeca-
cuanha.
Nitrous Ether.
By increasing the loss of
heat due to evaporation
Cold Sponging.
Wet Pack.
Ice to the Surface.
Cold Drinks.
Cold Enemata.
‘By abstracting heat from
\ the body :
|
|
va
ba
' action un- :
Venesection.
Modewt Purgatives.
\ certain.
The production of heat (thermogenesis) is lessened in
rious ways:—Hydrotherapy, chiefly in the form of cold
th or cold packing, diminishes abnormal thermogenesis.
Water absorbs and parts with heat quickly; it is capable
of application locally or generally, continuously or inter-
mittently. Cold water, medicinally used, stimulates the
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HOW HEAT IS LOST 137
cerebrospinal as well as the sympathetic nerve centres,
increases the activity of healthy vital processes, notably
metabolism, elimination, and leucocytosis, and thus conjoins
antithermogenic and antipyretic actions.
Cinchona and its alkaloids, antipyrine, and other drugs of
the aromatic hydrocarbon group, the salicyl compounds and
alcohol appear to act directly on the trophic nerves and nerve-
centres, both central and local, and thus retard oxidation of
protoplasm, and of red and white blood globules. Acids long
used in the treatment of fever appear to reduce the alkalinity
of the nutrient fluids, and in this way retard metabolism.
Antimony, aconite, digitalis, and blood-letting probably lessen
the production of heat by diminishing the volume and
rapidity of the blood stream. Guaiacol, poultices, blisters,
and local blood-letting exert similar effects topically. The
notable effect of purgatives in checking pyrexia is probably
somewhat complex, comprising a diminished force of the
circulation, derivation, and increased excretion of those waste
products and pathogenic germs which are fruitful causes of
elevated temperature.
The loss of heat (thermolysis) is increased, as set forth in
the above table, chiefly in three ways :—
(1.) By dilating the cutaneous vessels, and augmenting
radiation of heat from the body, as is effected by alcohol,
volatile oils, and antipyrine. These agents, it will be noted,
exert a twofold action of lessening production and increasing
loss of heat.
(2.) By promoting secretion of sweat, and thus increasing
cooling evaporation, as is effected by diaphoretics.
(3.) By directly removing heat, as is effected by hydro-
therapy, cold baths, cold affusion, ete.
Antipyretics are used to lower abnormal temperature,
whether caused by prolonged exposure to heat or by febrile
disease. Cinchona and its alkaloids are the remedies most
trusted in the treatment of the fevers of animals. They
mitigate the pyrexia, cut short the attack, and prevent the
exacerbations which characterise such cases. Antipyrine,
although it has little action on the temperature of healthy
animals, reduces abnormal temperature quickly, and usually
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138 BLOOD-LETTING
permanently. For veterinary patients it is the best of the
‘new fever medicines. It has been successfully used in in-
fluenza, and is given both by the mouth and hypodermically.
Salicylic acid and salicylates are specially serviceable in com-
bating the fever and pain of acute rheumatism. Alcohol,
in its several forms, exerts a twofold effect, diminishing
oxidation and also dilating cutaneous vessels, and thus
accelerating cooling. Bleeding, both general and _ local,
judiciously used, lowers abnormal temperature, by relieving
alike local inflammation and symptomatic fever. Purgatives
doubtless act in like manner, and in some cases, moreover,
relieve gastric derangement, and remove disease products.
Horses and cattle are sometimes quickly sponged with cold
or tepid water, rapidly dried, and comfortably clothed. Heat
is thus directly removed; the cooling functions of the skin,
which are impaired in most febrile attacks, are re-established,
and their action may be further stimulated by the admini-
stration of ammonia salts, ethers, and alcohol. Very essential
adjuncts for ensuring the effects of antipyretics are perfect
rest, comfortable quarters, and a temperature of about 60°
Fahr. Guaiacol applied locally acts on the peripheral nerve
ends and reflexly on the vaso-motor centres, diminishing pro-
duction of heat. But although reducing temperature in
pyrexia connected with tuberculosis, it appears to have no
effect on fever depending on local inflammation or septic
intoxication.
BLoop-LetTTine promptly and directly affects tissue changes.
A full bleeding diminishes the activity of all vital func-
tions, excepting the production of blood globules. The
heart-beat is quickened, but its force is lessened; arterial
tension is lowered; absorption is increased; sensibility to
pain is diminished, owing to reduced activity of the peri-
pheral centres. When blood is lost rapidly or freely, nausea,
fainting, and convulsions ensue, and artificial anemia is
produced. In healthy subjects, however, these effects
quickly disappear, and the blood is rapidly restored to its
normal state.
Until within the last forty years, blood-letting was freely
practised, and very generally abused. Venesection is now
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PRECAUTIONS REGARDING BLOOD-LETTING 139
seldom employed even in cases of acute congestion and
inflammation, which it is especially fitted to control. It may
be practised either generally or locally. In robust animals
suffering from acute congestion or hemorrhage from the
lungs, especially when accompanied by venous stasis, blood-
letting affords prompt and frequently permanent relief.
Alike in horses and cattle, it is serviceable where fever is
acute, with a firm, incompressible, or full, slow pulse, as in
pleurisy and peritonitis, as well as in acute rheumatism. In
lymphangitis, and in some cases of laminitis in horses it is
also useful. Dogs are so readily brought under the influence
of emetics and nauseants that bleeding is less needed in them
than in horses and ruminants.
Blood may generally be taken from full-grown horses or
cattle to the extent of three or four quarts. The amount
drawn should be accurately measured. The circumstances
of the case materially affect the amount of blood to be
drawn. It should flow freely until its abstraction has
made a decided impression on the volume and strength of
the pulse, or until the earliest symptoms of nausea and faint-
ing are apparent. The jugular vein on either side is gener-
ally selected as the vessel on which it is most convenient
and safe to operate. Excepting in expert professional hands,
the fleam is safer than the lancet, which in restive horses
may make a ugly gash. When practicable, the horse should
be bled with his head erect, for in this position the nauseating
effects, which indicate that no more blood can be spared,
are most noticeable. When sufficient blood has been taken,
the edges of the wound of the skin are brought accurately
together, and secured by a pin, round which is wound
some aseptic thread, or tow.
Blood-letting, although valuable in the earlier stages of
acute inflammation in vigorous animals, is injurious in
young or weakly subjects, in the later stages of disease, in
epizootic and eruptive fevers, and, indeed, wherever the
pulse is small, quick, or weak. A pulse of this character
indicates debility, and bleeding in such cases increases
exudation and effusion instead of preventing them, while
it unnecessarily weakens the patient and retards recovery.
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140 POISONS AND ANTIDOTES
While blood is being drawn, the finger should, in all animals,
be placed upon a prominent artery, and if the pulse is
observed to become rapidly weaker, it is evident that the
treatment is unsuitable. Such mischance should, however,
rarely happen, for when there is any question as to the pro-
priety of blood-letting, such a reducing remedy should be
avoided.
Local blood-letting is not much practised among the
lower animals. Lancing the tumid gums of teething horses
is seldom necessary, especially if soft food is supplied, as it
should be in such cases. In laminitis some practitioners
pare the horny sole, and open the vessels of the sensitive
sole, encouraging the flow of blood by immersing the foot
in hot water or in a warm poultice; but in such cases the
heat and moisture are generally of more benefit than the
bleeding. Cupping and leeches are not used in veterinary
practice.
POISONS AND ANTIDOTEHS
Antidotes are agents which counteract the effects of
poisons. A poison is an agent which is capable of deter-
mining definite modifications of protoplasm. It produces
cellular death or cessation of cell action. In the popular
acceptation of the term, a poison is a drug, whether animal,
vegetable, or mineral, which, in small quantity, destroys
health and life; but it differs from a medicine only in the
degree or intensity of its effects. Indeed, many valuable
medicines, when given in large doses, become active poisons,
whilst many poisons, properly administered, prove valuable
medicines.
Antidotes may prevent the action of the poison, or may
mitigate or arrest its effects. When a lethal dose has
been swallowed, endeavour should be made, before it has
time to enter the circulation, promptly to remove it by
the stomach-pump, stomach syphon, or by an emetic. It
is advisable, however, in all cases to empty the stomach,
and thus remove unabsorbed portions of the poison, before
giving any fluid which favours solution and absorption, or
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PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTAGONISM 141
even before administering the antidote. Some antidotes,
such as charcoal and demulcents, mechanically envelop the
particles of the poison, or ensheath and protect the mucous
surfaces, and thus retard absorption. Many enter into
chemical combination with the poison, forming compara-
tively insoluble inert compounds. Thus, albumin forms,
with corrosive sublimate and other metallic salts, insoluble
albuminates. Freshly precipitated ferric oxide converts
arsenious acid into an insoluble iron arsenite. When poison
has been introduced into a wound, as by the bite of a
rabid dog, or by the fang of a serpent, a ligature, if possible,
is placed so as to prevent or retard absorption, and the
wound is forthwith thoroughly washed with antiseptics and
cauterised or excised.
The action of poisons, even after absorption, may, more-
over, be controlled and counteracted by remedies which
antagonise their lethal tendencies. Hypodermic injection
of antivenomous serum neutralises the poison of cobra.
Opium lessens the irritation and pain caused by irritants.
Artificial respiration frequently sustains life throughout
the stage of deadly narcosis induced by curare, prussic acid,
or anesthetics. But still more definite antagonism occurs
between certain drugs. The stimulant and convulsant
effects of strychnine on the spinal cord are opposed by
chloral hydrate and tobacco, which lessen the excitability of
the cord. The fatal depression of the cardiac and respira-
tory centres, produced by large doses of aconite, is antago-
nised by alcohol, atropine, digitalin, and by strychnine.
Between physostigmine and atropine the antagonism is
very marked in their actions on the vagus, heart, muscular
tissues, and iris, as well as on secretion.
Two explanations are given of this antagonism—(1) By
chemical action, the drug first given is supposed to combine
with the tissues immediately acted on, and to this combina-
tion the second drug may be added, developing another and
less active compound; or otherwise, from such compound
the second drug may displace the first. (2) The two ant-
agonistic drugs may act independently of each other on the
tissues, producing opposite effects —the one exciting, the
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142 POISONS AND ANTIDOTES
other, it may be, paralysing. This latter physiological view
seems to meet with most general approval (Brunton). In
the case of poisons not rapidly fatal—such as lead, mercury,
savin, or yew—an important curative measure consists in
hastening their removal from the body by the organs
through which they are chiefly excreted.
Poisons Antidotes
ee nee Chlorine cautiously inhaled.
Ether, alcohol.
Steam inhalation.
Opium, starch.
Chlorine, Bromine
Iodine Vapour .
Ammonia Vapour Vinegar vapour.
Fresh air and artificial respiration ;
transfusion.
Artificial respiration; tongue drawn
forward ; intermittent pressure over
cardiac region if heart action failing.
Nitrous Oxide
Carbon Monoxide ‘4
Artificial respiration.
Alternate warm and cold douches to
the head and neck.
Encourage circulation by friction.
Coal Gas
Charcoal Fumes
Carbonic Acid .
Marshes \Mustard plasters over surface,
Alkalies; sodium or potassium bi-
carbonate.
Sulphuric Acid . | Magnesia: chalk: plaster, } a dil
Hydrochloric Acid . } Soap; milk; eggs whisked,
Nitric Acid .. . \ Olive or almond oil.
Phosphoric Acid. | The alkalinity of the blood impaired
by acids is restored by intravenous
injection of sodium bicarbonate.
Oxalic Acid and Ox-
alates
Tartaric Acid .
Acetic Acid
Chalk, whiting, or wall plaster, with
water. Carbonates of lime and
magnesia.
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POISONS AND ANTIDOTES 143
(Alternate cold and warm affusions to
the spine.
Artificial respiration. Ether and
camphor subcutaneously.
Atropine injection, repeated every
half-hour.
Mixed salts of iron: ferrous sul-
phate, ferric perchloride ;magnesia.
Tracheotomy,.
Hydrocyanic Acid
Potassium Cyanide .
Potassium hydrate
and Carbonate : 23
Vinegar; lemon juice.
sa ear ae Other dilute acids.
“ae ° Milk: oil: acidulated drinks.
; ee imulants.
Ammonia Solution phime
Calcium Oxide
Aconite
Spirits: ammonia. Ether hypodermi-
cally.
Digitalis; atropine; warmth.
Acorns ; Oak Shoots ; lou: salines: laxative diet.
Fern ; J
Strong coffee, and cold douches to the
Alcohol . . {
head. Camphor, ether, ammonia.
Anzsthetics— Artificial respiration. Amyl-nitrite:
Chloroform, ether, ammonia,
etc. . : . (Cold douche to head and neck.
In patients that do not vomit, wash
: out the stomach with tannic or
Antimony
gallic acid, followed by milk, white
of egg, or other demulcents.
Wash out stomach with large amount
of warm water, introduced by
stomach syphon or pump.
Give dogs zine sulphate or other
Arsenic. ‘ -, emetic.
Iron oxide, moist, made by precipita-
tion of ferric chloride solution by
sodium carbonate or ammonia.
Milk; oil.
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144
Atropine—
Belladonna
Hyoscyamus
Stramonium
Barium Chloride
Calabar Bean—
Physostigmine
Cantharides
Carbolice Acid
Creasote .
Chloral
Cocaine
Colchicum
Conium : Conine—
Cicuta Virosa
(nanthe
Croton Oil
Curare
POISONS AND ANTIDOTES
Stimulants and coffee: tannic acid.
Caffeine, subcutaneously injected.
Sustain action of motor centres by
interrupted electric current, and
occasionally moving the animal.
Artificial respiration, if needful:
animal charcoal.
Physostigmine given cautiously.
{Epsom salt. Glauber’s salt.
: | Sulphuric acid diluted.
{ Stimulants: chloral.
Atropine, strychnine.
Lamafetal respiration, if necessary.
Barley water, gruel, and other demul-
cents.
Avoid oils and fats.
Oil: sodium sulphate.
Saccharated lime: stimulants.
| Sitohate of lime.
Warmth.
Keep patient moving.
Strychnine and caffeine, subcutane-
ously.
(Chloral; amyl nitrite.
; { Inhalation of chloroform.
Tannic and gallic acids: demulcents.
: | Stimulants.
Tannic acid.
Potassium iodide.
Srone coffee.
Stimulants.
Demulcents: stimulants.
Artificial respiration.
If there be a wound, ligature, if
possible, above it, and incise and
suck strongly.
Loosen ligature from time to time, but
avoid letting too much poison into
the blood at a time.
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POISONS AND ANTIDOTES 145
Digitalis— Tannin: stimulants.
Dicitali Aconite, subcutaneously.
Beier * (Perfect quiet.
Ergot : ; . Tannin: stimulants.
Substitute sound food: laxatives.
Eucalyptol, menthol, other anti-
septic volatile oils.
Ether : stimulants : saline antiseptics.
Fungus - infested or
mouldy fodder or
grain
Atropine: stimulants.
Gelsemium z wes sous
Artificial respiration.
{
Insects’ Venomous ) Apply ammonia and oil. Solution of
Stings . : ‘ | carbolic acid. Sal Volatile.
Todoform . : . Stimulants: diaphoretics: hot baths.
Alternate hot and cold douches to
chest.
Laburnum
[aerate : coffee.
Tannin: stimulants.
Lobelia Strychnine, hypodermically.
Potassium iodide: occasional dose of
castor oil.
Epsom salt: dilute sulphuric acid.
Lead Salts ;
Subsequently wash out stomach.
Give demulcents. Milk and soap:
treacle: magnesia: moist iron per-
oxide.
Foment: poultice.
Morphine, if needful.
White of egg, in large amount.
Copper ‘ |
Magnesia sulphate ; sodium sulphate.
Lead : , ‘ | Sulphur:
Mercury . ; . Potassium iodide; olive oil.
K
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146 POISONS AND ANTIDOTES
Empty stomach by syphon or pump;
or wash out stomach with sol:
potassium permanganate.
Warm coffee: ammonia: emetics:
alcohol.
Maintain activity of motor centres by
keeping patient moving, and by
electric shocks: tannin: zinc sul-
phate.
Strychnine hypodermically sustains
action of heart.
Atropine in small doses subcutane-
ously.
Artificial respiration, if needful.
Morphine—
Opium
Other Narcotics
Stimulants.
"J Alternate hot and cold douche.
‘| Artificial respiration.
Nitro-Benzol
Amyl-Nitrite
Nitro-Glycerine
Ergotin: atropine subcutaneously.
{oa to head.
Copper sulphate: emetics: charcoal.
Phosphorus Oil of turpentine, old and oxidised.
‘(avoid fats, fatty oils, and alkalies.
Picrotoxine: Cocculus)
Indicus J -Chloral: potassium bromide.
Pilocarpine : eer Atropine.
(Tannic or gallic acid: coffee.
uinine ae ie ne iB
Q (Stimulants: artificial respiration.
Sastn ; {Epsom salt; demulcents: ethereal
| Stimulants.
ae limb: excise wound, and
ice bs sear with hot iron: antivenin.
Artificial respiration.
Chloroform: chloral: tobacco in-
fusion: apomorphine for dogs.
Potassium bromide: tannin.
ee stimulants: ammonia.
Strychnine: Brucine
Nux vomica ‘|
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DOSAGE 147
Warm stimulants.
Tobacco -;Tannin: strychnine: solution of
iodine.
Turpentine Oil . Demulcents: Epsom salt.
Veratrine— Stimulants: warm coffee: emetics.
White Hellebore .| Perfect quiet; opium: tannin.
Stimulants: laxatives: ammonia
Yew acetate.
Demulcents.
Fics Sales... ae of egg: acetate of ammonia
emetics.
DOSES AND THEIR ADMINISTRATION
The dose, channel of administration, and manner of using
remedies demand consideration.
The dose, or quantity of the medicine used, affects the
degree, and sometimes also the nature of the action pro-
duced. Thus, small doses of most salts of potassium, sodium,
and magnesium are alterative and diuretic, while larger
quantities are purgative. Aloes, in small quantity, is tonic,
and in large, purgative. Alcohol and opium are examples
of medicines in which variation in dose produces difference
in effect. With topical remedies, an increase of the time
during which the drug is applied is generally equivalent to
an increase of dose, as illustrated in the case of mustard,
cantharides, and concentrated acids.
The period during which a drug remains in the body
determines in like manner its activity. Hence increased
action results from rapid absorption and prolonged retention
within the body, while diminished action results from tardy
absorption and quick excretion. Where prompt and full
effects are desired, as in the case of such a sedative as aconite,
or such a stimulant as ether, carefully regulated doses are
given every hour or oftener. Where continued effects are
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148 ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINES
desired, as in the case of tonics or alteratives, small doses
repeated three or four times daily are preferable to larger
doses given at longer intervals. Stimulants, which are evan-
escent in their effects—such as alcohol, ether, and ammonia
—are usually beneficially repeated every two or three hours,
or, in critical cases, oftener. The dose of a medicine, and
the desirability of its repetition, intermission, or suspension,
taust frequently be determined by the manner in which the
patient is affected by the first dose or doses.
The doses mentioned in this work under the head of each
drug, unless otherwise stated, are those suitable for adult
animals of medium size. But, as already indicated, the size,
weight, and environment of the patient require consideration
in fixing the dose. In the lower animals, differences of sex
do not materially affect dosage; although, on account of
their larger size, extra doses are required for stallions, bulls,
and rams. Doses inust be adapted to the age of the patient.
It is generally estimated that a one-year-old colt requires
one-third the quantity of any medicine given to an adult
horse; a two-year-old, one-half; a three-year-old, two-thirds.
A somewhat similar ratio is applicable to cattle.
Medicinal agents are used to produce either local or general
actions, or a combination of both.
Locat Actions are produced by applying the agent to the
surface of the skin, to the mouth or throat, the eye or ear,
and also by injection into the rectum, bladder, vagina, uterus,
udder, and substance of muscles. Agents thus used, besides
acting locally, may pass into the general circulation, and
produce general effects, or by reflex action develop secondary
or remote effects.
Generat Actions are usually produced by the introduction
of the medicine into the circulation. Injection may be made
directly into the veins as in the treatment of collapse and
acute anzimia, and occasionally into the arteries, for purposes
of experiment. When transfusion is undertaken the fluid
should be watery, and of the specific gravity of blood-serum.
Drugs injected into serous cavities are very rapidly absorbed.
They are also quickly taken up from abraded skin surfaces.
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BY THE MOUTH AND TRACHEA 149
The channels by which medicines are administered
are :—
(1.) The digestive tract, generally by the mouth.
(2.) The pulmonary mucous membrane, by inhalation.
(3.) Intratracheal injection.
(4.) Intravenous injection.
(5.) The skin:—(a) Epidermically by inrubbing; (b) En-
dermically by inunction after removal of the epidermis.
(6.) Hypodermically, by injection into the subcutaneous
cellular tissues.
1. The mouth is the channel by which medicines are most
frequently administered, for they immediately pass into the
stomach and intestine, whence they are readily and rapidly
absorbed. To avoid their admixture with food, and conse-
quent impaired and delayed effect, they should generally be
given after the patient has been fasted for several hours.
Nutrient oils, iron salts, arsenic, and other irritants are, how-
ever, given along with food, or immediately after eating.
When it is desired that they shall be quickly absorbed,
and thus act promptly and certainly, they should be
given in the fluid state, and this is especially requisite in
ruminants. The time, labour, and patience of attendants may
be saved, and high-spirited, nervous animals preserved from
injurious struggling, if they can be persuaded to take their
medicines voluntarily. This may sometimes be accomplished
where comparatively concentrated, tasteless, or pleasant-
tasted drugs are used, by mixing them with palatable food,
or disguising them in gruel, milk, or even in water. Dogs
and cats will often bolt concentrated drugs rolled up ina
piece of meat. Although absorption is not so active from
the posterior portions of the digestive tract, soluble medicines
introduced into the rectum enter the circulation.
2. The pulmonary mucous membrane has a superficies of
fifty times the extent of the skin surface, and actively absorbs
substances in the gaseous form. By this channel are
administered anesthetics, when their general effects are
required; watery vapour; balsams and anodynes to relieve
morbid conditions of the respiratory passages; diluted sul-
phurous and chlorine gases to destroy bronchial filarie,
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150 INTRATRACHEAL INJECTION
But other volatile drugs may thus be introduced into the
body, while others, in a finely divided state, can be inhaled
along with watery vapour, or such a readily diffusible
volatile body as chloroform.
3. InrrarracHEaL insection has lately been adopted both in
this country and abroad. Tolerably bland fluids in consider-
able quantity can, with impunity, be introduced into the
trachea, and agents too bulky to be used hypodermically
can thus be absorbed into the blood more quickly and
directly, and with less risk of having their activity impaired
than when administered through the digestive tract. Various
experiments on dogs, made at St. Petersburg, indicate that
the effects of curare, strychnine, and cocaine were frequently
produced in ten seconds, and more rapidly than when these
drugs were injected subcutaneously. Turpentine by this
channel exerts its lethal action very effectually on the
bronchial parasites which attack cattle and sheep. The
injection is effected with a syringe of somewhat larger size
than that used for hypodermic purposes. Intratracheal
injections intended to produce general effects should not con-
tain oil or fat, and the quantity should not exceed half an
ounce. Beyond aslight gain in time, intratracheal injections,
other than those intended to act locally, have no advantage
over hypodermic injections. Drugs have occasionally been
injected directly into the lungs.
4. Intravenous injection of medicines is resorted to when
immediate effects are desired. In this way salt-solution,
barium chloride, silver colloid, and a few other remedies
have been injected into the jugular vein. The injection
should be diluted, non-irritant, and introduced slowly with
strict attention to antiseptic precautions. The introduction
of air, the formation of clots, and septic contamination must
be avoided.
5. On the skin many medicinal agents are applied, most
of them—such as counter-irritants, caustics, and poultices—
for the production of local effects, or of reflex actions exerted
on adjacent or distant parts. The skin, protected by
epidermis, although it absorbs oxygen and other gases,
excretes carbonic acid, and takes up water from baths or
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HYPODERMIC ADMINISTRATION 151
from wet clothing, especially if there is a deficiency of fluid
in the body, does not absorb drugs unless they are dissolved
in chloroform or other agent which promotes penetration
(see p. 16). Drugs, whether in alcoholic or watery solution,
are absorbed through the unbroken skin only in very small
amount and tardily; but when the epidermis is removed
by a blister, the true skin readily absorbs drugs placed on
it. By this endermic method, morphine was wont to be
used for the production of its general anodyne effects, but
the hypodermic method is more convenient, and is now
generally preferred.
6. The hypodermic administration of drugs consists in
their injection in solution into the subcutaneous cellular
tissue, or occasionally into the substance of a muscle. They
thus enter the blood-stream unaltered by contact with the
contents or secretions of the digestive canal. They escape
the changes which many substances undergo in the liver,
and hence act more certainly and rapidly. Hypodermic
injection is specially indicated—
(1.) Where rapid energetic effects are required, as in
poisoning, internal hemorrhage, threatening col-
lapse, paroxysms of acute pain, and convulsions.
(2.) Where it is desired that the drug shall act
promptly and directly on the diseased part, as in
neuralgia, rheumatic pains, and mammitis in cows.
(3.) Where local and general ettects are desired to be
conjoined, as in reflex spasms.
(4.) Where administration by the mouth is difficult,
impossible, or unadvisable.
The drugs thus used should be neutral, non-irritant, and
soluble in alcohol, water, or glycerin. Many veterinarians
now use morphine, atropine, ergotin, physostigmine, and
other active drugs hypodermically for arresting or controlling
the spasms of colic and chronic cough, the sharp twinges of
rheumatism, the inflammatory pain of enteritis and pleurisy,
as well as for combating the effects of poisons. Where pain
is to be counteracted, the injection is made deeply near the
affected spot, or over the nerve which is believed to be con-
veying the disordered impression. With active agents it is
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152 < HYPODERMIC INJECTION
unwise, without careful trial, to inject subcutaneously more
than one-fourth of the dose which would be given by the
mouth. The drug is thoroughly dissolved in water, alcohol,
or other perfectly bland fluid. There is less risk in veterinary
than in human patients of subsequent local irritation, but
intramuscular injection of ether and of other drugs occa-
sionally causes temporary motor or sensory paralysis.
The hypodermic syringe has a glass barrel, on the nozzle
of which a hollow needle is fitted. It is essential that the
syringe be perfectly clean, and the needle sharp. Hypo-
dermic injection is very simple. Choice is generally made
of a situation where the skin is thin, and the subcutaneous
tissue loose, as behind the elbow, or at the lower part of the
neck. A fold of loose skin is taken up between the finger
and thumb of the left hand; the needle, detached from the
syringe, is passed through the skin, and carried about an
inch obliquely under the surface. The nozzle of the
filled syringe is then attached to the needle, the piston
slowly pushed home, and the instrument cautiously with-
drawn. The injection of air can be prevented by seeing
that the packing of the piston is sufficient, or by arresting
the piston before the contents of syringe have been wholly
expelled. The puncture requires no plaster or dressing.
Convenient tablets or pellets of the various drugs used
hypodermically are now obtainable.
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Section IT.
Inorganic Materia Medica
WATER
Aqua. Hydrogen Oxide or Monoxide. H,0.
WATER exists in the solid, liquid, and gaseous forms. It is
transparent, neutral, colourless, odourless, and tasteless. A
minim weighs ‘91 grain; a fluid ounce, 437°5 grains. It is
the standard of comparison for specific gravities of liquids,
its specific gravity being represented as 1 or 1000. It solidi-
fies, freezes, or crystallises at 32° Fahr., expanding and giving
out latent heat; it reaches its greatest density at 39°2 Fahr.;
it slowly volatilises at all temperatures; at 212° Fahr. it
boils, rising in steam, and increasing in bulk 1700 times. A
cubic inch of water becomes a cubic foot of steam. When
the solid ice melts, heat is absorbed or becomes latent ; when
the liquid water boils, or gives off gas, still more heat is
absorbed. A cubic foot of water expanding into steam
renders latent 900° of heat. The melting ice and evaporating
water, thus abstracting heat from bodies in contact with
them, are valuable refrigerants.
Water is a universal solvent; it readily dissolves many
mineral matters, gases, and organic substances. From soils
and rocks through which it passes it takes up salts, espe-
cially of calcium, magnesium, and sodium, and occasionally
of lead. It absorbs atmospheric air, carbonic acid, and other
gases, some adding to its sparkling, refreshing, and palatable
qualities, others rendering it disagreeable and unwholesome.
Gases are more soluble in cold than in hot water; solids,
conversely, are generally more quickly and freely dissolved
by hot than by cold water. Organic matters are present,
especially in river and marsh waters, causing them to spoil
rapidly when kept, and sometimes to produce diarrhea and
dysentery in animals drinking them. Surface drainage and
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154 HARD AND SOFT WATERS
sewage are apt to introduce vegetable and animal parasites,
spores and ova, which give rise to dangerous diseases in
animals as well as in man.
Even in potable waters the nature and proportion of the
solid constituents differ materially. Glasgow derives from
Loch Katrine the purest water supply of any large city
in the world, containing only three-fourths of a grain of
organic and one and a half grains of inorganic matters to
the gallon. The water of the Thaines, supplied to part of
London, contains about three grains of organic and sixteen
grains of inorganic matters to the gallon. When the mineral
constituents, consisting of salts of calcium and magnesium,
exceed =,,th part, the water is said to be hard, and is un-
suitable for many pharmaceutic and domestic purposes; it
curdles or precipitates soap, instead of forming with it a
froth or lather; it forms a brown encrustation on the kettles
or furnaces in which it is boiled; it is not so well liked by
animals, and is apt to cause diarrhcea and other digestive
derangements, especially in subjects unaccustomed to it.
When the salts do not amount to ;j5;th part the water is
considered soft.
The presence of the more dangerous organic and organ-
ised impurities are discovered by several simple tests—
(1) Half a pint of the water is well shaken in a clean, wide-
mouthed bottle; when sewage is present an offensive smell
will be perceived on removal of the stopper or cork. (2) In
a tumbler of water two or three drops of sulphuric acid are
placed, and sufficient Condy’s red fluid to render the water
pink. When allowed to stand for fifteen minutes, the water,
if containing organic impurity, will have become colourless.
(3) Sewage contaminated water usually contains common
salt, which may be discovered by silver nitrate producing
milkiness (AgCl), which is not removed by a few drops of
nitric acid.
For purifying water various methods are adopted. Sub-
sidence and decantation get rid of grosser mechanical par-
ticles. Filtration through sand, charcoal, gravel, or spongy
iron removes coarse and organic impurities. Alum, even in
minute amount, clears turbid water. Oxidation gradually
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WATER 155
destroys disagreeable or dangerous foulness; hence a run-
ning stream, contaminated even by sewage several hundred
yards lower down, may again become clear and whole-
some. Alkaline permanganates, by similar oxidation,
promptly destroy organic contamination. Boiling destroys
most noxious vegetable and animal matters, drives off car-
bonic acid gas, and thus throws down calcium carbonate, the
cause of temporary hardness. Sodium carbonate, or lime,
as in Clarke’s process, diffused through hard water, which is
then allowed to settle, abstracts carbonic acid gas, and causes
subsidence of calcium and magnesium carbonates, and also
reduces the permanent hardness produced by calcium
sulphate. For chemical and pharmaceutical purposes, aqua
destillata is requisite, and distillation leaves behind all im-
purities except a trace of organic matters, and one to two per
cent. per volume of air. Such distilled or other pure water
is understood to be used when ‘water’ is ordered in pre-
scriptions.
Mineral waters are unfit for general use on account of
their undue proportion of mineral matters or gases, or from
their being at a higher temperature than that of the locality
in which they are found. The most common mineral waters
are those containing iron and salines. Sea water has a
specific gravity of 1027; an imperial pint contains about
312 grains of solid matters, of which about 240 grains are
common salt.
Actions anp Usts.— Water is nutrient, diluent, antipyretic,
diuretic, and detergent. Introduced into the body in excess
of its requirements, it is removed usually within six hours,
chiefly by the kidneys, and in less amount by the skin and
bowels. When given cold, the kidneys perform the main
excretory office; but when used hot, water is an adjuvant
diaphoretic, cathartic, and, in dogs and other carnivora, an
emetic. Water applied topically, as in the form of hot
fomentation, or the familiar water-dressing, is emollient
and anodyne, abates congestion of circumscribed inflamma-
tion and wounds, and its beneficial effects are also reflexly
propagated to adjacent parts. At high temperatures water
is an irritant. But steam mixed with air is emollient and
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156 NUTRIENT, DILUENT, AND ANTIPYRETIC
soothing. Cold water is refrigerant and tonic. Ice is a
prompt and effective refrigerant ; it controls congestion and
inflammation, especially of the throat, and arrests hemorrhage
from the stomach, lungs, and other parts. Baths are used
not only for comfort and cleanliness, but for the cure of
disease. (See Pharmacy.)
Water constitutes from fifty-five to eighty per cent. of the
weight of the higher animals, and is essential for digestion,
absorption, secretion, excretion, and indeed for every vital
process. It is largely present in every kind of food, facili-
tating its digestion and assimilation, and replacing the loss
of fluid constantly taking place by the skin, lungs, and
kidneys. Insufficient and excessive supplies are alike injuri-
ous ; but animals in health, and with constant free access to
water, rarely take more than is good for them. Excepting
for a few hours previous to any great exertion, and when
hungry, overheated, and prostrated, the horse in health
should not be restricted in his water supply. Indeed, in
many well-managed modern stables a limited amount of
water is constantly at the horse’s head, and the daily quan-
tity thus drunk is actually less than when the animal is
allowed to slake his thirst three or four times daily. Although
a moderate amount of water is essential for digestion, an
excessive quantity injuriously dilutes the intestinal contents,
and favours acid fermentation.
Horses, especially if tired and hungry, before having a
little hay—which, being eaten slowly, is in such circum-
stances preferable to grain—should receive some water, or,
better still, a gallon of gruel. In some cab and carrying
establishments, each hard-worked horse, on his return to the
stable, is provided with a supply of oatmeal gruel, which is
found not only to help condition, but to diminish attacks
of colic and other gastro-intestinal derangements. A copious
draught of water, taken immediately after a rapidly-eaten
meal, hurries the imperfectly digested food too rapidly into
the intestines, where it is apt to set up colic and inflamma-
tion. Very cold water, freely drunk, especially by hungry,
exhausted horses, is a frequent cause of gastro-intestinal
disorder; and in many establishments throughout winter
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WATER 157
steam or hot water is introduced into the horse-troughs, or
the buckets are filled and brought into the stable several
hours before they are required for use.
Water, judiciously used, is a valuable diluent, febrifuge,
and evacuant, serviceable in febrile and inflammatory
diseases. When given moderately cold, it is more palatable
and satisfying than in the tepid state in which it is some-
times presented to sick horses. Rendered feebly bitter with
a little cascarilla or quassia infusion, secretion is encouraged
and thirst is more effectually quenched. Small portions of
ice placed in the mouth are sucked by most animals, and
promote secretion, abate thirst, and also relieve congestion
and irritation. Horses greedy of water, and especially those
with defective wind or liability to acidity or diarrhwa, should
be supplied frequently with small quantities, while, further to
relieve thirst, the food should be damped. After a cathartic
dose, and until the physic has ceased to operate, even
moderate draughts of cold water in many horses cause
griping. Calves and lambs, feverish and purging, some-
times die if they have free access to water.
As a diluent, water mechanically relieves choking and
coughing; dilutes corrosive and irritant poisons; assists the
action of diaphoretics, diuretics, and purgatives. Tepid water
is a convenient auxiliary emetic for dogs and pigs. Injected
into the rectum, warm water allays irritability of the bowels
and urino-genital organs, and promotes the action of the
bowels. Water, whether cold or hot, checks bleeding ; but is
most effectual at a temperature of about 120° Fahr. Injected
into the vagina, it stays the discharge of leucorrhea. A
good scrubbing with tepid water and soap is a very essen-
tial preliminary to the successful treatment of mange or scab.
It removes scales and dirt, abounding especially in inveterate
cases, and hence facilitates access of the special dressings to
the burrows of the parasites.
Water is the important constituent of emollients (p. 58).
Hot fomentations moisten, soften, and relax dry and
irritable textures, and relieve tension, tenderness, and pain.
Applied early, and continued for several hours, they control
or relieve congestion and inflammation of strains and
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158 DETERGENT, EMOLLIENT, AND COUNTER-IRRITANT
contused wounds, Their external application, by retlex
action, often soothes irritated or inflamed internal parts. In
this way fomentations allay the pain of colic and inflamma-
tion of the bowels. Steaming the head and throat in like
manner often relieves catarrh, sore-throat, and strangles.
Professor Williams insists on the value of steaming, and hot
fomentations in laryngitis, and bronchitis, and prefers
fomentations to counter-irritants in pneumonia and pleurisy.
Soothing watery vapour, medicated, if need be, with
laudanum, belladonna, ether, vinegar, sulphurous acid, or
alkaline hypochlorites, is readily evolved from a steam-kettle,
from a well-made bran-mash placed in a roomy nose-bag, or
from a bucket containing freshly-steamed hay.
Water-dressings, consisting of several folds of lint or tow,
saturated with hot water, and covered with oiled skin or
mackintosh cloth to retard evaporation, or a sheet of well-
soaked spongio-piline, are frequently substituted for
fomentations and poultices, and are usually preferable,
especially to poultices, on account of their lightness and
cleanliness.
Water, nearly boiling, is a prompt and powerful counter-
irritant, especially useful in cattle practice. When applied
to the chest or abdomen of horses or cattle, several folds of
thick woollen horse-rug are sometimes placed round the
patient, and hot water from time to time poured on the folds.
Counter-irritation thus rapidly developed, in careful hands,
does not blemish, and frequently proves of service in the first
stages of pneumonia and pleurisy, in colic, enteritis, peritonitis,
and obstinate constipation, alike of horses and cattle.
Cold water is a useful refrigerant. When the acute con-
gestion, heat, and tenderness of bruises, strains, and wounds
have been so far abated by hot applications, cold exerts
wholesome refrigerant, tonic, and constringing effects. Linen
bandages, constantly wetted, relieve chronic strains, jars, and
windgalls of the legs of horses. Cold water is also service-
able, after disinfection, in broken knees, synovitis and
arthritis, open or closed, and other injuries of the limbs.
Continuous irrigation is readily effected through a small
indiarubber pipe, connected with a water tap, or brought
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WATER—ICE 159
from a supply tank on a higher level. Cold water similarly
supplied keeps at low temperature the swabs around the
coronets and feet of horses suffering from laminitis. Rugs
dipped in cold water and applied to the chest walls, are
successfully employed in acute congestion of the lungs,
brought on by over-exertion, and especially in hot weather.
Cold water dashed over the head and neck is a powerful
stimulant, serviceable in megrims, sunstroke, phrenitis, con-
vulsions, syncope, and the comatose stage of milk fever in
cattle, as well as in poisoning with alcohol, chloroform,
opium, and prussic acid. The shock is increased when very
cold water is used, and when it falls on the patient from a
height of several feet. Such cold affusion must not,
however, be long continued, as it quickly abstracts animal
heat. Equally effectual results are more safely attained by
alternately douching with cold and warm water.
Ice in small pieces, placed in the mouth, is readily sucked
by most animals, and often relieves congestion of the throat,
and irritability of the stomach, especially in dogs. Applied
usually in a bag or bladder, it is serviceable in inflamed and
prolapsed uterus and rectum, in piles, herniz, in hemorrhage,
which sometimes occurs shortly after parturition, as well as
in phrenitis and parturient apoplexy in cows. Two parts
of ice mixed with one of salt form a powerful freezing
mixture of the temperature of 4° Fahr. Snow or ice is
applied to retard the sudden rise of temperature and con-
sequent gangrene in frost-bite, to arrest circumscribed
congestion and inflammation, to check bleeding and convul-
sions. Ice maintained in contact with the skin for six or
eight minutes diminishes sensation, and facilitates the
performance of a few minor operations; but for inducing
local anzesthesia, cocaine is preferable.
OXYGEN
Oxygen is a colourless, odourless gas, slightly heavier than
atmospheric air, and forming about one-fifth of its volume.
Twenty-five volumes of water dissolve one volume of oxygen.
It has a wide range of chemical affinities.
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160 OXYGEN— OZONE
Actions anp Usrs.—Oxygen has slight effect on the
unbroken skin, but stimulates denuded skin and mucous
surfaces. Oxygenated solutions have been applied to atonic
wounds and ulcers. Such solutions, when swallowed, aid
oxidation of waste products in the alimentary canal. The
breathing of the gas has been recommended in asthma,
pneumonia, and various respiratory difficulties, as well as in
cardiac failure. Six gallons inhaled by human patients have,
however, no notable eftect. Only limited quantities can be
retained by the blood; the serum, when saturated, retains
one-fifteenth of the amount the red globules can take up,
and hence it is very doubtful whether tissue oxidation can
be effected by inhalation of oxygen. Dr. Lauder Brunton
states that small animals confined in jars of oxygen become
excited, tetanised, and die (Pharmacology).
OZONE
When electric sparks are passed through air, the molecules
of oxygen, represented by two atoms (O,), are split up, and
rearranged in triad atoms, constituting ozone (Q,). It is also
produced by the slow oxidation of phosphorus in the pre-
sence of water, and by the action of protoplasm. It is
unstable, being readily converted info oxygen. It is distin-
guished by its peculiar smell, and by its decomposing
potassium iodide solution, and when mixed with damp
starch, producing the blue starch iodide.
Actions anp Uses.—It oxidises more actively than oxygen,
destroys the coagulability of albumin, decomposes many
organic substances, and kills micro-organisms. In virtue of
its chemical actions it is a powerful irritant. When inhaled
it induces excitement, succeeded by exhaustion and some-
times by convulsions. It has been used for most of the
cases in which oxygen has been given, notably for the de-
struction of micro-parasites in diphtheria and other similar
diseases (Brunton).
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AMMONIUM SALTS 161
AMMONIUM AND ITS MEDICINAL COMPOUNDS
Ammonii Chloridum. Sal-ammoniac. Chloride of Am-
monium. NH, Cl.
This salt, from which most ammonium compounds are
derived, may be formed by neutralising crude solution of
ammonia or ammonium carbonate with hydrochloric acid,
and purifying the product (B.P.). The salt thus prepared
occurs in inodorous colourless crystals, or in translucent,
tough, fibrous masses. It has a saline, acid taste, a slightly
acid reaction on colouring matter; is soluble in one part
boiling, or three of cold water, and in 60 parts alcohol (90
per cent.). During solution it abstracts much heat, and is
consequently an ingredient of many freezing mixtures.
Heated it sublimes unchanged. Mixed with lime or potash
it evolves ammonia.
Actions anp Uses.—Expectorant, cholagogue, diuretic and
refrigerant. Large doses exhibit the stimulant and subse-
quent paralysing effects of ammonium salts. Two ounces
given to a horse caused muco-enteritis (Moiroud); two
drachms destroyed a small dog in an hour. The alimentary
mucous membrane was found congested and swollen (Orfila).
The symptoms described as occurring in dogs are ‘muscular
weakness, slow breathing, violent action of the heart, and
tetanic spasms’ (Christison).
Mepictnat Doses stimulate the alimentary and respiratory
mucous membranes, promote their secretions, and relieve
gastric as well as bronchial catarrh, especially in patients
where pyrexia has not been serious, or has abated. They
are also recommended in torpidity of the liver and in rheu-
matism.
Doses.— Horses, 3ij. to Zjv.; cattle, Zjv. to 3j.; sheep and
pigs, grs. xxx. to 3j.; dogs, grs. iii. to grs. x. In bolus, pill
or drench.
One part of chloride dissolved in ten to twenty parts of
water or spirit is used as a stimulant gargle, and refrigerant
lotion for inflammatory swellings, bruises, and sprains. A
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162 LIQUOR AMMONIA
cooling mixture, stated to lower the thermometer from 50°
to 10° Fahr. (Pereira), is made with four ounces each of sal-
ammoniac and nitre, dissolved in eight ounces of water ; but
for ordinary refrigerant purposes, ‘six or eight times this
amount of water may be used.
Liquor AMMONIZ Fortis. Strong Solution of Ammonia.
Caustic Ammonia. Hartshorn.
An aqueous solution containing 32°5 per cent. by weight
of ammonia, NH, It may be obtained by heating a
mixture of ammonium chloride, and slaked lime, and
passing the resulting ammonia into distilled water (B.P.).
Traces of ammonia exist in the air, and in rain. It
occurs in the excretions of living animals, from the breaking
down of their nitrogenous tissues, and is evolved from the
putrefaction and destructive distillation alike of vegetable
and animal matters.. But the coal beds are the great com-
mercial source of ammonia and its compounds. Coal, when
distilled in the making of gas, leaves a waste liquor, which
if treated with hydrochloric acid, yields ammonium chloride
or sal-ammoniag.
Prorerties.—The liquor ammonie fortis is colourless,
pungent, and caustic. Specific gravity 0891. One fluid
drachm contains 15°83 grains of gaseous ammonia. Purity
is ensured when the sample, diluted with four times its
volume of distilled water, gives no precipitate with solution
of lime, ammonium sulphide, or copper ammonio-sulphate,
and, when treated with an excess of nitric acid, it is not
rendered turbid by silver nitrate or barium chloride. It
is very strongly alkaline, and unites with fats and oils, form-
ing soaps and liniments.
For most medicinal and pharmaceutical purposes the
liquor ammoniz fortis is too concentrated, and a diluted
solution is made by adding to one measure of liq. ammon.
fortis, two measures of distilled water. This medicinal
solution is entitled liquor ammoniz, contains 10 per cent.
by weight of ammonia NH,, and has the specific gravity
0.959.
A spirit of ammonia of corresponding strength, contain-
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ACTION OF AMMONIUM SALTS 163
ing 10 per cent. of gas in rectified spirit, is recognised by
the U.S.P.
Aromatic spirit of ammonia, popularly known as sal-
volatile, is a solution of liquor ammonie fortis and am-
monium carbonate in rectified spirit and water, flavoured
with oil of nutmeg and lemon.
Generat Action or Ammonium Satrts.—They resemble potas-
sium and sodium salts, but being more volatile are more
prompt and powerful. Unlike caustic potash and soda,
liquor ammoniz does not dissolve the epidermis, and
consequently does not cauterise, but if evaporation be pre-
vented, it passes through the epidermis, irritates the dermis
and vesicates.
Dr. Lauder Brunton thus describes their actions :—‘ Am-
monium is considerably modified by the acid radicle with
which it is combined. All the ammonium salts have an
action on the spinal cord, motor nerves, and muscles, and, in
advanced poisoning, paralyse these structures. They do not,
however, affect all these structures with equal readiness.
The organ first affected, and consequently the symptoms of
poisoning, vary with the salt employed. Some salts affect
the spinal cord first, others the motor nerves, ... They
appear to form a series, at one end of which the members
stimulate the spinal cord, and have no marked paralysing
action on the motor nerves; while those at the other end
have no marked stimulating action on the cord, but, on the
contrary, have a marked paralysing action both on the cord
and on motor nerves. At the stimulating end of this series
are ammonia and ammonium chloride, and at the paralysing
end ammonium iodide; whilst the bromide, phosphate, and
sulphate lie between.’
In their primary stimulation and secondary paresis,
ammonium salts resemble the mono-hydric alcohols and
ethers; but they act more markedly on the cord and motor
centres, and less on the higher cerebral centres. Their
antidotes are dilute acids, milk, and oils. Ammonium salts
increase the secretion of the bronchial and intestinal glands,
and also of the sweat glands and kidneys, by which they are
mainly excreted. In the blood of mammals ammonia is con-
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164 AMMONIA LIQUOR
verted almost entirely into urea, in the blood of birds into
uric acid. It increases the formation of glycogen in the
liver, and of acidity in the urine (Brunton).
Actions anp Uses or Ammonia.—Ammonia causes topical
irritation. Tolerably concentrated solutions abstract water
from the tissues, dissolve their epidermal or epithelial scales,
liquefy their albumin, and saponify their fats. They hence
act as caustics. Full doses stimulate the spinal cord, motor
nerves, and muscles, and subsequently paralyse the cord, but,
unlike ammonium chloride, do not markedly paralyse motor
nerves. Ammonia gas entering the air-passages causes
suffocation. Strong solutions swallowed produce gastro-
enteritis, while, from absorption, paralysis of the brain centres
and coma occasionally ensue. Reflexly, when applied to the
nostrils or stomach, it stimulates the vaso-motor centre, and
raises blood-pressure, and, after absorption, directly stimu-
lates the circulatory and respiratory nerve-centres, and
promotes secretion alike from the mucous surface and skin.
It is administered as an antacid, diffusible stimulant, and
antispasmodic, and used externally as a stimulant and
counter-irritant.
Toxic Errecrs.—Hertwig found that half an ounce of the
strong solution, given diluted, had no bad effects on horses,
but that one ounce proved fatal in sixteen hours, and three
ounces in fifty minutes, the latter quantity causing violent
cramps and difficult breathing. Half a drachm introduced
into the stomach, and retained by tying the esophagus,
destroyed a dog in twenty-four hours, causing much uneasi-
ness, agitation, and stupor, and leaving after death slight
redness of the mucous membrane of the stomach (Orfila),
The most effectual antidotes are vinegar and other diluted
acids, with diluents and demulcents.
Mepiciwat Uszs.—Its antacid and stimulant properties
recommend ammonia in indigestion, tympanites, and spas-
modic colic in ruminants. Stimulating the vaso-motor and
respiratory centres, it is valuable in antagonising syncope in
influenza and similar complaints. As in human practice,
ammonia fumes are occasionally used to rouse animals from
shock, collapse, or chloroform intoxication, but must be used
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MEDICINAL USES AND DOSES 165
cautiously, lest excessive irritation of the respiratory mucous
membrane be produced. It is a promptly-acting antidote in
poisoning by opium, aconite, digitalis, and other narcotic and
sedative drugs. It may be administered much diluted in the
usual way, injected subcutaneously and intravenously, and
also applied externally in the treatment of snake-bites ; but its
success is uncertain, especially in the case of the cobra and
other venomous snakes. On account of its promoting bron-
chial secretion, and assisting in its expulsion, ammonia is
serviceable as a stimulating expectorant. To develop its
more general effects, it is frequently prescribed with alcoholic
stimulants, as in the convenient form of aromatic spirit of
ammonia.
ExrernaL Uses.—In the form of liniment of ammonia, or
of compound liniment of camphor, ammonia proves a useful
counter-irritant for muscular strains and rheumatism, for
stiff joints, for sore throat and bronchitis, for maintaining the
stimulation provoked by mustard or cantharides in pneu-
monia, pleurisy, and influenza, and for preventing the rapid
chilling of fomented surfaces. A pledget of lint saturated
with ammonia, applied to the skin and covered with oiled
silk quickly vesicates. It relieves the irritation caused by
nettles, and by bites and stings of insects.
Doses, etc.—Of liquor ammonie as a diffusible stimulant
and antispasmodic, horses take f3ij. to fZiv.; cattle, fZiv. to
£31; sheep and pigs, f3ji.; and dogs, ML v. to Ml x. The
aromatic spirit is given in proportionally larger doses. In
order to sustain their transient effects they require to be
repeated at intervals of two or three hours. On account of
their pungency, they must be largely diluted with water, or,
better still, with cold gruel or mucilage. A useful stimulant
draught, either for horses or cattle, is made with half an
ounce each of liquor ammoni, sweet spirit of nitre, and
tincture of gentian, given in a quart of ale or of cold gruel.
For colic and indigestion in horses, a draught composed of
half an ounce of solution of ammonia, with four or five
drachms of aloes, given in water, has been recommended.
For external application the liquor ammoniz is gener-
ally used, mixed with five to ten parts of oil. A convenient
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166 AMMONIUM CARBONATE
stimulating liniment is made with one part each of strong
solution of ammonia, oil of turpentine, and water, mixed
with four to six parts of linseed oil. A drachm of liquor
ammoniz fortis, with half a pint of soap liniment, makes a
useful stimulant embrocation for sore-throat. The B.P.
liniment of ammonia consists of one part solution of
ammonia (10 per cent.), one part of almond oil, and two
parts of olive oil, The popular ‘White Oil’ is made with one
ounce of camphor, four ounces of rectified spirit, a pint of
olive oil, and two ounces solution of ammonia.
AMMONII CARBONATE. Carbonate of Ammonia. Ammonium
Carbonate.
A variable mixture of Ammonium hydrogen carbonate,
NH, HCO,, with ammonium carbonate, NH, NH, CO,, pro-
duced on heating ammonium sulphate or chloride with
calcium carbonate (B.P.).
It occurs in colourless, translucent, fibrous, crystalline
masses, with a pungent alkaline taste, and a strong am-
moniacal odour. Soluble in four parts of cold water; rather
less of tepid water; in two hundred of alcohol; and in five
of glycerin. Decomposes in boiling water, with evolution of
ammonia and carbonic acid; sublimes when heated, and
when exposed to the air becomes opaque, friable, and covered
with a white efflorescence.
Actions anp Uszs.—The carbonate closely resembles liquor
ammonie, but is less volatile, less powerful, and rather more
permanent in its effects. Large doses produce, however, the
same primary stimulation, and secondary paralysis of the
spinal cord and motor centres. Orfila records that two and
a half drachms given to a dog caused gastric inflammation,
tetanic convulsions, and death.
Mepicina, Uses.—It is given to all animals in atonic
dyspepsia; conjoins the actions of an antacid and diffusible
stimulant ; in small doses promotes secretion of gastric juice,
and in larger relieves flatulence and spasm. and z45 grain
atropine sulphate are convenient. The ointment is composed
of atropine, grs. 10, oleic acid, grs. 40, and lard, grs. 450.
Homatropine hydrobromide, as already indicated, is
sometimes substituted for atropine sulphate for internal
administration, and still more frequently for eye cases. To
dilate the pupil, a solution, containing grs. iv. homatropine
hydrobromide, to the ounce of water or castor oil, is employed.
CAFFHRINE
Carretna. An alkaloid usually obtained from the dried
leaves of tea, Camellia thea, or the dried seeds of Coftea
arabica. C,H,,N,O,,H,O. (B.P.) Nat. Ord.—Ternstri-
miacez or Rubiacee.
Caffeine and theine are now considered identical, and the
same alkaloid is also got from the seeds of the Guarana
or Paullinia Sorbilis, the leaves of Ilex paraguayensis, as well
as from the Kola nut. Caffeine is homologous with theo-
bromine, which is obtained from the nibs of the Theobroma
cacao, and chemically is methyl-theobromine. Caffeine
occurs in colourless, inodorous, acicular crystals, soluble in
seventy parts cold water, in one of boiling water, seven of
chloroform, and in forty of alcohol. Treated with a crystal of
potassium chlorate, and a few drops of hydrochloric acid,
and the mixture evaporated to dryness in a porcelain dish,
a reddish residue results, which becomes purple when
moistened with ammonia,
Caffeine citrate, obtained by adding caffeine to a hot
solution of citric acid, is a white, inodorous powder, with an
acid taste and reaction. It is soluble in thirty-two parts
of water, and in twenty-two of alcohol.
Actions anp Usts,—Caffeine stimulates and subsequently
paralyses the nerve-centres of the cerebrum, cord, and
medulla. In dogs, cats, rabbits, and rats, full doses, hypo-
dermically injected, do not, as in man, act prominently on
the brain, but chiefly affect the spinal cord, exalt reflex
excitability, and cause muscular rigidity, convulsions
and tetanus (Phillips). Large doses swallowed by dogs,
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CANNABIS INDICA 489
moreover, sometimes cause vomiting, and gastro-intestinal
irritation.
Like theobromine, it exerts a restorative effect on both
voluntary and involuntary muscles, enabling them to perform
increased work. On account of its stimulating the medulla
and cardiac centres, moderate doses increase respiration
and pulse rate, and raise blood-pressure, and, resembling
strychnine and veratrine, antagonise heart and lung inability
and paresis. They hence steady and strengthen the quick
action of the weak heart in exhausting diseases, thus acting
like digitalis, but more promptly and with more notable
diuresis. As a nerve stimulant, caffeine has been given in
indigestion in horses, milk-fever in cows, and to dogs
prostrated with distemper. It is excreted in the urine,
increasing alike the amount of the urinary solids and fluids.
It is prescribed by German practitioners in cardiac, hepatic,
and renal dropsies. It is used as an antidote for the cadaver
alkaloids and ptomaines, for the paralysis of curare, and the
neuroses of morphine, chloroform, and alcohol. Topically
applied, it paralyses the peripheral endings of nerves. Coftee
is not identical in action with caffeine, for besides 0°50 of the
alkaloid, it contains aromatic oils and tannic acid. Tea, well
diluted with milk, is sometimes serviceable for horses, and
still more so for foals, calves,and dogs reduced by acute disease.
Doszs, etc.—For horses and cattle, grs. v. to grs. x.; for
dogs, according to size, gr. ss. to grs. ij. When swallowed,
caffeine is liable to produce gastro-intestinal irritation, and
hence should be given hypodermically in the minimum doses
mentioned, dissolved in water containing half a grain of
sodium benzoate or salicylate to each grain of caffeine.
CANNABIS INDICA
Inp1an Hemp. The dried, flowering, or fruiting tops of the
female plant of Cannabis sativa, grown in India, from
which the resin has not been removed. (B.P.) Nat.
Ord,—Cannabinee.
The Cannabis sativa cultivated in India, and also in the
southern states of America, attains a height of four to ten
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490 CANNABIS INDICA
feet. The stalks, leaves, female tops, fruit, and exuding resin
are used in making the extract, the preparation generally
prescribed. The most active extract is stated to be obtained
from the resinous juice, cannabin or churrus, which,
although exuding from various parts of the plant, appears
to be more potent when got from the female flowering tops.
Churrus, mixed with tobacco and treacle, is smoked in the
East as an intoxicant, producing dreamy narcosis. The
larger leaves and fruit, with adhering resin, constitute bhang,
which is sometimes given to horses on long journeys
Gunjah consists of the leaf-stalks, with adhering brown
leaves, dried, flowering, and fruiting tops and resinous
exudate. Haschisch is an Arabian preparation obtained
from the tops of the female plants after flowering. In India,
bhang and gunjah are given to vicious horses when being
shod, or when undergoing surgical operations.
Indian hemp, for pharmaceutical use, occurs in compressed,
rough, dusky green masses, consisting of the branched
upper part of the stem bearing the leaves and pistillate
flowers or fruits, matted together by a resinous secretion.
The upper leaves are simple, alternate, 1-3-partite, the
lower are opposite, and digitate. The fruit is one-seeded,
and supported by an ovate-lanceolate bract (B.P.). The
composition of cannabis indica is still uncertain, but the
following constituents have been obtained :—
Cannabin, a glucoside; cannabinol, an oil which is said to
be the active principle; cannabene, a volatile oil; tetano-
cannabine, and a resinous body cannabinon, insoluble in
water, soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, fats, and volatile
oils.
The extract is directed to be prepared by exhausting
Indian hemp in coarse powder, with alcohol (90 per cent.),
by percolation, and evaporating the percolate to the con-
sistence of a soft extract (B.P.).
Actions anp Usts.—Indian hemp is a deliriant-narcotic,
hypnotic, anodyne, and antispasmodic. Bhang is used in
India by all classes as a pick-me-up, and in larger amount to
induce pleasing, dreamy narcosis. Similar effects are stated
to be produced in horses; the flagging appetite is improved,
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ACTIONS AND USES 49]
capacity for exertion increased, exhaustion and restlessness
are overcome. Gunjah is a more active anodyne and
narcotic. It has long been used in India to dull sensibility
during surgical operations. Sir Robert Christison stated
that for energy, certainty, and convenience, Indian hemp is
the next anodyne to opium, and often equals it. Mr.
Rutherford, Edinburgh, for several years in India used gunjah
largely in the treatment of equine colic, and he informed
me that it relieves spasm and pain as quickly as opium, and
without arresting the action of the bowels or producing
delirium. American practitioners sometimes prescribe it in
diarrheea, occasionally conjoining it with chloroform and
aromatic ammonia. Veterinary-Major Smith prescribed the
extract, in the treatment of colic, enteritis, laminitis, and
other painful affections, with excellent results. In India
Veterinary-Major Rutherford administered the extract in
graduated doses of one drachm to an ounce, in bolus, to
twenty-six geldings and mares of various stamps and
temperaments. Eight animals received one drachm; in
about one to two hours, usually after a little preliminary
excitement, they became sleepy, but were readily roused;
there was no uniform effect on the pulse or breathing. The
appetite was not affected. In geldings the penis was drawn.
A prominent feature was excitement when trotted, most
moving as if drunk. Usually within six or eight hours the
effects passed off.
Two drachms administered caused no preliminary excite-
ment. The temperature usually receded about one degree,
the pulse fell in one subject 8 beats per minute, respira-
tions were reduced about two movements. Food was
neglected, trotting was very unsteady. Two hours later
drowsiness appeared, the eyes were heavy, the lower lip
pendulous, the penis drawn sometimes as much as four
inches. The effects continued ten or twelve hours.
Several animals receiving three drachms of cannabis
extract, and others six drachms, manifested very similar
symptoms. The dulness and sleepiness, however, came on
more quickly, and were more marked, than when smaller
doses had been given. When moved, the subjects showed
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499 CANNABIS INDICA
unsteadiness on the fore-limbs, staggering, inability to trot
straight, the penis protruding. The feeces were discharged at
unduly long intervals, and in reduced amount. The eftects
continued from twenty to twenty-six hours. Eight drachms
in bolus with linseed meal were given to a nervous, kicking
five-year-old. For two hours he tossed his head incessantly,
subsequently stood very quiet, but when touched became
excited, ate grass slowly, but left portions between the lips.
By the seventh hour he became very sleepy, took no notice
of any one, he was unsteady on his fore-legs, the body swayed
backwards and forwards, the muscles about the elbow and
flank quivered, the penis was drawn about nine inches.
There was no movement of the bowels for sixteen hours.
By the twenty-fifth hour he brightened up; and in thirty
hours was again normal. A second horse received eight
drachms cannabis extract; in three and a half hours he
became sleepy, with penis drawn three to four inches. An
hour later the head was down, the eyelids almost closed, the
lower lip pendulous. He was unsteady on his legs, swayed
backwards and forwards, took no notice of flies on face or
body, when trotted, did so sideways and very unsteadily, the
pulse and respiration were lowered. For six hours he
remained in the same quiescent sleepy state, noticing
nothing, and did not lie down during the night. By the
twenty-fourth hour he got brighter, but was still unsteady
on his limbs. No dung was passed for thirty hours, when
some dry, small pellets were discharged. Although continu-
ing quiet, he gradually became lively, and in thirty-five
hours was perfectly recovered. Professor Hobday states
that doses of ten grains to two, drachms of extract, adminis-
tered to dogs, although quickly causing stupor, with
paralysis of the hind-limbs—which might continue one or
two days—had never proved fatal, these effects gradually
passed off, and their removal was expedited by cocaine.
Indian hemp has proved serviceable in abating the
delirium occurring in some cases of parturient apoplexy,
and in tranquillising the involuntary spasms of chorea in
dogs. In the form of suppository it is sometimes substituted
for opium in the treatment of irritable or painful conditions
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NUX-VOMICA 493
of the rectum and urino-genital organs. Major Smith and
other practitioners bear evidence to the narcotic and
analgesic effects of the thick, treacle-like, semi-solid extract
obtainable in India. An ounce, it is stated, very shortly
renders the horse so sleepy that he can be roused with
difficulty, and may be severely pricked with a needle
without wincing. The Indian extract is devoid of the
excitant effects which opium exerts on many horses.
Doszs, etc.—Of the extract, horses and cattle take 3j. to
Biv.; dogs, gr. j. to grs. iij. in bolus or pill. Larger doses
may be given without danger. Veterinary-Major Smith
prescribed one ounce, sometimes two, three, or more ounces
of the extract, for horses affected with colic, enteritis, or
laminitis. It is often advantageously conjoined with chloral
hydrate. The BP. tincture is made with one ounce of the
extract and a pint of alcohol (90 per cent.). It contains one
grain of extract in twenty-two minims. The tincture is
inconvenient to use, as water precipitates the resin. It may
be given to horses in doses of 3]. to Ziv., or more, mixed with
mucilage, a drachm to the ounce of tincture, before adding
water or other vehicle.
NUX-VOMICA
Nux-Vomica. The dried ripe seeds of Strychnos Nux-
Vomica. Nat. Ord.—Loganiacee.
STRYCHNINE. Strychnina. An alkaloid obtained from the
dried ripe seeds of Strychnos Nux-Vomica, and other
species of strychnos. (B.P.)
The Strychnos nux-vomica grows on the southern coasts
of India, in many islands of the Indian Archipelago, and in
the northern parts of Australia. It is a moderate-sized tree,
with crooked stem, irregular branches, tough white wood,
known in commerce as snake-wood; grey or yellow bark—
the poisonous, false Angustura bark; a globular berry, about
the size of an apple, containing, amid soft gelatinous pulp
(which birds are said to eat with impunity), five round, disc-
shaped, ash-grey seeds, about an inch in diameter. The
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494 NUX-VOMICA, STRYCHNINE, AND BRUCINE
seeds have a central scar or hilum on one surface, are
covered with short satiny hairs, have an intensely bitter
taste, and are tough and horny. Nux-vomica contains two
poisonous alkaloids—strychnine and brucine—each present
to the amount of about one per cent.; the soluble, amorphous
strychnic or igasuric acid, which is allied to malic acid;
sugar, fat, loganin, and igasurine.
Strychnine (C,,H,,0,N,) is prepared by splitting the nux-
vomica seeds, steaming and reducing them to powder, which
is digested with spirit and water. The spirit is recovered
by distillation. To the watery extract lead acetate is added,
which precipitates acid and colouring matters. The filtered
solution is treated with ammonia, which precipitates the
alkaloids.
Strychnine occurs in trimetric prisms, is colourless and
inodorous; it requires for solution 5760 parts of cold water
and 2500 parts of hot water, but its intensely bitter taste is
appreciable even when diluted with 30,000 parts of water.
It is soluble in 150 parts of spirit, and in 6 parts of chloro-
form, and nearly insoluble in ether. It is not coloured
by nitric acid, and leaves no ash when burned with free
access of air. It forms crystalline, colourless, intensely bitter
salts, of which the hydrochloride is official.
It is readily recognised. On a white plate a crystal is
dissolved in pure sulphuric acid without change of colour,
but when the dissolved alkaloid is made to mingle with a
drop or two of an oxidising solution, such as that of potas-
sium permanganate, there is produced a characteristic violet
coloration. Its extreme bitterness, and the tetanic spasms
produced in frogs and other small animals by solutions con-
taining the ;;'ypth part of a grain are valuable corroborative
tests.
Brucine or Brucia (C,,H,,N,0,.4H,0) is associated with
strychnine in the seeds. It occurs in colourless prismatic
crystals; is almost as bitter as strychnine, but is more
soluble in water. It is reddened by nitric acid and chlorine.
Strong sulphuric acid colours brucine a rich rose, but on
adding potassium permanganate, the play of colours observed
with strychnine is not produced.
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STIMULANTS OF MOTOR CENTRES 495
Actions anp Uses.—Nux-vomica, strychnine, and brucine
are stimulants of the motor centres of the spinal cord, and
of other motor centres. Full doses produce tetanic convul-
sions, which cause death from asphyxia, or from subsequent
paralysis and exhaustion. Medicinal doses are antiseptic,
gastric, vascular, and nerve tonics, and anti-paralysants.
They destroy enzymes and other vegetable and animal
organisms.
General Actions.—The alkaloids differ from each other
and from nux-vomica mainly in the degree of their action.
Strychnine is fully fifty times as active as the powdered
nux, and nearly fifteen times as active as brucine. The St.
Ignatius’ bean yielded by the Strychnos Ignatia—a tree
grown in the Philippine Islands—contains strychnine and
brucine. Akazga, the ordeal plant of the West Coast of
Africa, belongs to this order, and yields akazgine, which is
analogous to strychnine. Other trees of the order also yield
tetanising poisons. Allied to this group are thebaine and
some other opium alkaloids ; gelsemine, the alkaloid obtained
from the rhizome and rootlets of yellow jasmine; and pic-
rotoxin, a neutral principle prepared from the seeds of
Anamirta paniculata (Cocculus indicus). The methyl com-
pounds of strychnine and brucine, instead of stimulating
spinal and motor centres, and producing convulsions, re-
semble curare, and paralyse the ends of motor nerves.
Strychnine lessens oxidation of protoplasm and of blood,
and checks fermentation, but not nearly so eftectually as
quinine. Low organisms, wetted with weak watery solutions,
have their activity increased; wetted with strong solutions,
their activity is diminished and they are destroyed. It
stimulates the grey matter of the spinal cord, exalting its
reflex excitability, and also stimulates other reflex nerve
centres (Brunton). Small to moderate doses promote secre-
tion of saliva, improve appetite, stimulate the intestinal
muscular coat and increase peristalsis, and hence assist in
overcoming constipation. They stimulate the respiratory,
cardiac, and vaso-motor centres, and hence increase the
rapidity and depth of the respirations, the number and force
of the pulsations and raise blood-pressure. Larger doses
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496 NUX-VOMICA AND STRYCHNINE
cause muscular twitching, hypereesthesia, greater acuteness
of the special senses, and clonic convulsions. The extensor
muscles usually overcome the flexor muscles, producing
opisthotonos. Death results from asphyxia, occurring
during a spasm, or from paralysis and collapse, occurring
during a period of relaxation. Strychnine is absorbed
rapidly from the small intestine and rectum, and still more
rapidly from the bronchi and cellular tissues. It has been
detected in the spinal cord, brain, liver, spleen, and blood.
It is tardily excreted unchanged, or as strychnic acid,
in the urine, in which it has been found an hour after ad-
ministration, and has also been detected forty-eight hours
later. Owing to its slow elimination strychnine should be
regarded as a cumulative medicine.
Toxic Acrions.—Poisonous doses within a few minutes
produce in all animals trembling and twitching of voluntary
and also of involuntary muscles, and violent spasms, usually
lasting one to two minutes, gradually becoming more frequent
and severe; and from their involving the glottis, diaphragm,
and other muscles of respiration, cause death, usually by
asphyxia. The symptoms (and mode of death) resemble
those of tetanus, but are suddenly developed, intermittent,
and more rapidly fatal. The temperature is raised some-
times two degrees.
The several classes of animals differ in their susceptibility
to the actions of strychnine. Horses and cattle are not so
readily affected as men and dogs. Poultry are said to be
less easily affected than other birds; while guinea-pigs and
some monkeys seem quite insusceptible to its action, at
least so long as it is given by the mouth (Dr. H. C. Wood,
Treatise on Therapeutics).
Horses after swallowing six grains of strychnine had twitch-
ing of the muscles, and were poisoned by twelve grains in
about twelve minutes (Tabourin). Five grains in bolus pro-
duced, after six hours, abdominal pain, laboured breathing,
acceleration of the pulse from 42 to 60, excitement when
touched, and tetanicspasms. Twelve hours later the pulse was
96, and subsequently rose to 120. Blood-letting and fomen-
tations gave no relief, and in a convulsive paroxysm the horse
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TETANISING POISONS 497
died. The membranes of the brain and cord were injected,
the lungs engorged (Veterinarian, 1856). Given hypoder-’
mically, the toxic dose is stated by Fréhner and Kaufmann
to be three to six grains. Halfa grain, given hypodermically,
induced in half an hour general muscular rigidity. Ten
drachms of nux-vomica in powder caused muscular tremors
but in solution proved fatal in ten hours (Hertwig). Pro-
fessor Coleman gave a mare two ounces in a drench; within
an hour, and after the animal had drunk some water, she
had violent tetanic symptoms, and died half an hour later.
Ounce doses, given a glandered horse, caused tetanic spasms,
but were not fatal. Moiroud states that the fatal dose for
a horse is one to two ounces,
Cattle withstand larger doses than do horses when the
poison is given by the mouth, whether in solution or bolus.
Mr. Macgillivray, gave an old cow thirty grains strychnine,
and, shortly after, sixty grains, both doses in solution, with
the result of a few spasmodic tremors, which continued for
about twenty minutes (Veterinarian, 1870). I gave a small
red cow, affected with pleuro-pneumonia, grs. xv. strychnine,
suspended in two ounces of oil, at 12 o'clock. At 12.80
the pulse had risen from 70 to 78, regurgitation was ob-
servable in the jugular veins, quivering and twitching
affected the facial muscles, particularly during inspiration.
At 12.45 the pulse numbered 84, and the symptoms were
aggravated. Grs. ij. were given, dissolved in diluted acetic
acid; and in a quarter of an hour the animal was very un-
easy, and attempted to vomit; the pulse was 94, full and
strong; the pupils much dilated. At 1.30 the nausea and
efforts to vomit were much increased, the breathing more
laboured; the animal lay down, and the pulse shortly fell
to 58. At 2.15 the nausea was diminished, and the pulse 92.
Grs. xxx. were then given in acetic acid and water. At 2.20
the pulse was 100, sharp and distinct. The muscles were
affected by frequent spasms. At 2.25 the pulse was 140,
and the animal very sensitive to light, sound, and external
impressions. It reeled and fell. At 2.30 the pulse had risen
to 160, the limbs were very rigid, the eyes protruding,
involuntary spasms more general, frequent, and severe.
21
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498 NUX-VOMICA AND STRYCHNINE
Two minutes later she died quietly. Much smaller doses
are fatal when strychnine is quickly absorbed. When
given hypodermically, Kaufmann states that the toxic dose
for cattle is five or six grains. Tabourin records the death
of a cow in twenty minutes from four grains placed in the
areolar tissues.
Sheep are destroyed by half an ounce nux-vomica in
about thirty minutes, but goats appear to be less susceptible.
Pigs were violently convulsed by fifty grains of nux-vomica
(Tabourin), and poisoned by } to ? grain of strychnine
(Kaufmann).
Dogs are destroyed in two minutes by gr. } strychnine,
and in twelve minutes by gr. } (Christison). An English
terrier was poisoned in twenty-four minutes by gr. 4; a
greyhound in one hour and a half by grs. iij.; another
greyhound in thirty-three minutes by gr. ss. (Dr §S.
Macadam). Kaufmann fixes the toxic dose at 34 to 4
grain. Dogs have been poisoned with grs. viij. of nux-
vomica, and cats with grs. v. Dogs moan and whine, are
uneasy, nauseated, sometimes vomit, tremble, have muscular
twitchings and general spasms, during which the head is
drawn upwards and backwards, and the rectal temperature
is raised 2° to 4° Fahr. The tetanic convulsions continue
one to two minutes, cease for several minutes, but recur with
increased force until death results.
Post-mortem appearances vary with the severity and dura-
tion of the case. Asphyxia renders the blood dark-coloured
and unusually fluid ; there is venous engorgement ; congestion
of the lungs and of the cerebral and spinal meninges; dila-
tation of the vessels of the medulla, and sanguineous
extravasation into the grey matter. When the patient has
survived for several hours, the intestines occasionally present
patches of redness and congestion. Where spasms have
been severe and rapidly fatal, the left side of the heart is
firmly contracted, and contains little, if any, blood. The
tetanised muscles quickly undergo rigor mortis, which
sometimes continues longer than usual. In dogs destroyed
with 4 grain of strychnine, I found the buccal mucous
membrane blanched; the left auricle, and also the intes-
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GASTRIC, VASCULAR, AND NERVE TONICS 499°
tines, continued to contract for nearly an hour after
death, while the cerebral and intestinal vessels were con-
gested with dark venous blood.
Anripotes.—The stomach should be emptied with as little
delay as possible; if convulsions have begun, the patient
should be anwsthetised, the stomach well washed out, and
chloral hydrate given. Professor Hughes Bennett first
shewed the antidotal power of chloral hydrate. He found
that the minimum fatal dose of strychnine for rabbits was
risth er. per pound of body-weight. Twenty rabbits received
more than this poisonous dose; fifteen of these, to whom
chloral was given, recovered. But a few days later, on re-
ceiving the dose previously given, without the chloral, all
died. French authorities advise the chloral to be given
intravenously. Strychnine tetanus is also antagonised by
tobacco, and, less effectually, by such motor paralysers as
curare, conium, opium, and calabar bean.
Mepicinat Uses.—As bitter tonics, nux-vomica and strych-
nine are prescribed in atonic dyspepsia. Their good effects
probably depend upon their checking irregular fermentation,
diminishing excessive secretion, as in catarrhal conditions,
and perfecting co-ordination between the several functions
of digestion and assimilation (Brunton). It is probably
mainly in this way that they relieve many cases of broken-
wind.
Small doses, especially when combined with acids, are
often effectual in checking chronic relaxed and hyper-
secreting conditions of the bowels, where these are not
complicated with irritation. Larger doses, increasing peri-
stalsis, overcome chronic constipation, whether connected
with acute indigestion, inflammation, or febrile attacks, and
are usually prescribed with aloes or salines. They are bene-
ficial in weak, dilated conditions of the heart; during their
excretion they stimulate the urinary organs, while aphro-
disias is occasionally produced. In convalescence from acute
disease they improve appetite and general tone. Strychnine,
subcutaneously injected, is sometimes serviceable in main-
taining activity of the respiratory and heart centres in
collapse and narcotic poisoning.
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500 NUX-VOMICA AND STRYCHNINE
Nux-vomica and strychnine are prescribed in paralysis,
whether of the limbs, intestines, or bladder. They are most
beneficial in chronic motor paralysis, caused by irritation or
congestion, but are unsuitable in cases accompanied by
hemorrhage and compression. They frequently relieve
paresis resulting from falls or other injuries, from lead-
poisoning, influenza, acute indigestion, or rheumatism. It
has been stated that paraplegia, even when depending upon
softening or wasting of nervous textures, may sometimes be
arrested by strychnine dilating the capillaries, determining
a fuller stream of blood, and promoting nutrition. Strych-
nine, subcutaneously injected, has been recommended for
roaring. French veterinarians prescribe it in amaurosis.
Cerebro-spinal meningitis, probably from climatic pecu-
liarities, is greatly more common in America than in Great
Britain. Often it occurs as an epizootic. Mr. Alex. Lockhart,
New York, informed me that he has seen two hundred
horses almost simultaneously affected in one tram-car stud,
and has had eighty patients in slings at one time. It attacks
horses of all sorts, and under every description of manage-
ment. Blood-letting and physic, he believes, hasten and
increase mortality ; under such reducing treatment half the
cases die. It is unsafe to give more than half a dose of
physic; oil is preferred to aloes. Although the cerebral
form is very hopeless, Mr. Lockhart assures me that 95 per
cent. of the patients able to stand recover if at once treated
with a grain of strychnine, repeated twice or thrice a day.
In these cases Professor Robertson recommended Easton’s
syrup.
In cattle practice, nux-vomica and its alkaloids are used,
in indigestion and in chronic paralysis. Mr. David Aitken,
Loughborough, who prescribed them with success, informed
me of several typical cases. Two bullocks suffered from
chronic paralysis, one had to be carted home from the grass
field. He was dull; his pulse 55, and rather weak; his hind
extremities and tail had lost their power of movement, their
sensation was impaired; the sphincter ani was relaxed, and
both fseces and urine were passed involuntarily. Purgative
medicine was given, and operated next day, without, how-
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ANTI-PARALYSANTS 501
ever, any abatement of the paralysis. Two drachms nux-
vomica were prescribed night and morning for ten days;
but little improvement being notable, the dose was increased
to three drachms thrice a day. This treatment being con-
tinued for ten days, the patient was able to walk round
the house in which he was confined, and rapidly re-
covered. The other bullock exhibited similar symptoms,
was treated in the same manner, and with like satisfactory
results.
A week or two before parturition, cows, especially if in low
condition, occasionaily lose the power of their hind limbs,
and are unable to stand. Little can then be done besides
propping the patient in a suitable position, turning her
several times daily, and allowing laxative, nutritive diet.
Within two or three days after parturition, most of these
cases gradually regain the use of their limbs; but when
defective nervous power continues, nux-vomica or strych-
nine is used with success. The pathology of milk fever is
still uncertain, but death appears to result from respiratory
or cardiac failure, which might be warded off by subcutaneous
injections of strychnine.
In canine practice, strychnine is a valuable tonic in atonic
indigestion, in some cases of asthma and chronic bronchitis,
in convalescence from exhausting disease, in chorea, and in
paralysis resulting from distemper or other causes. It is
frequently conjoined or alternated with iron salts, or pre-
scribed in the form of Easton’s Syrup, or syrup of phos-
phate of iron, with quinine and strychnine: one drachm
of which contains 1 gr. ferrous phosphate, 4 gr. of quinine
sulphate, and 4; gr. of strychnine.
Strychnine is used for the destruction of rats, mice, and
other vermin, and for the poisoning of wolves and other wild
animals. It constitutes the active ingredient of various
“infallible” insect and vermin destroyers, which are usually
made up with starch, sugar, and about ten per cent. of
strychnine.
Doses, &c.—Of the powdered nux vomica, horses take Jss.
to Bj.; cattle, Ji. to Zij.; sheep, grs. x to grs. xl.; pigs, grs. x.
to grs. xx.; dogs, gr. ss. to grs. ij. The powder has the dis-
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502 CALABAR BEAN
advantage of not being very soluble. The extract, contain-
ing 5 per cent. of strychnine, is six to eight times as active as
the powder. The B.P. standardised tincture is sometimes
used. It contains } gr. strychnine in 110 minims.
Strychnine is greatly more uniform and more readily
absorbed than the crude drug, and is fifty times more power-
ful. The hydrochloride, on account of its solubility, in 35
of water or 60 of alcohol, is preferable to the alkaloid. The
dose for the horse, except in special cases—when much
more may be given—is gr. i. to grs. ij.; for cattle. grs. ij. to
grs. v.; for sheep, gr. } to gr.i.; for dogs, gr. jy to gr. wo.
The B.P. Liquor Strychnine hydrochloridi contains one
grain of strychnine hydrochloride in 110 minims.
Strychnine, although conveniently given by the mouth, is
more prompt and active when adininistered hypodermically,
and when thus used the minimum doses, dissolved in about
100 parts of a mixture of distilled water and alcohol, should
first be tried. Nux-vomica and strychnine are generally
given twice a day, and as anti-paralysants the doses may be
cautiously and gradually increased, until slight muscular
twitchings are produced. Tablets and lamels containing ~,th
and 35th gr. of strychnine sulphate are convenient for hypo-
dermic injections. Strychnine arsenite has been recom-
mended in some of the Continental veterinary schools for
the treatment of persistent nasal discharges.
CALABAR BEAN
PHYSOSTIGMATIS SEMINA.—The ripe seeds of Physostigma
Venenosum. Nat. Ord.—Leguminose.
PHYSOsTIGMIN®Z Suipuas. —(C,,H,,N,O,),, H,SO,, «H,0.
Eserine Sulphate. The sulphate of an alkaloid obtained
from Calabar bean. Western Africa (B.P.).
Calabar bean is a large reddish-brown, oblong, reniform
seed, usually about an inch long, three-quarter inch broad,
and half-an-inch thick. The testa, hard, thick, and rough,
encloses two cotyledons, between which there is a large
cavity. The bean has no characteristic taste, and no
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GENERAL ACTIONS 503
odour (B.P.). Its activity depends upon the presence of
two alkaloids—(1) Physostigmine or Eserine, occuring in
colourless crystals, soluble in alcohol, benzol, chloroform,
and diluted acids, and partially in water. It paralyses
nerve centres, and stimulates muscular fibre. (2) Cala-
barine, soluble in water and alcohol, but not in ether. It
causes strychnine-like convulsions.
Kserine Sulphate occurs in yellowish-white minute crystals,
becoming red by exposure to air and light, having a bitter
taste, highly deliquescent, very soluble in water and in
alcohol (90 per cent.). The aqueous solution is neutral to
litmus, and, applied to the eye, causes contraction of the
pupil. Eserine sulphate contains about 70 per cent. of the
alkaloid. Solutions keep better when mixed with a grain
or two of salicylic acid.
GeneraL Acrions.—Calabar bean and its chief alkaloid
stimulate voluntary and involuntary muscles and paralyse
nerve centres. Hserine exerts no topical action on the skin or
mucous membranes. It relieves obstruction by stimulating
the muscular coat of the stomach and intestines. Given by
the mouth, or applied locally, it contracts the pupil and
diminishes intraocular pressure—effects due to irritation of
the third nerve, or of the circular fibres of the iris, or of
both. This myosis results in horses in twenty-five to thirty
minutes; and in less than half that time in carnivora; but
is not produced, even by conjunctival injection, in birds,
frogs, and fishes.
Excessive doses paralyse muscular fibre, especially tho
unstriped variety, and also sensory and, later, motor nerves.
Moderate doses have little effect on voluntary muscles, but
full doses induce local twitching, best marked at the elbow
and stifle, followed by general trembling and spasmodic
contractions; at the same time the animal sweats, salivates,
blows, strains, and discharges feeces and urine, and all his
organs provided with unstriated muscle participate more or
less in the clonic convulsions. Its stimulant effect on
unstriped muscle in part explains its action on the circu-
lation. Small to moderate doses contract minute blood-
vessels, and reduce the force and frequency of the heart
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504 CALABAR BEAN
movements. Kaufmann mentions that a single full dose
reduces the pulse of the dog from 100 to 40 beats per minute.
Professor Thomas Fraser believes that its action on the
heart is threefold—(1) it stimulates peripherally the cardio-
inhibitory branches of the vagus; (2) it depresses the cardiac
motor ganglia; and (3), in large doses, it paralyses the car-
diac muscular fibres. Respiration is temporarily quickened,
apparently from stimulation of the vagi in the lungs, but in
fuller doses is slowed from paresis of the medullary respira-
tory centre. Moderate doses stimulate the liver, the invol-
untary muscles of the bronchial tubes, uterus, and bladder,
and increase gastric and intestinal peristalsis, quickly
causing free and fluid evacuations from the bowels, and
besides, inducing in man and carnivora retching and vomit-
ing. The secretion of saliva, sweat, and mucus is increased.
Poisonous doses disturb voluntary motility and paralyse
the spinal cord, the posterior column being affected earlier
and more fully than the anterior. Hence results the char-
acteristic curare-like paralysis affecting motor and retlex
functions, which, involving the medulla, kills by respiratory
arrest (Brunton). According to Professor Fraser, death
sometimes results from cardiac paralysis, the heart stopping
in diastole. Convulsions occasionally occurring from the
use of the bean and commercial physostigmine are due to
the presence of calabarine. The brain in most animals
appears to be irritated, cats and guinea-pigs poisoned
exhibiting cerebral excitement, becoming timid, and run-
ning wildly about. It is rapidly absorbed and quickly
excreted mainly in the bile, saliva, and gastro-intestinal
fluids.
Between physostigmine and its analogues interesting
points of contrast are noted. It resembles pilocarpine in
its action on the heart, eye, and glandular secretions, but it
does not cause such profuse flow from either the salivary
bronchial, skin, or intestinal glands. Physostigmine pro-
bably induces secretion by acting on the secreting cells,
while pilocarpine, and also muscarine and nicotine, stimulate
the peripheral endings of secretory nerves. While physo-
stigmine causes intestinal movements by contracting the
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STIMULATES INTESTINAL MUSCULAR FIBRES 505
muscular fibres, muscarine does so by stimulating the nerves.
Atropine is its physiological antagonist, paralysing muscles,
stimulating the respiratory and cardiac medullary centres,
and dilating the pupil.
Physostigmine, in virtue of its promptly and effectually
stimulating the muscular fibres of the intestines, is of
great value in the treatment of obstruction and obstinate
constipation. This was first pointed out by Dieckerhoff, and
has been fully demonstrated by Majors Fred. Smith and
Charles Rutherford, of the Army Veterinary Department,
who made an important series of observations on horses,
using physostigmine freed from the convulsant calabarine.
From the Veterinary Journal 1888, the following observa-
tions are extracted :—
‘The earliest indications we have of the action of the drug are loud
intestinal murmurs, passage of flatus, with slight colicky pain; shortly
this is followed by evacuation of the contents of the rectum, and the
motions then pass at intervals of a few minutes, each becoming gradually
softer, more watery, less formed in balls, until we reach the stage when
the evacuations are moist and fluid, exactly representing cows’ feces. All
this time the »bdominal disturbance has become greater, the animal lies
down, but seldom rolls, the intestinal murmurs are louder, the passage of
flatus almost continuous, straning marked, feces are voided with great
rapidity, often ejected with force, and several ounces of a brown-coloured
fluid will at this time accompany each motion. About two to two and a
half hours from the time of injection the effects are commencing to pass
off, and during this short time an almost incredible amount of faces will
have been excreted. Details on this point will be given below. Those
who have had no previous experience of the drug, and the results obtained,
will regard it as magical and marvellous. ... .
‘A horse received 14 grains of eserine (physostigmine), subcutaneously ;
it acted in twenty-five minutes, and produced in the first hour seven
evacuations, in the second hour seven, the effect passing off in two hours
and ten minutes.
‘A horse received 14 grains of eserine, hypodermically, which took
twelve minutes to act, producing seven evacuations in the first hour, and
then terminating.
‘ Another horse received 14 grains of salicylate of eserine, hypodermi-
cally, producing a free action of the bowels in one hour. This case ter-
minated fatally from ruptured stomach ; and thus it was demonstrated
that eserine could act upon the large intestines, in spite of the shock to
the abdominal nervous system which a ruptured stomach causes.
‘A pony received 1 grain of eserine, hypodermically ; three evacuations
were produced in fifty minutes, and in eighty minutes from the time of
injection eight evacuations had occurred. The case was a fatal one, the
cause of obstruction being due to a small diaphragmatic hernia. Had the
gut not been nipped so tightly, there is reason to believe the increased
peristalsis might have withdrawn it.
‘A horse received a few drops of a solution of eserine into the con-
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. 506 CALABAR BEAN SERVICEABLE IN
junctival sac; it shortly produced contraction of the pupil, which lasted
fully two days.
‘A horse received 14 grains of eserine by injection into the trachea ; it
took seventeen minutes to act, and produced in the first hour twelve
evacuations, weighing 11 1b. 18 0z., and a considerable quantity of flatus.
The action then passed off.
“A horse received 1 grain of eserine, hypodermically ; it took forty-two
minutes to act, and produced only one evacuation in one hour, accompanied
by a considerable quantity of flatus.
‘The same horse received 1 grain of eserine and 3 grains of pilocarpine
by injection into the trachea ; it took twenty-one minutes to act. In the
first hour, counting from time of injection, it produced fourteen evacua-
tions, weighing 30 lbs. 6 oz. ; in the second hour four evacuations, weighing
7 lbs. 64 oz.; and in the third hour two evacuations, weighing 2 Ibs.
134 02. ; in three hours a total of 40 lbs. 10 oz. of ingesta.
‘In comparing these two cases, the value of pilocarpine as an addition
to eserine is clearly demonstrated.
‘A horse received 14 grains of eserine by the trachea ; it acted in forty-
one minutes, and produced in the hour five evacuations ; during the second
hour four evacuations. The weight was unfortunately not obtained, but
the quantity of ingesta completely filled a stable bucket. The case was
one of most obstinate constipation, and had previously received 6 drachms
of aloes, which acted at the expiration of the usual time.
‘ Another horse received by the trachea 1 grain of eserine with 3 grains of
pilocarpine, and this combination acted in one and a half hours, producing,
in two and a half hours from time of injection, eight evacuations, weighing
26 lbs., exclusive of loss. The pilocarpine produced its salivating effects
in four minutes from the time of injection.’
Mr. R. Rutherford, Edinburgh, gave a horse, weighing
about 950 lbs., 5 grains commercial eserine, which within
half-an-hour caused profuse perspiration, convulsive breath-
ing, with violent action of the diaphragm. About two hours
later, when the symptoms were abating, he gave 3 grains
more, and death followed in half-an-hour.
Kaufmann records that on opening the abdomen of a
horse which had received a full dose of physostigmine,
energetic contractions of the large intestine were seen.
Animals poisoned exhibit pallor, contraction, and hardness
of the large intestine; the urinary bladder is empty and
contracted, and the uterus also contracted.
Awtipores.—As the bean is not very soluble, the stomach
should be evacuated either by an emetic or the stomach-
pump. Ipecacuanha has been recommended as an antidote.
Physostigmine is antagonised by moderate doses of atropine.
Professor Fraser found that rabbits, receiving one and a half
the lethal dose, recovered, if atropine was given, simultane-
ously in doses of gr. 3 to gr.i. While small doses act as
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INTESTINAL TORPIDITY AND IMPACTION 507
antidotes, larger hasten a fatal result. ‘The atropine specially
counteracts the cardiac paralysis. Toa less extent physo-
stigmine antagonises the poisonous action of atropine;
chloral also somewhat opposes physostigmine.
MepicivaL Uses.— Physostigmine is myotic, anodyne,
expectorant, and a gastro-intestinal stimulant. The observa-
tions of Majors Smith and Rutherford testify to its value in
combating intestinal torpidity and impaction. They ad-
minister physostigmine hypodermically and intratracheally,
preferring the latter method on account of its enabling more
fluid to be introduced, oceasioning less loss of the drug, and
causing less inconvenience to the patient. Cases of intestinal
obstruction in all animals may be safely treated by eserine,
conjoined with pilocarpine and anodynes, by enemata, and
abstention from solid food. French and German practitioners
have arrived at similar conclusions. Dieckerhoff, Nocard,
and Kaufmann, recommend physostigmine as an ‘intestinal
anemiant’ in congestion, atony, colic, and torpidity of the
digestive tract, especially of the large intestine, and also
for the expulsion of concretions and foreign bodies. They
further note its use to determine contraction of the uterus.
Eserine has been given, subcutaneously and intravenously,
to cattle affected with gastric impaction, but although
causing considerable, sometimes painful, disturbance of the
bowels, it does not produce copious evacuations. It has
been tried in tetanus, but the relief afforded is merely
transient. Recoveries attributed to the use of eserine should
only be accepted with reserve.
The extract and eserine sulphate or salicylate have been
prescribed in epilepsy, chorea, and other spasmodic nervous
affections, and, as an antidote, in poisoning by strychnine
and atropine. They should not, however, be given to
pregnant animals, in which untimely stimulation of the
uterus may lead to premature expulsion of its contents. In
solution eserine is applied as a myotic to relieve congestion
and inflammation of the conjunctiva and cornea, and,
alternated with atropine, to prevent or break down ad-
hesions caused by iritis. In chronic dropsical conditions
of the joints and burse of tendons in the horse, after
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508 HEMLOCK
evacuation of the fluid by an aspirator, or a trocar and canula,
Stottmeister, instead of the iodine solutions frequently used,
recommends injection of a grain to a grain anda half physo-
stigmine dissolved in Tl 80 to Tl 160 of distilled water, apply-
ing subsequently, for two or three days, ice or refrigerant
lotions to abate inflammation (Jour. of Comp. Path. and
Therap., 1889).
Dosts, etc.—The bean is given to horses and cattle in
doses of grs. xv. to grs. xxx.; to dogs, gr. $ to gr. }. As
already indicated, the diverse character of the two alkaloids
present in the extract, as well as in the bean, renders it
desirable to use physostigmine, which is conveniently
employed in the form of sulphate, of which the dose per
orem for horses is grs. il. to grs, ili, and for dogs, gr. 345 to
gr. yy. Intratracheally, gr. ss., in M1 to Tl lx of water ;
and subcutaneously, gr. j. to gr.jss., in MI Lx to Tl lxxx of water.
In intestinal obstruction more prompt and certain effects
are obtained by addition of 2 to 3 grains of pilocarpine. The
hydrobromide and salicylate of eserine are sometimes used.
An anesthetic collyrium may be made with cocaine hydro-
chloride grs. iv., eserine sulphate grs. ii., and distilled water 3).
Eseridine (C,,H,,N,0,), an alkaloid obtained from Calabar
bean, has similar properties to physostigmine, but only one-
sixth its activity.
HEMLOCK
Hemuock Leaves. Conii Folia. The fresh leaves and
young branches of Conium maculatum, collected when
the fruit begins to form (B.P.). Mat. Ord.—Umbelli-
fere.
Hemiock Frurr. Conii Fructus. The dried, full-grown,
unripe fruits of Conium maculatum (B.P.).
Hemlock grows wild in hedges and waste places in most
parts of Europe. The flowering stem is two to five feet high,
round, hollow, jointed, smooth, branching towards the top,
and covered with purple spots. The large bi- or tri-pinnate
leaves are glabrous and dark-green, have clasping petioles of
varying length, a nauseous, bitter taste, and a strong,
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CONINE 509
peculiar odour, which is characteristic of all parts of the
plant, and aptly compared to that of mice or of cats’ urine.
The fruit resembles that of anise, is of a brown colour, about
one-eighth of an inch in length, broadly ovate, the two
mericarps, generally separated, each marked with five ribs.
Nine pounds of fruit produce an ounce of conine, which,
with a bitter oleo-resin and a non-poisonous volatile oil, is
found stored chiefly in cubical cells in the endocarp.
The leaves gathered in June, when the fruit begins to
form, are rapidly dried in stoves at about 120° Fahr.,
and preserved in tins, bottles, or jars, excluded from light.
By drying, they lose three-fourths of their weight, and one-
half of their volatile principle, of which scarcely a trace
remains after they are kept twelve months (Royle’s Materia
Medica). Long keeping of the fruit and leaves, and their
exposure to temperatures exceeding 120° Fahr., account for
the inertness of many hemlock preparations.
In addition to the active principle, conine, hemlock
contains varying proportions of methyl-conine, which acts
on the spinal cord, paralysing reflex action, conhydrine,
which is said to be inert, and coniic acid.
Pure conine (C,H,,HN) may be obtained from the fruit or
leaves by distillation with caustic potash. It is a yellowish,
oily liquid, with an intense odour of mice, and a peculiar
acrid taste. Specific gravity *885. Soluble in 100 parts
of water; and readily dissolved by alcohol or ether. Nitric
acid dropped on conine produces a blood-red colour, sul-
phuric acid a purple-red, passing to olive-green. Its chief
salt is the hydrobromide, which contains about 60 per
cent. of the alkaloid. It is soluble in two parts of water
and in three of rectified spirit (Squire). Pure conine, like
curare, paralyses the endings of motor nerves and of the
vagus, and, later, the motor centres of the brain and cord.
The leaves and fruit of hemlock are distinguished by their
appearance, and, if triturated with diluted caustic potash
solution, evolve the characteristic odour of mice. Fool’s
parsley (Aithusa cynapium), water hemlock or cowbane
(Cicuta virosa), the fine-leaved water hemlock (Phellandrium
aquaticum), the water parsnip (Cinanthe crocata), are
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510 HEMLOCK—CONINE
Umbelliferee with physiological actions similar to those of
conium maculatum, and when freely eaten have poisoned
many of the domestic animals. Of wholesome dietetic
Umbelliferee, parsley, parsnip, and celery are illustrations.
The natural family is rich in aromatic carminative seeds.
Actions anp Uses.—Hemlock and its alkaloids, applied to
mucous or denuded skin surfaces, diminish sensibility, and
are analgesic. When absorbed they paralyse the endings of
motor nerves and of the vagus, and are sometimes prescribed
to quiet motor irritability.
GenEraL Actions.—Hemlock was the state poison of the
Athenians, the death-potion of Socrates. It has paralysant
effect on sensory nerves, as exhibited when applied to
mucous and delicate skin membranes, and when absorbed
paralyses (without the preliminary stimulation exerted by
nicotine or pilocarpine) the extremities of motor nerves, and
those vagus endings which inhibit the heart and lungs. It
increases the secretion of the sweat, bronchial, and intestinal
glands. Full doses paralyse the motor centres of the brain
and spinal cord, and cause a weak and staggering gait, the
hind extremities being first affected. Convulsions occasion-
ally occur in warm-blooded animals, depending upon the
presence of methyl-conine, which, as indicated, acts upon
the spinal cord and paralyses reflex action. Death results
from paralysis of the muscles of respiration. It is excreted
mainly by the kidneys, possibly in part by the lungs. It
acts more powerfully on man and carnivora than on
graminivora or herbivora. Goats with impunity eat con-
siderable quantities of the fresh leaves (Kaufmann). Its
physiological antagonists are nux-vomica, strychnine, and
other tetanisers.
Toxic Actions.—Dr. John Harley and Mr. Frederick Mavor
gave a two-year-old thoroughbred colt six, eight, and twelve
ounces of succus conii without appreciable effect. Sixteen
ounces produced in twenty-five minutes dulness and stu-
pidity, drooping and swollen eyelids, but no change in the
pulse or pupils. A few minutes later the colt went down
upon his knees, appeared to require special efforts to keep
himself on his legs, stumbled, and walked slowly when led ;
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TOXIC EFFECTS 511
but in two hours the symptoms had entirely disappeared
(Old Vegetable Newrotics, 1869). Moiroud poisoned a horse
with half a pound of the dried leaves given as a decoction,
and observed nausea, spasmodic twitching of the muscles of
the extremities, cold sweats, dilatation of the pupils, and
dulness. In Italy asses eating hemlock have sometimes been
so thoroughly paralysed that, supposing them to be dead,
the peasants have begun to remove the skin (Matthiolus).
~ Cattle poisoned lie as if lifeless, with slow, feeble pulse,
cold extremities, and dilated pupils (Veterinarian’s Vade
Mecum). Sheep become giddy, listless, and sometimes die.
When other food is scarce lambs will crop hemlock with
fatal results, as noted in the Veterinary Record for July
1893. Fifteen grains of the succus injected into the blood-
vessels of a full-grown mouse produced, in half an hour,
paralysis, continuing for five hours. Christison found that
an ounce of the extract swallowed by dogs proved fatal in
forty-five minutes; ninety grains applied to a wound had
the same effect in an hour and a half; while twenty-eight
grains caused death in two minutes, when injected into the
veins (On Poisons).
Gerrard, of Market Deeping, records (Veterinarian, 1873)
the poisoning of pigs which strayed into an orchard and ate
growing hemlock. They lay prostrate and unable to rise,
pulse imperceptible, the body cold, the eyes amaurotic, and
when left alone they lapsed into a comatose state. There
were no convulsions, and no pain was apparent when they
were pricked with a pin. In fifteen hours two died, and two
a few hours later. Examination discovered the blood
throughout the body, and especially in the large organs,
dark-coloured and fluid, the result of the fatal asphyxia;
the intestines distended with gas; the mucous coat of the
stomach, particularly its cardiac portion, much congested,
while similar spots of congestion were observed throughout
the intestines.
Conine is generally used in the form of hydrobromide.
One drop applied to the eye of a rabbit arrested respiration
in nine minutes; three drops in the eye of a cat killed it in
a minute and a half; five drops swallowed by small dogs
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512 HEMLOCK—CONINE
began to operate in thirty seconds, and proved fatal in one
minute. Still smaller quantities injected into the veins
poisoned with even greater rapidity (Christison On Poisons).
The antidotes are tannic acid, the cautious administration
of coffee, and other stimulants, ammonia to the nostrils,
stimulating enemata, enforced exercise, and artificial
respiration.
Mepicivat Uses.—Hemlock is occasionally given to relieve
the muscular spasm of chorea. It is of no avail in tetanus
in horses, nor, as demonstrated by experiment, in strychnine
poisoning. Spasmodic cough connected with muscular irri-
tability, such as occasionally occurs in epizootic sore-throat
and bronchitis in horses, is sometimes relieved by inhalation
of steam medicated with hemlock, or by swallowing slowly
an electuary of succus conii, glycerin, and ammonium acetate.
Injections and suppositories are applied in irritable, painful
conditions of the urino-genital organs. Conium ointment,
made with two ounces of succus conii and three-quarter
ounce of lanoline, is applied as an anodyne in acute
mammnitis of the cow.
Doszs, etc.—Neither the dried leaves nor the fully-ripened
dried fruit are to be depended upon. The fresh leaves and
young branches, and preparations promptly obtained from
them without heat, are, however, reliable, of which the best is
the succus. Three parts of juice are mixed with one of recti-
fied spirit, allowed to stand for seven days, and then filtered
and bottled. This succus has a dark sherry colour, an agree-
able odour, and acid reaction ; one fluid ounce yields thirty
grains of soft extract. Horses and cattle take fi). to fZiv.;
sheep and pigs, f3ss. to £3j.; dogs, f3ss. to f3j. Its analgesic
and antispasmodic effects are increased by using it with
opium or chloral-hydrate. Conine employed hypodermically
by Dr. Harley and Mr. Mavor, frequently produced irritation,
which hindered its absorption. For subcutaneous or intra-
tracheal injection the hydrobromide, which contains 60 per
cent. of conine, should be used. Doses—horses, gr. i. to
grs. ii.; dogs, gr. 34, to gr. 3, dissolved in 20 to 60 minims of
water containing a few drops of alcohol.
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HENBANE 513
HYOSCYAMUS
Hyoscyamus on HEensane Leaves, The fresh leaves and
flowers, with the branches to which they are attached,
of Hyoscyamus niger; also the leaves and flowering
tops, separated from the branches, and carefully dried.
Collected from the flowering biennial plants (B.P.).
Nat. Ord.—Solanacee.
Henbane grows wild in most parts of this country, and is
cultivated at Mitcham and Hitchin. The large, sinuate,
usually decurrent yellow-brown leaves are rough, hairy, and
clammy, with a foetid, narcotic odour, and a nauseous, bitter
taste. There are two varieties, an annual and a biennial;
the latter alone recognised by the B.P., is larger, stronger,
more branched, clammy, and active. One hundred pounds
of the fresh plant when dried weigh 14 lbs. and yield
about 4 lbs. of extract.
The active principle, hyoscyamine (C,,H,,NO,), in its im-
pure form is an oily liquid, becoming brown on exposure,
but it can be slowly crystallised into colourless, translucent
needles. It is soluble in 120 of water, and readily dissolves
in alcohol, chloroform, and dilute acids. It resembles.
daturine, the active principle of Datura stramonium, is
identical with duboisine, the active alkaloid of Duboisia
myoporoides, and is isomeric with atropine. It is decom-
posed, and its physiological action neutralised by caustic
alkalies. Henbane also contains hyoscine, which is a cere-
bral and spinal sedative, and an oil.
Actions anp Usts.—Hyoscyamus closely resembles bella-
donna and stramonium. Locally applied, it paralyses the
endings of sensory nerves. It dilates the pupil, although
not so certainly and fully as atropine. Full doses of the
drug or its alkaloid stimulate the cerebral centres and
paralyse the ends of motor nerves. There are produced
dryness of the mouth, general convulsions, paralysis, and
stupor, alternated with a peculiar form of delirium, in which
a constant desire for action is accompanied by lassitude,
failure of the action of the heart, and of breathing, and
death from asphyxia (Brunton).
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514 COCAINE
Toxic Errecrs.—Horses receiving an infusion made with
three to four ounces of the leaves have dilatation of the
pupils, spasmodic movements of the lips, acceleration and
subsequently depression of the heart-beats, but no symptoms
of acute poisoning. Dogs are acted on exactly as by bella-
donna. Cats become dull and drowsy, the mouth and nose
dry, the pulse accelerated, the pupils dilated, and the power
of walking or springing impaired (Old Vegetable Newrotics).
Meoiciwat Usts.—Hyoscyamus is prescribed with cathartics
to prevent their griping. It is mainly excreted by the kid-
neys, and occasionally is used as an anodyne in irritable
conditions of the kidneys and bladder. It is prescribed in
human practice in cases of mania and nervous or muscular
excitement, and has been used with some success in epilepsy
and chorea in dogs. It is occasionally substituted for opium
as a topical anodyne.
Doszs, etc.—Of the succus and tincture horses and cattle
take £3)].; dogs, Mx. to Mlxl The extract is six times the
strength of the succus or tincture. Hyoscyamine, usually
prescribed as the sulphate, which is freely soluble in water,
is one hundred times more active than the extract, and is
sometimes used hypodermically.
COCAINE
Cocaina. An alkaloid obtained from the leaves of Erythro-
xylum Coca and its varieties.
Cocain® Hyprocuioripum. The hydrochloride of an alka-
loid obtained from Coca leaves. C,,H,,NO,HCl. Nat.
Ord.—Linee.
The alkaloid, of which the leaves yield 26 per cent., is pre-
pared by agitating an acidulated alcoholic extract with ether.
It occurs in colourless prisms, almost insoluble in water,
insoluble in glycerin, soluble in ten parts rectified spirit, and
in twelve of olive oil. The hydrochloride, in colourless acicular
crystals, or crystalline powder, is readily soluble in water,
alcohol, and glycerin. Insoluble in olive oil, and nearly
insoluble in ether. Its watery solution has a bitter taste,
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ACTIONS AND USES 515
producing on the tongue a sensation of tingling, followed by
numbness, and when applied to the eye dilates the pupil.
It gives a yellow precipitate with gold chloride, and a white
precipitate with ammonium carbonate, soluble in excess of
the re-agent. Cocaine is associated in the plant with coca-
tannic acid, and with two other alkaloids—cocamine and
cinnamyl-cocaine—and a volatile constituent which gives
aromatic fragrance to the fresh leaves.
Actions anp Uses.—Cocaine paralyses the sensory nerves
with which it comes in contact, and is thus a local anesthetic.
It is also antiseptic. Small to moderate doses are stimulant
and tonic, and diminish metabolism. The South American
Indians, on long marches, not only chew coca leaves, but give
them to their horses, with the effect of diminishing thirst,
hunger, and sense of fatigue. Although topically anesthetic
and anodyne, large doses, swallowed or injected subcutane-
ously, paralyse the nerve-centres, impair co-ordination,
causing aimless gyrating movements, muscular spasms, and
death from respiratory failure.
GeneraL Actions.—Solutions of 4 to 10 per cent., applied
to a mucous surface, within one minute cause pallor and
vascular contraction, and two or three minutes later local
anesthesia lasting ten minutes. A few drops of a5 per cent.
‘solution, placed within the eyelids, paralyse the conjunctiva
and iris, and dilate the pupil. This dilatation is more
notable in men and dogs than in horses and cattle (Frohner).
When swallowed, it slightly stimulates the stomach. It
‘diminishes the sensations of hunger and thirst. Large or
repeated doses quicken circulation, increase blood-pressure,
breathing, and temperature, and heighten reflex irritability.
Still larger doses cause trembling and timidity, impair co-
ordination and equilibrium; animals cannot walk straight,
have muscular trembling and rotatory convulsions, and dic
from paralysis of respiration. It is excreted by the kidneys;
does not appear, however, to alter the proportion of the
urinary constituents, but exerts antiseptic effects on the
urine and other secretions. Applied to the mammary gland
it diminishes secretion of milk.
Horses receiving 60 to 80 grains injected subcutaneously,
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516 COCAINE
or about 005 gramme per kilogramme of body-weight,
according to Frohner, are restless, paw with the fore feet
neigh, and exhibit timidity and excitement, the pulse rises
to 90-96, temperature is increased, salivation occurs, the
bowels are frequently moved, and the pupil dilated. After
fifty minutes the animal is in a state of frenzied excitement,
with greatly augmented reflex activity. Two hours elapse
before these effects disappear. In cows like effects were
produced by hypodermic injection of similar doses. One
drachm is stated to have produced excitement bordering on.
madness, and continuing for four hours, but gradually pass-
ing off, and leaving no injurious effects.
In dogs, doses consisting of ‘015 to 02 gramme per
kilogramme of live-weight produce psychical excitement,
muscular spasms, rhythmical contractions of the skeletal
muscules, tetanic and clonic spasms, epileptic fits, rolling,
loss of co-ordination, and dyspnea. The spasms and more-
prominent symptoms do not, however, occur when potassium
bromide, ether, or amyl-nitrite have previously been given..
Large doses paralyse the central nervous system, implicating
first the brain, then the corpora quadrigemina, the spinal
cord, and lastly, the medulla. Injected hypodermically,.
twelve to fifteen grains kill small dogs in ten minutes.
(Hobday).
Mepicinat Uses.—Cocaine hydrochloride is a convenient.
and effectual local anesthetic. Its effects are confined to.
the skin or mucous surface moistened with it, are more easily
regulated than those of ether spray, are unaccompanied by
pain, and may be kept up for considerable periods without
injuriously affecting the nutrition of the parts. Anesthesia.
may be produced within five minutes, and, when insensibility
is secured, :t usually continues for twenty to thirty minutes.
For application to the skin cocaine should be dissolved in.
oil of cloves which ensures deeper penetration. Twenty
minims of a 4 or 5 per cent. solution dropped into the eye
within ten minutes diminish sensibility, so that a thorough
examination can be made of the organ; the irritability and
pain of conjunctivitis, iritis, and ulceration of the cornea are
abated ; chaff or other foreign bodies imbedded in the cornea.
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HOLOCAINE 517
can be removed without provoking pain or reflex movements ;
warts can be excised, torn lids stitched, and injuries of the eye
painlessly treated. Indeed, after several applications of the
cocaine solution, the eyeball of the horse has been removed,
without symptoms of pain, and without the necessity of
casting the patient. In examinations and operations in con-
nection with the larynx, cocaine is equally serviceable, and
for such cases a stronger solution is generally used. Applied
to the skin, along the course of the plantar nerves, and still
more effectually when injected subcutaneously, it abolishes
sensibility sufficiently for the painless performance of
neurectomy. Mr. Richard Rutherford, Edinburgh, after
closely clipping or shaving the hair, finds that half an ounce
of a 20 per cent. solution, in fifteen or twenty minutes
anesthetises the limbs even of irritable horses sufficiently
for the performance of firing without casting, and for the
painless insertion of setons. It is serviceable in the opening
of abscesses, the removal of tumours, and in operations on
the uterus, vagina, and rectum. Subcutaneously injected,
it has been used to allay rheumatic and other irritative pain,
and to assist in the diagnosis of lameness.
In order to preserve cocaine hydrochloride solutions, which,
when long kept, are liable to spoil, 1-200th part of boric acid
should be added to them when freshly made. The B.P.
injectio cocaine hypodermica, is made with 33 grains
cocaine hydrochloride, 4 grain salicylic acid, and 6 drachms
distilled water. One hundred and ten minims contain about
10 grains of cocaine. The ointment consists of 20 grains
cocaine, 80 grains oleic acid, and 400 grains of lard. Tablets
containing =~, and % grain are now obtainable.
Holocaine, a cocaine substitute, obtained by combination
of phenacetin and paraphenetidin, is employed as the hydro-
chloride, which is soluble in one hundred parts of water. In
ophthalmic practice a few drops of a 1.per cent. solution
produce anesthesia in fifty seconds, the effects lasting for
five to fifteen minutes. The solution is antiseptic but does
not dilate the pupil. Acoin, derived from guanin, is less
poisonous and acts longer than cocaine. It is antiseptic as
well as anesthetic. A solution for hypodermic injection is
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518 COCAINE
composed of one part acoin, eight parts of sodium chloride,
and a thousand parts of distilled water. Tropacocaine,
employed as the hydrochloride, occurs with cocaine and
other bases in Java coca leaves, and is prepared synthetically
by Liebermann. It is a white crystalline powder readily
soluble in water. Used in solution (2 to 3 per cent.) it is
a powerful local anesthetic, more rapid and less toxic than
cocaine. The hydrochlorides of alpha-eucaine and beta-
eucaine are also employed as substitutes for cocaine.
Eucaine-a is soluble in ten parts of water and is not
decomposed on boiling. As a local anesthetic it is seldom
used in eye cases owing to its irritant action on the
conjunctiva. Eucaine-b is more active and much less toxic
than cocaine. Readily soluble in water it is free of irritant
action. Solutions can be sterilised by boiling without
undergoing decomposition. A 2 per cent. solution is
employed as a local anesthetic for minor operations.
Solutions of 5 and 10 per cent. have been used. A mixture
of equal parts of eucaine-band cocaine has been recom-
mended as the best and safest local anzesthetic.
Orthoform (methyl-para-amido-meta-oxybenzoate), another
cocaine substitute, occurs as a white, odourless and tasteless
powder, slightly soluble in water. According to Guinard
and Souliere, Orthoform is more analgesic than anesthetic.
Applied to wounds only a small part is dissolved by the
discharge. Absorption does not occur or is exceedingly
slow, so that local applications may be regarded as non-toxic.
When swallowed, or injected subcutaneously, it is quickly
absorbed and acts as a powerful nerve depressant, blood
pressure being lowered and heart action and respiration
much increased. Large doses given to dogs, hypodermically
or by the mouth, cause nausea and vomiting. Orthoform is
employed as a local anesthetic; and as an anodyne and
antiseptic in powder or in ointment (10 to 20 per cent.)
made with lanoline. Mixed with collodion it is used as an
antiseptic adhesive protective for small wounds. The hydro-
chloride (soluble in nine parts of water) is not generally
applicable for ophthalmic or subcutaneous use (Newer
Remedies, 1899).
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JABORANDI—PILOCARPINE 519
JABORANDI
JABORANDI Foura, The died leaflets of Pilocarpus Jaborandi.
(B.P.) Nat. Ord.—Rutacex.
PrtocarpInE Nitrate. Pilocarpine Nitras (C,,H,,N,O,HNO,).
The nitrate of an alkaloid obtained from Jaborandi
leaves (B.P.).
The shrubs yielding jaborandi are natives of Brazil. The
leaflets have a slightly aromatic odour and a bitter, pungent
taste, and when chewed they increase secretion of saliva.
The leaflets are about four inches long, and contain an acrid
resin, an essential oil consisting in part of a dextrogyrate
terpene (C,,H,,), and an amorphous, liquid, colourless alkaloid,
pilocarpine (C,,H,,N,O,), which is soluble in alcohol, ether,
chloroform, ammonia, and dilute acids, and forms crystal-
lisable salts, the nitrate being chiefly used. Another alkaloid,
jaborine, occurs in much smaller proportion, is stated to be
a basic decomposition product of pilocarpine, and antagonistic
to it in its actions. Pilocarpine nitrate, is a white, crystalline
powder, soluble in nine parts of water, and in fifty parts of
cold alcohol (90 per cent.),
Actions anv Uses.—Pilocarpine and jaborandi leaflets have
no notable in-contact effect on the skin or mucous membranes, °
but when absorbed they stimulate glandular secretion more
promptly, energetically, and generally than any other known
drugs. The salivary, lachrymal, bronchial, intestinal, urinary,
and mammary secretions are increased. The cutaneous per-
spiratory glands are not so actively stimulated in the lower
animals as in man. They, moreover, slightly and temporarily
excite and then paralyse the efferent nerves of involuntary
muscles, while large doses impair the irritability of voluntary
muscles and motor nerves (Brunton). They are prescribed
as eliminatives in catarrhal, pneumonic, and rheumatic cases,
and in torpidity and obstruction of the bowels—in these being
conjoined with physostigmine. Jaborine has actions entirely
opposite to those of pilocarpine. It is an anti-secretory and
a paralysant of involuntary muscles, thus closely resembling
atropine. Its presence in jaborandi and in commercial
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520 JABORAN DI—PILOCARPINE
specimens of pilocarpine hence interferes with their
characteristic actions.
Genera. Actions.—Pilocarpine stimulates the peripheral
terminations of efferent nerves going to glands and to
involuntary muscles, and also excites the nerve centres
presiding over secretion. In the lower animals secretion of
saliva is early and prominently increased. Horses sub-
cutaneously injected with three to four grains in two or
three minutes are freely salivated; within one hour three
and a half pints of saliva have been collected; during the
next hour about half that quantity, but an hour later the
secretion was nearly normal (Kaufmann). The nasal and
lachrymal secretions are augmented. So much bronchial
mucus is outpoured that a distinct rale is audible, and in
poisonous doses the accumulation of fluid and cedema of the
membrane cause dyspnea, which is sometimes fatal. The
intestinal glands are stimulated, rendering the dejections
more abundant, soft, and shortly semi-fluid. Small and
moderate doses increase the secretion of urine, and also of
milk. In man pilocarpine produces profuse sweating, but
in the lower animals even full doses only render the skin
moist. By its stimulation of the skin growth of hair is said
to be encouraged (Fréhner).
Pilocarpine temporarily stimulates the peripheral termina-
tions of the efferent nerves distributed to involuntary muscles,
and secondarily, and especially in large doses, paralyses them.
Given by the mouth, or injected locally, the circular fibres
of the iris are contracted, but frequently the pupil is sub-
sequently dilated. The muscles of the stomach and intestines
are in a state of active peristalsis, occasionally accompanied
by vomiting, colic, and diarrhea. The bladder contracts,
and urine is passed at short intervals. Contractions of the
uterus and movements of the spleen are also produced.
After slight and temporary stimulation, heart action is
slowed and blood-pressure lowered. The temperature, which
at first rises, subsequently falls several tenths of a degree.
Froéhner states that a single dose in from two to four hours
will reduce the weight of a horse by forty to sixty pounds.
Horses receiving two to four drachms of the leaves infused
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GLANDULAR STIMULANTS 521
in hot water, in fifteen to twenty minutes exhibited profuse
salivation, continuing for three hours, but without notable
diaphoresis, altered circulation, or increased temperature.
Carriage horses to which I gave two to four drachms, in
fifteen minutes salivated abundantly, and the discharge
continued for two or three hours; very slight diaphoresis
occurred for twenty minutes; no change was noticeable in
the pulse, temperature, or quantity of urine excreted. Mr.
William Dollar injected hypodermically 1} grains pilocarpine
in ten parts water into the shoulder of an aged horse 15}
hands; in six minutes marked salivation set in, the saliva
pouring out of the mouth; the secretion from the buccal
glands also appeared to be augmented. These effects con-
tinued for fully an hour and a half; the pulse was lowered
in force, and was slowed two to three beats; the skin
previously dry, became moist, but there was no distinct
sweating. Major Fred. Smith of the A.V.D., reports that in
horses, in about ten minutes after a subcutaneous injection
of three grains, there is constant ‘champing of the jaws,
whilst saliva flows from the mouth, sometimes in quite a
stream. There is no attempt at sweating; the sweat glands
of the horse are perfectly insensible to the action of pilo-
arpine. The involuntary muscles of the intestinal canal
are stimulated, and the rectum is repeatedly emptied... .
In one case I observed a gulping sound in the throat,
resembling the effect produced by aconite’ (Veterinary
Journal, 1888).
Horses are poisoned by the subcutaneous injection of five
grains (Kaufmann). Cattle, however, tolerate much larger
quantities. Feser subcutaneously injected a cow and a bull
with doses ranging from three to eighteen grains. The larger
doses produced abundant secretion of viscid saliva, frequent,
short, laboured respiration, tympanites, intestinal irritation,
colic, and profuse diarrhea, but only slight and temporary
diaphoresis. Still larger doses increased the cedema of the
lung and paralytic tympany of the rumen, and also weakened
heart action. But much larger doses, reaching to forty-five
grains, were tolerated when given by the mouth. Compared
with physostigmine, pilocarpine, although stimulating more
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522 JABORANDI—PILOCARPINE
powerfully intestinal glandular secretion, had much less
effect on intestinal muscular fibre, and two to four times the
dose is stated to be required to produce purgation in cattle
(Jour. of Comp. Path. and Therap., 1889).
Dogs and cats are more sensitive to the drug than horses
or cattle. A dog of 25 lbs. weight was prostrated for two
days by three-quarters of a grain, and Frohner records that.
this dose killed by pulmonary cedema a dog weighing 132 lbs.
Half a grain caused profuse salivation, continuing for six
hours, and increased action of the bowels and kidneys.
Half a drachm to a drachm of the leaves, infused in water,
produced in English terriers, of 20 to 25 lbs. weight, abundant
salivation, but no notable diaphoresis. The physiological
antagonist of pilocarpine is atropine, which arrests glandular
secretion and paralyses the nerve endings of involuntary
muscles. It is hence the appropriate antidote in poisoning
by pilocarpine.
Mepicina, Usts.—The prompt and general eliminative
action of pilocarpine has suggested its use for the absorption
of pleuritic and other effusions, and the removal of products.
of tissue waste. It has been prescribed for rheumatism,
especially when affecting muscles, and in chronic eczema.
Kaufmann testifies to its value as an expectorant in catarrh,
pneumonia, and complaints resulting from exposure to
cold. In such cases it may be usefully combined with
other expectorants. Friedberger and Fréhner advise its.
subcutaneous injection in acute brain inflammation, hydro-
cephalus, and laminitis. In nephritis it beneficially removes
by other channels the albuminoid waste usually got rid of
by the kidneys. In virtue of its increasing alike intestinal
secretion and peristalsis, it is serviceable in torpidity and
obstruction of the bowels, and may even relieve volvulus
and invagination. In these gastro-intestinal cases it is
conjoined with physostigmine, which stimulates muscular
contractions more powerfully than pilocarpine.
Doszs, etc.—Of the fresh leaves, horses or cattle take 3ij.
to Ziv.; sheep, pigs, or large dogs, Jss. to Ji., given as an
infusion. But pilocarpine nitrate or hydrochloride is more
certain and effective, and is prescribed, hypodermically or
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‘CURARE 523
intratracheally, to horses and cattle in doses of grs. ij. to grs.
iv.; to dogs, gr. =} to gr.4, dissolved in water, 1 grain of the
salt to 20 minims of water containing a drop or two of alcohol.
CURARE
Curara. Wourara. Wourali. Urari. The South American
arrow poison. An extract from one or more species of
Strychnos, mixed with some mucilaginous juice, and
owing its activity to an alkaloid, curarina (C,,H,,N;).
(Not official.)
Curare is a black-brown substance, with a very bitter taste,
and imperfectly soluble in water. It appears to vary some-
what in composition, and two varieties have been described.
The drug, and its twenty-times more active alkaloid
curarina, by whatever channel they enter the body, paralyse
the peripheral endings of motor nerves. The nerves of the
voluntary muscles of the limbs are first affected, then those
of the trunk and head; but later, and with large doses, they
involve the endings of sensory nerves, and also of the vagus,
enfeebling, and, it may be, arresting respiration. Intelligence
and consciousness remain unimpaired. Horses are poisoned
by 15 to 30 grains of curare, dogs by about one-tenth of
these doses. Nikelski and Dogiel’s investigations demon-
strate that the poison affects the protoplasm both of nerves
and muscles; that paralysis is removed when the drug is
washed out of the muscle; that it acts less powerfully on
the vaso-motor system of rabbits and cats than of dogs;
applied to the conjunctiva it dilates the pupil of birds, but
not of mammals; while the reverse obtains in the case of
atropine. Although the blood becomes charged with car-
bonic acid, the motor nerves are so paralysed that convulsions
do not occur. The heart continues to beat after the breathing
ceases, but the poison is quickly eliminated by the kidneys,
and artificial respiration persisted with accordingly prevents
death, even when lethal doses have been given. The rapid
excretion of the poison, unchanged, by the kidneys is strikingly
illustrated by the fact that the urine of a frog, poisoned by
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524 DIGITALIS
curare, injected subcutaneously into a second frog, paralyses
it, and its urine will even paralyse a third (Brunton).
It is allied to hemlock and conine, and to methyl-
strychnine, methyl-brucine, and methyl-thebaine. Some of
its effects are antagonised by strychnine. It has been given
in chorea and epilepsy; but in neither of these has its
efficacy been established. In tetanus it deserves further trial.
The doses for horses and cattle are from gr. ss. to gr. j.;
for dogs, gr. ; to gr. 3. It acts much more powerfully when
injected intravenously, hypodermically, or intratracheally,
than when swallowed. Any considerable amount of food in
the stomach retards and minimises its effect, when given
per orem.
DIGITALIS
Foxetove. The dried leaves of Digitalis purpurea. Col-
lected from plants commencing to flower (B.P.). Nat.
Ord.—Scrophulariacez.
Digitalis grows wild in this country and in many parts of
the Continent, on gravelly, sandy soils, in young plantations,
on hedge sides, and hill pastures. Other species have
probably the same properties as the D. purpurea, recognised
by the B.P. It is herbaceous, biennial or perennial, with
numerous drooping, purple -spotted, occasionally white
flowers, an erect stem one to five feet high, and large alter-
nate ovate-lanceolate, crenate, rugose leaves, downy,
especially on their paler lower surfaces, and tapering into
winged foot-stalks. The leaves are dried in baskets, in
darkness, over stoves, and are then of a dull-green colour,
with little smell, but a nauseous, bitter, slightly astringent
taste. They should be used when fresh; twelve months’
keeping greatly diminishes their activity. Both the roots
and seeds are bitter, and probably active.
Digitalis yields several active principles :—
(1) Digitalin, or digitalinum, a bitter glucoside, almost
insoluble in water, but readily soluble in alcohol. Pure
digitalin and the commercial variety are topical irritants and
muscle poisons, and hence notable cardiac poisons. The
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DIGITALIS GLUCOSIDES 525
four undermentioned non-nitrogenous substances have also
been isolated.
(2) Digitoxin is a crystalline body, insoluble in water, but
soluble in ether, chloroform, and alcohol. It is the most
active of the several glucosides which constitute digitalin.
(3) Digitalein is bitter and amorphous, and readily
soluble both in water and alcohol. Insoluble in ether and
chloroform. Digitoxin and digitalein act in the same
manner as digitalin.
(4) Digitonin is soluble in 600 parts of water, and in
50 parts dilute alcohol; resembles saponin, the active
principle of quillaia, the Chili soap bark; is a powerful
irritant, local anesthetic, and muscular paralysant; and
hence is in some degree antagonistic to digitalin, digitoxin,
and digitalein.
(5) Digitin appears to be physiologically inert.
These five non-nitrogenous bodies, in variable proportion,
are obtainable from the plant grown in different climates
and circumstances, and also from different preparations,
depending chiefly upon differences in their solubility in
water and alcohol. The tincture contains the first three,
and appears to be most suitable as a heart tonic, while the
infusion, containing more digitoxin, is stated to be more
active as a diuretic. They readily yield products of decom-
position, especially when exposed to high temperatures, and
several of these products are convulsants like picrotoxin.
Actions anp Usts.—Digitalis and digitalin are topical
irritants and contractors of muscle, especially of the un-
striped variety. Medicinal doses are vascular and cardiac
stimulants and tonics, and are prescribed to increase the
force and co-ordinating power of the heart, and relieve con-
gestion of veins and capillaries. They are diuretic. Large
doses are muscle poisons: they contract spasmodically and
even tetanically the heart and other muscles, and kill usually
by cardiac paralysis.
Genera Actions.—Digitalis owes its action chiefly to
digitalin, which, in contact with living tissues, is an
irritant. Injected into the skin or trachea it irritates and
inflames. Placed in the mouth, besides a sensation of bitter-
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526 DIGITALIS
ness, it causes salivation and redness. Introduced into the
stomach and bowels, it induces irritation and nauséa; in
carnivora, vomiting, colic pains, and diarrhea. It is absorbed
slowly, and contracts muscular fibre, notably of the heart
and arterioles. Properly regulated doses strengthen and
prolong the cardiac diastole, both auricles and ventricles are
more fully dilated, systole is more vigorous, and conse-
quently the heart is more perfectly emptied. The muscular
fibres of the arterioles have their tonicity increased. Blood-
pressure accordingly is raised. Such doses, while increasing
the volume of the pulse, diminish the pulse-rate of healthy
horses three to five beats, and of dogs ten to fifteen beats
per minute, and these effects last from six to twelve hours.
The action on the heart is more notable on the dog and
sheep than on the horse and ass.
The action on the circulation is divided by Schmiede-
berg into the following four stages, and this division has
been adopted by Dr. Lauder Brunton :—
(1) Medicinal doses cause a fuller stream of blood to be
thrown into the circulation, blood-pressure rises, the pulse is
usually slowed, but increased in volume. These effects,
depending chiefly on contraction of muscular fibre, are
intensified by stimulation of the vagus roots in the medulla,
and of the nerve-endings in the heart itself.
(2) Continued rise of blood-pressure. The pulse, pre-
viously slowed from stimulation of the vagus roots and
cardiac nerve-endings, owing to paralysis of the vagus end-
ings, now becomes quickened.
(3) Larger or more frequently repeated doses increase or
maintain the high pressure, and gradually cause direct
cardiac paralysis, inducing irregularity of the heart action
and pulse rate.
(4) Still larger doses produce rapid fall of blood-pressure,
sudden stoppage of the heart, and death. The heart usually
stops before the respiration.
Neither digitalis nor digitalin has any direct action on the
brain or spinal cord, nor any marked effect on sensory or
motor nerves. They temporarily quicken, and more notably
and permanently slow, respiration. By increasing general
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AND ITS ANALOGUES 527
blood-pressure, a fuller stream of blood passes through the
kidneys, the renal as well as other arterioles are’strengthened
and contracted, and thus diuresis is tardily produced, usually
with increase of the urinary solids. No direct irritation of the
kidneys occurs; but large doses, dilating arterioles, diminish
renal excretion, and, the drug consequently being longer
retained, its general effects are intensified, and its so-called
cumulative action developed.
The following drugs resemble digitalis, and, like it, most
of them contain an active glucoside :—
Liliacee. . . Urginea Scilla. Squill. Contains the
active neutral body Scillitoxin.
Convallaria majalis. Lily of the Valley.
Convallamarin.
Ranunculacee. Helleborus niger. Helleborein.
Adonis vernalis. Adonidin.
Leguminose. . Erythrophleum guineense, which yields
the African poison casa, or doom.
Erythrophleine. Broom. Sparteine.
Apocynacee. . Strophanthus hispidus, and the variety
S. Kombé. Strophanthin.
Nerium odorum (oleander). Neriin.
Apocynum cannabinum. Canadian hemp.
Apocynin.
Toxic Actions.—The toxic dose of the powdered leaves is
thus stated by Kaufmann :—For horses, six to eight drachms ;
for dogs, one to two drachms; for cats, thirty grains. The
toxic dose of amorphous digitalin for horses is one and a
half grains; for dogs, one quarter grain.
A horse was poisoned in twelve hours by two ounces of
dried powdered leaves (Moiroud). One ounce, and in some
cases six drachms, given to horses in bolus, caused, in three
to ten hours, loss of appetite, frequent urination, fluid feces,
sometimes tinged with blood, a pulse at first full and
increased, but afterwards small, slow, and irregular, contrac-
tion of the pupil, difficulty of breathing, languor, and, after
twelve or sixteen hours, death (Hertwig). Messrs. Bouley
and Reynal, administering large doses to horses, observed
quickened circulation, abrupt and energetic heart - beats
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528 DIGITALIS
characterised by a vibratory thrill, and subsequently by a
bellows murmur, with intermittence, the pulse, as death
approached, numbering 120 to 140. Smaller doses, after
slight acceleration, lowered pulsations 20 or 25 beats per
minute, and rendered the several cardiac sounds particularly
distinct.
The following cases, in which I gave full medicinal doses
of digitalis to healthy horses, illustrate its effects on the
heart, its nauseating action, and its irritation of the digestive
organs.
In February 1856, powdered digitalis was given to three horses in
good health, and receiving daily 12 lbs. hay, 5 Ibs. oats, and 5$ lbs. bran.
On the 20th they each received a drachm of the powder at 12 noon, and
another drachm at 6 p.m. ; on the 21st and 22nd one drachm at 6 a.M., at
12 noon, and 6 p.m. ; and on the 28rd a drachm at 6 a.M.—in all, nine doses
of a drachm each in three days.
No. 1. Brown Mare, 3 years old :—
Feb. 20, 12 noon, pulse 38, respirations 8.
21; 6.
” ” ” 7 ”
” 22, ” ” 28, ” 7.
”, 23, ” ” 8, ” 7.
On the evening of the 22nd she became dull and refused her feed.
23rd, 10 a.m., still dull, without appetite, pupil contracted, passing flatus,
with small quantities of fluid feces: 4.30 p.m., pulse 32, more distinct
than at noon, pupil considerably contracted, rather less dulness. On the
25th, two days after the medicine was withdrawn, the mare was eating
and perfectly well again.
No. 2. Bay Gelding, 3 years old :—
Feb. 20, 12 noon, pulse 36, respirations 7.
” 21, ” bi % ” 8.
» 22, ” » 30, ” 6.
» 28, ” » 32, ” 6.
23rd, 12 noon.—Pulse, both yesterday and to-day, slightly irregular ;
no appetite, very dull and stupid, with the pupil somewhat contracted.
4.30 P.m., pulse 34, tolerably firm, but unequal ; eating a little, and scarcely
so dull. No more digitalis being given, the animal recovered its appetite,
and by the 26th was well again.
No. 3. Brown Mare, 3 years old :—
Feb. 20, 12 noon, pulse 38, respirations 8,
33
” 21, ” ” ? ” he
» 22, ” » 34, ” 73.
» 23, 55 » 120, » 20.
24, 5 120, 25.
” > 29.
Towards the evening of the 22nd the mare became dull and would not
feed. 23rd, 10 a.m., very much nauseated ; nose, mouth, and ears cold;
abdomen tympanitic, with colicky pains, and occasional pawing; pupil
somewhat contracted; pulse firm at axilla and heart, but not very
perceptible at jaw. Had four drachms of carbonate of ammonia and
clysters occasionally, the stimulant being repeated at two o’clock and four.
At 4.30 p.m. she was down, much pained, attempting to roll; pulse 82, but
unequal. 24th, 12 noon, pulse, imperceptible at jaw, about 120; respira-
tions 25, and very much laboured ; lips retracted and saliva dripping
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MEDICINAL USES 529
from the mouth ; enormous abdominal tympanites and much pain ; rapid
sinking ; died on 25th, at 11 a.m.
Post-mortem examination made next morning at 9.30. Voluntary
muscles unusually pale ; spots of ecchymosis found in the areolar textures,
between the muscular fibres, and in places underneath the skin. Lungs
and pleure healthy ; anterior extremity of lungs contained more blood than
posterior ; venze cave contained the usual amount of dark non-coagulated
blood ; bronchial tubes inflamed for about six inches along their anterior
ends ; windpipe inflamed half-way up the neck, and containing flakes of
greenish pus mixed with mucus; no froth here or in bronchi. Heart
pale, friable, containing a small clot of blood in its left ventricle, and
about five ounces of non-coagulated blood in the right ventricle. A rent
of eight inches long was found in the inferior curvature of the stomach,
through which food had passed into the omentum ; the mucous membrane
of the stomach was quite healthy ; the organ itself very large, but col-
lapsed, in consequence of the rupture ; the intestines were pale and flaccid,
and contained enormous quantities of food and gas, but their mucous
membrane was quite healthy. The kidneys and generative organs, with
the brain and spinal cord, were perfectly healthy.
Dogs receiving one or two drachms were nauseated, and,
when vomiting was prevented, moaned and exhibited
abdominal pain, green-coloured fluid dejections were passed,
the pulse was feeble and indistinct, breathing irregular and
distressed, spasmodic efforts were made to empty the
bladder, muscular debility preceded death (Tabourin). Pigs
poisoned by decoction of the leaves are reported to be
languid, attempt to vomit, strain, and pass small quantities
of feces; whilst after death the mucous coat of the stomach
and small intestine is inflamed, the kidneys slightly con-
gested, the bladder empty (Veterinarian, 1872). In poison-
ing with large doses the power of the muscles to lift weight
is diminished, and their tetanic contractions persist until
post-mortem decomposition sets in.
Mepicmvat Uses.—Dr. Ringer believes that digitalis exerts
its curative effects in one or more of the following ways—
first, by strengthening the action of the heart; second, by
reducing the strength of the beats of a heart acting too
powerfully ; third, by lessening the frequency of the heart-
beats; fourth, by correcting irregular action of the heart.
When the heart is enfeebled or acting irregularly, as in
horses suffering from influenza or other exhausting disease,
in cattle convalescing from pleuro-pneumonia or rheumatic
fever, in dogs debilitated by distemper or over-work, digitalis
imparts co-ordination and expulsive power to the heart,
2.
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530 DIGITALIS
and tone to relaxed capillaries, rendering the quick, weak
irregular pulse-beat slower, stronger, and steadier. Difti-
culty of breathing and dropsical effusion resulting from
imperfect action of the heart are usually relieved, and
general as well as cardiac nutrition is improved. In such
cases digitalis is usefully conjoined with potassium chlorate
or nitrate, or with alcohol, or ether. Palpitation in horses
resulting frem unwonted over-exertion, or from fast work
performed shortly after a full meal, occasionally persists for
several days; the violent, irritable impulse of the heart,
accompanied by lifting of the flanks, comes in paroxysms;
repeated doses usually control such inordinate, tumultuous,
functional disturbance. In the more violent of these cases
Professor Robertson conjoined with the digitalis small doses
of aconite, and in other cases prescribed it with belladonna.
In dilatation of the heart, with insufficiency of the mitral
valves, carefully regulated doses of digitalis abate the
dyspnea, cold extremities, venous pulse, and edema. In
dilatation or hypertrophy of the left ventricle—common
in hard-worked, aged horses—even when accompanied by
slight valvular disease, the full, strong, intermittent pulse
is usually moderated, its unduly forcible impulse quieted,
and the breathing relieved by digitalis. In such cases of
hypertrophy, when the pulse is full and strong, one or two
small doses of aconite may first be tried.
In pericarditis, after the more acute symptoms have been
subdued by salines, digitalis frequently lessens the embar-
rassed breathing and the friction sound. In endocarditis,
occurring occasionally in cattle, it renders the heart-beat
more regular, and gives fulness to the small thready pulse.
Quieting and regulating cardiac action, and contracting
arterioles, it is recommended in hemorrhage, especially
from the lungs and stomach.
In equine pneumonia, especially in the second stages,
digitalis frequently relieves engorgement, probably by pro-
pelling blood in fuller stream into the abdominal and other
vessels. Promoting circulation, it moreover aids arterialising
of blood, and hence is also useful in congestion and purpura.
It is a frequent constituent of cough mixtures.
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DOSES AND PREPARATIONS 531
Professor Dick’s recipe for thick and broken wind con-
sists of thirty grains each of calomel, digitalis, opium, and
camphor, and its efficacy in great part depends upon the
calomel regulating the bowels, while the other drugs abate
the cardiac irritability so notable in such cases. Where the
medicine must be persisted with daily for a week, or longer,
the professor advised omission of the calomel.
Digitalis relieves many cases of dropsy by regulating faulty
heart-action, stimulating dilated capillaries, as well as by
inducing diuresis. In pleuritic effusion, Professor Robertson
gave horses digitalis, grs. xx. to grs, XxXx.; potassium nitrate,
3ij.; powdered cantharides, grs. iv. to grs. x., made into bolus,
and repeated twice daily for a week. Diuresis is determined
by prescribing digitalis with salines—a combination often
useful in cardiac dropsy.
The chief indications for the use of digitalis are an
enfeebled, irritable, jerking, or irregular heart, deficient
arterial pressure, venous engorgement, and scanty secretion
of urine. It is more suitable for chronic than acute cases,
for combating functional rather than organic mischief. As
with other tonics, it is best tolerated in those weak and
irritable states of the heart in which it is most serviceable.
It is of little use in difficulty of breathing or dropsical con-
ditions chiefly dependent on lung disease. It does harm in
aortic disease or in hypertrophy, where the pulse continues
strong, firm, and regular; or in enfeebled circulation dependent
on advanced fatty degeneration. Nausea or irritability of the
digestive organs, coldness of the extremities, unwonted force
of the pulse-beats, indicate that the medicine should be
stopped, or given in reduced amount. The effects of over-
doses are combated by alcohol or other stimulants, and by
keeping the patient perfectly quiet.
Doses, etc.—Of the powdered leaves, horses take grs. xv. to
grs. xxx.; cattle, 3ss. to 3j.; sheep and pigs, grs. v. to grs. x. ;
dogs, gr. i. to grs. iv., in bolus or pill. These doses may be
administered daily for a week, and are advantageously con-
joined with potassium iodide, caffeine, or arsenic ; but digitalis
is not very soluble or readily absorbed, and being moreover
an in-contact irritant, should be used in a fluid form.
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532 STROPHANTHUS
The infusion is made by digesting for fifteen minutes
60 grains of dried leaves with 20 ounces of distilled water.
The tincture is made by maceration and subsequent perco-
lation of 24 ounces dried leaves with one pint alcohol (60 per
cent.), B.P. -It contains 543 grains to the fluid ounce, is
about sixteen times the strength of the infusion, and is the
most suitable preparation for cardiac cases. Horses and
cattle take {Jii. to fZiv.; sheep, f3ss. to £3j.; dogs, MLij. to
TILx.
In commerce four varieties of digitalin are met with—
(1) Homolle’s, or French ; (2) the German; (3) Nativelle’s
and (4) digitalin-kiliani. Digitalin is upwards of five hun-
dred times the strength of the tincture, and the dose for the
horse is gr. #4; to gr. i. The several preparations are adminis-
tered per orem. Even when diluted they are apt to irritate
if given hypodermically or intratracheally. They are not
always of uniform strength ; this depends upon the varying
activity of the plants grown under different conditions, pro-
longed keeping, variations in the method of preparation, and
differing proportions of the active constituents. It is hence
desirable, when using unfamiliar specimens of the drug, or
its preparations, to begin with moderate doses, and narrowly
watch their effects.
STROPHANTHUS
The dried ripe seeds of Strophanthus kombé, freed from the
awns (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Apocynacer.
The ripened follicles contain upwards of a hundred oval
acuminate seeds, about three-fifths of an inch long and
one-sixth of an inch broad, covered with silky hairs; odour
characteristic, taste very bitter. They contain 8 to 10 per
cent. of an active, bitter, crystalline glucoside, strophan-
thin, which is soluble in water and rectified spirit, insoluble
in chloroform, or ether. Similar seeds are got from the
S. hispidus. A paste prepared from strophanthus seeds is
used in Africa as an arrow poison.
Actions anp Usts.—The seeds and their active principle
are muscle poisons. They augment the contractile power,
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MEDICINAL USES 533
especially of striated muscles. They resemble digitalis and
the bodies of that group. They are prescribed as cardiac
tonics and diuretics.
Professor Thomas Fraser has carefully investigated the
actions of strophanthus and digitalis. The former, he reports,
is more soluble, and hence more rapid in its actions; but it
is also more quickly eliminated, and its effects are hence less
durable, and the cumulative results credited to digitalis are
not observed. Its efficacy does not, however, seem to be
impaired by repetition. Full doses produce less gastro-
intestinal disorder and less marked vascular contraction.
Strophanthus acts more notably on striated muscle, digitalis
on unstriated; strophanthus has less diuretic action, and
may with safety be given more frequently and in larger
doses than digitalis. Both increase the length and power of
the heart systole, and hence strengthen and co-ordinate
enfeebled or irregular action. Comparing the active prin-
ciples, Professor Fraser found that a solution of ;),,5th
digitalin paralysed the heart of a frog, but sg53.g5cth stro-
phanthin was equally powerful. Strophanthin is therefore
the most potent known heart tonic.
Fréhner has experimented on various animals, and con-
cludes that the lethal dose of strophanthus tincture is about
half a gramme (74 minims) per kilogramme of. body-weight.
Horses tolerate 100 grammes, dogs 10 to 20 minims of the
tincture. Full doses, he states, are irritant, narcotic, pro-
ducing hemorrhagic gastro-enteritis, colic, diarrhea, cramp,
with some stupor. The cardiac action manifests two stages—
(1) diminution of pulse-rate, with rise of temperature; (2)
increase of pulse-rate, with diminution of temperature.
Mepicivat Uses.—Strophanthus is prescribed to slow,
strengthen, and steady feeble or faulty heart action. Com-
bining cardiac tonic and diuretic effects, it is commended by
Frohner in valvular disease, hydrothorax, hydropericarditis,
ascites, and chronic nephritis.
Dostrs.—Of the tincture, made with one part of seed to
forty of alcohol (70 per cent.), horses and cattle take fZiv. to
f3vi., and dogs Tv. to Mxv.
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534 SQUILL—BROOM
SQUILL
Seria. The bulb of Urginea Scilla, divested of its dry,
membranous, outer scales, cut into slices, and dried
(B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Liliacee.
The large bulbs of this Mediterranean plant, when sliced
and dried, have a faint odour and disagreeable, mucilaginous,
bitter, acrid taste. The slices are easily reduced to powder.
The active principle is a glucoside—scillain or scillitoxin—
which is soluble in water, acetic acid, and alcohol.
Actions, Uses, anp Doses.—Squill and its active principle, in
full doses, are irritants, causing vomiting and purging; absorbed
into the blood, they lower the pulse-rate and raise blood-
pressure ; they are expectorant and diuretic. They resemble
digitalis in paralysing voluntary muscle, acting as heart
tonics, and producing diuresis. Large doses, or small doses
too long continued, induce urinary irritation and hematuria.
Squill is prescribed chiefly in those catarrhal and bronchial
cases in which secretion is defective. Professor Robertson
gave horses the syrup in fZiv. doses; dogs take Tx. to TLxv.,
conjoined, as the exigencies of the case require, with digi-
talis, ammonium acetate solution, or camphor electuary.
The vinegar and tincture are used in about half the dose of
the syrup. Powdered squill is sometimes added to electu-
aries. Horses may be given Ziv. to 3].
BROOM
Scopartt Cacumina. The fresh and dried tops of Cytisus
scoparius (B.P.). Mat. Ord.—Leguminose.
The tops and other parts of the shrub contain a natural
glucoside, scoparin (C,,H,,0,,), which has diuretic pro-
perties and a volatile, oily, poisonous alkaloid, sparteine
(C,,H,,N,), which resembles conine in some of its actions.
Like digitalin and strophanthin it increases the force of the
heart, and acts as a diuretic. Kaufmann states that it
relieves inordinate heart action, regulates rhythm, and raises
blood-pressure. The sulphate and periodide of sparteine, as
well as the succus prepared from the fresh broom tops, are
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BUCHU—UVA URSI—PAREIRA 535
occasionally prescribed in dropsies connected with heart
disease, the dose of the succus for horses being f3j.; for
dogs, Txx. to TLxxx.
BUCHU
Bucuu Foura. The dried leaves of Barosma_ betulina
(B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Rutacee.
Buchu is a shrub two to four feet high, and a native of the
Cape of Good Hope. The leaves are smooth, dull yellow-
green, with a strong, penetrating odour, a bitter aromatic
taste, and varying in different species from half an inch to
an inch and a half in length. Oil glands are distinctly
visible in the leaves, especially near the margin. They con-
tain a volatile oil, a bitter substance, and mucilage.
Actions anp Uses.—Buchu is a mild, stimulating bitter,
expectorant, and diuretic, and a disinfectant of the urino-
genital mucous membrane. The oil or active principle is
excreted by the kidneys and bronchial mucous membrane.
Professor Robertson gave it to allay irritability in cystitis,
using it either alone or along with borax or benzoic acid.
The tincture of buchu—made with one of buchu to five of
alcohol (60 per cent.)—is seldom prescribed.
The dose of the infusion for horses or cattle is Zi. to Ziv. ;
for dogs, 3]. to 3ij. The infusion is made with one part
leaves and twenty parts of boiling water. Animals readily
take this infusion when it is mixed with linseed tea or
barley water. It is sometimes advantageously conjoined
with belladonna, opium, hyoscyamus, potassium bromide, or
saline diuretics.
Bearberry leaves—the leaves of Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi
—contain the bitter neutral extractive arbutin, which within
the body is in part converted into hydroquinone, and is
employed as a diuretic astringent, and antiseptic, in chronic
vesical irritation.
Pareira—the root of chondrodendron tomentosum, con-
taining the active principle buxine, although not very
reliable, is also used for the same purposes as buchu and
uva-ursi.
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536 ACONITE
The root of Collinsonia canadensis— stone or knob root—
has been largely used in America as a remedy in inflam-
mation of the urino-genital mucous membrane, and in
spasmodic colic in men and animals; and Dr. T. Oliver,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, with 15 grains of extract, repeated
thrice daily, gradually reduced the pus in several cases of
cystitis in man, which had defied other treatment (Lancet,
1888).
ACONITB
AconITE—Monkshood. Wolfsbane. Blue Rocket. Aconi-
tum. The root. of Aconitum Napellus. Collected in
the autumn from plants cultivated in Britain, and
dried. Nat. Ord.—Ranunculacee.
AconitTina.—Aconitine. An alkaloid obtained from Aconite
Root, and having the formula C,,H,,NO,. (B.P.)
Botanists have numbered twenty-two species, and upwards
of a hundred varieties of aconite, which are common
throughout the cooler mountainous countries of both hemi-
spheres. Some species are eaten as vegetables, some are
bitter tonics; but others, as the Aconitum ferox, Sinense,
and Napellus, are sedative poisons. The last of these, the
common officinal species, is a doubtful native of Britain, but
often grown for its flowers in gardens and shrubberies. Its
several varieties are herbaceous, with perennial, tapering,
carrot-shaped, brown roots, with lateral rootlets, from which
after the first year’s growth, are formed one or more oval
tubers, at first nourished by the decaying parent root;
several annual, erect, glabrous stems two to five feet high ;
numerous alternate dark-green leaves ; long-stalked, helmet-
shaped blue or purple flowers, which form loose terminal
racemes, and appear in June or July; and dry, black, angular
seeds, which ripen about the end of August.
Aconite root, from which the tincture, liniment, and alka-
loid are prepared, varies from two to four inches long, and from
half an inch to nearly an inch thick at the crown, which is:
knotty ; is brown externally, but pinky white within ; conical,
rapidly tapering, prominently marked, with the bases of
the rootlets, and of an earthy odour—characters which
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ACTIONS AND USES 537
distinguish it from the larger, longer, more uniformly
cylindrical, white, pungent, bitter root of horse-radish, for
which aconite root has sometimes been fatally mistaken.
According to Professor Schroff, Vienna, the root is six times
as active as the other parts, and should be taken up after
the plant has flowered in autumn, when it is in perfection,
or before the new stem rises in spring, cut into small pieces,
and dried at a low temperature. The leaves are less active
than the root, but more so than the flowers, fruit, or stem.
Any part of an active aconite, when slowly chewed, produces
a peculiar sensation of tingling, and numbness of the lips
and tongue.
The chief active principle—aconitina (C,,H,,NO,,)—is
obtained by a tedious process from the powdered root. It
occurs in colourless, hexagonal rhombic prisms, nearly in-
soluble in water, but readily soluble in alcohol, chloroform,
and ether. Its salts are crystalline. Two other alkaloids,
Benzaconine and Aconine, have been obtained from aconite
root. In the plants the alkaloids are united with aconitic
acid (C,H,O,), and according to Cash and Dunstan neither
the composition nor the constitution of the chief alkaloid,
-aconitine, can yet be regarded as settled.
Actions anp Uses,—Anodyne and sedative, acting specially
‘on the peripheral endings of sensory nerves, on the heart,
and on respiration. Aconite kills by respiratory arrest. Its
physiological actions as a cardiac and respiratory sedative
render it a febrifuge ; it is also diaphoretic and diuretic. It
is prescribed in acute febrile conditions, and in the earlier
stages of acute local inflammation. It is used topically to
relieve pain.
Generat Actions.—Locally applied, in virtue of its action
‘on sensory nerves, aconite produces first irritation, tingling
and twitching, and subsequently numbness and anesthesia.
Aconite tincture is rapidly absorbed and quickly passes into
the tissues, as is shown by the blood of a poisoned dog, five
minutes after the drug has been administered, being trans-
ferable into the veins of another dog without producing the
physiological action of the poison.
Full medicinal doses administered by the mouth induce
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538 ACONITE
salivation, champing of the jaws, movements of swallowing,
and nausea, and cause in dogs and cats vomiting, and in
horses, ruminants, and rabbits retching and eructation of
frothy mucus. The topical irritant action is exerted not.
only on the stomach, but sometimes on the bowels, which
are affected by spasms and diarrhea, while the secretions of
the skin and kidneys are also increased. Within fifteen to-
twenty minutes the strength and frequency of the heart-
beats are reduced, and blood-pressure is lowered. These
effects on the circulation appear to depend upon paresis of
the motor ganglia in the heart, as well as of the vagus roots.
in the medulla, and of the vaso-motor centres. From the
impaired circulation, the skin secretion is increased, tempera-.
ture is lowered, and general muscular weakness ensues.
Kaufmann records that subcutaneous injection of aconitina,
in moderate doses in dogs, lowered the temperature from
38'5° Cent. to 367° Cent.; while intravenous injection in
horses reduced the temperature from 37-4° Cent. to 371°
Cent. (Traité de Thérapeutique et de Matiere Médicale
Vétérinaires). Partly from the reduced circulatory force,
and partly from the drug directly depressing the respiratory
centre, breathing is slow and deepened, and exhibits a dis-
tinct expiratory effort. When large or repeated doses have
been given, cardiac action becomes irregular, and often
quickened, but tension remains low; the breathing becomes.
still slower, shallower, and more laboured ; after every two or
three respirations there is a distinct pause in expiration.
Convulsions, mainly due to asphyxia, sometimes precede
death, which generally results from failure of respiration.
The brain and special senses are unaffected. The pupil,
which in the earlier stages of poisoning is sometimes.
dilated and sometimes contracted, during the later stages.
remains dilated. Aconite is removed from the body chiefly
in the urine, augmenting both its solid and fluid parts.
Toxic Errects.—Aconite exerts tolerably uniform effects
upon all animals, especially when injected hypodermically.
Horses have been poisoned within two or three hours by 120
to 150 minims of Fleming’s tincture, given by the mouth.
Cattle, however, sometimes receive large doses without fatal
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EXPERIMENTS 539
effects. Dogs weighing 40 lbs. are killed usually within half
an hour by 50 to 60 minims of Fleming’s tincture ; cats by
10 minims. But half these doses are liable to produce
alarming symptoms. Full medicinal doses sometimes leave
untoward effects; pulse, blood-pressure, and breathing may
continue reduced for ten or twelve hours, while nausea and
impaired appetite may remain for several days.
The following experiments on horses were made at the
Edinburgh Veterinary College many years ago by my
lamented friend, Mr. Barlow, and myself :—
A black mare, 154 hands high, previously used for slow work, and in
good health, got, at 12.40 p.m, one fluid drachm of Fleming’s tincture of
aconite. At 1 she was nauseated, had eructations of frothy mucus, with
attempts to vomit, which increased till 1.30, when she went down. The
pulse, which was 35 before administration of the poison, was now 60, and
very weak ; she continued down till 7 p.m, when she was destroyed, in
consequence of being unable to stand.
An aged chestnut cab horse, 16 hands high, and useless from quittor, was
tied up for ten minutes, to ensure perfect quietude. The pulse was then
found to be 56, and the respirations 12. The animal had a good appetite
and regular evacuations. At 10 o’clock he got ninety minims of Fleming's
tincture of aconite in a linseed meal ball, the head being still kept tied up
for fifteen minutes. In half an hour he fed greedily on potatoes and beans,
but no change was observable. At1 p.m. he got fifty minims of the same
tincture in four ounces of water. At 1.15 he appeared to be making
continual efforts to swallow something ; his mouth was closed ; and, after
such attempts at swallowing, air and fluid were regurgitated up the gullet,
causing a rattling noise, as of air-bubbles mixed with water. At 1.20 the
pulse was 50; symptoms of actual nausea appeared ; the muscles on the
side of the neck and throat were contracted, the muzzle brought near to the
breast, the lips retracted, and the mouth slightly opened. Fits of retching
came on every two minutes, and increased in violence during the next ten
or fifteen minutes. 1.30.—During each paroxysm of retching the mouth
was opened, the lips retracted, and four or five ounces of frothy mucus
discharged on the ground. The pulse had fallen to 40, and become weak.
On account of the retching, the respirations could not be counted.
Sweating broke out over the body ; the mucous membranes of the mouth,
nose, and eyes were pallid, and there were fibrillary twitchings of the
muscles, especially about the head and neck. 2 Pp.m.—Pulse 38, and weak ;
the respirations not easily counted, but probably about 9 ; in other respects
no change. The animal passed feces and urine freely ; and, shortly after
taking a pint of cold water, lay down somewhat relieved, with the retching
scarcely so frequent. At 2.30 the pulse was somewhat weaker ; the breathing
irregular, interrupted, and sighing; and the animal unable to rise. The
labial and nasal muscles were contracted, causing retraction of the lips, and
disclosing the gums blanched, and the teeth covered with frothy mucus.
Two bottles of strong ale were given, with half an ounce of spirit of
ammonia. At 3 p.m. the pulse was 35, and still weaker than before ;
respiration was somewhat accelerated, probably owing to the animal being
down ; profuse sweating continued and the retching, though somewhat
subsided, still came on about every ten minutes. The animal remained
down without much change until about 6, when the nausea was somewhat
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540 ACONITE POISONING
diminished, but the pulse so weak as to be scarcely perceptible. He was
raised with difficulty, and stood, blowing much, for fifteen minutes. At 7
there was little change ; the pulse remained imperceptible, the respirations
about 20, and there was no appetite for food or drink. He was left with
the expectation of finding him dead next morning, but at 7 a.m. he was up
and eating. His pulse was 65, his respirations 10, and his appearance very
haggard and reduced. He continued in much the same state for a week,
never regained his former look or appetite, for two days was unable to rise
or stand, and became much wasted. He was destroyed by six drachms of
prussic acid ; but, on post-mortem examination, every part except the lungs
seemed healthy. These organs, more especially the right one, were
extensively studded with patches of extravasated blood about the size of
walnuts, which, in those parts connected with the pulmonary tissue, were
more or less softened, and emitted an odour characteristic of heated,
decomposed blood. The rusty fluid produced from the softening had in
various places passed into the bronchi, imparting to their frothy mucus a
brown colour.
The following experiments on cats and dogs were made
at the Edinburgh Royal (Dick’s) Veterinary College many
years ago :—
A cat of average size got seven minims of Fleming’s tincture of aconite.
In two minutes severe retching came on, with a copious supply of saliva,
probably arising from paralysis of the fauces ; and in five minutes painful
vomiting and involuntary muscular contractions of a most active kind, with
perverted action of the voluntary muscles, causing the animal to leap up
the wall and turn somersaults backwards. In this, as in most other cases,
the pupil, at first somewhat contracted, ultimately became dilated. The
pulse was reduced in volume and strength, shortly becoming very weak ;
the breathing was gasping. The vomiting and inordinate muscular action
continued until within two or three minutes of death, which took place
twenty minutes after the administration of the poison. No morbid or
peculiar post-mortem appearances were observable.
A medium-sized Scotch terrier got thirty minims of Fleming’s tincture.
In five minutes painful and active vomiting came on, which must have
effectually emptied the stomach. The retching and vomiting continued,
however, for half an hour, when the animal was so exhausted and paralysed
in its hind extremities as to be unable to walk, except by supporting itself
on its fore-limbs and dragging the hind-quarters. It gradually recovered,
however, in about two hours. In some cases a drachm of Fleming’s
tincture has destroyed dogs with as much rapidity as an equal quantity of
prussic acid.
After death the lungs are collapsed, and contain little
blood; the trachea and bronchi contain excess of frothy
mucus, accumulating owing to paralysis of the respiratory
muscles and glottis; the cavities of the right heart are
greatly distended with blood; the left heart is nearly empty ;
there are ecchymoses of the lungs, pleura, and endocardium ;
the digestive organs are normal.
Awntipores—If the patient is seen immediately after
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MEDICINAL USES 541
swallowing the poison, endeavour should be made to empty
the stomach by an emetic or the stomach-pump. Alcoholic
and ammoniacal stimulants are given. Ether, digitalis, or
atropine should be used hypodermically to antagonise the
sedative effects of aconite on the heart and breathing.
Warmth, and infriction of the chest-walls with stimulating
liniment also assist in maintaining cardiac and respiratory
action.
Mepicinat Uses.—Aconite is more used by British than by
German practitioners. Fréhner states that there are other
safer febrifuges. Cagny indicates its more general use in
France, and characterises it as the grand vaso-motor sedative,
slowing the circulation in acute fever. Kaufmann designates
it a very precious febrifuge in the early stages of all internal
inflammatory maladies, especially of the air-passages. Medi-
cinal doses, as already stated, within ten or fifteen minutes
reduce the number and lessen the force and tension of the
pulsations, lower abnormal temperature, and relieve pain.
The arteries being dilated, the capacity of the vascular
systein is increased, and, as Dr. Fothergill aptly puts it, ‘the
patient bleeds into his own vessels,’ sometimes with conse-
quent relief of limited inflammation. In virtue of these
physiological actions, carefully regulated doses are beneficial
in fever and acute inflammation in robust patients, as in
the earlier stages of pleurisy, enteritis, peritonitis, mammitis,
lymphangitis, laminitis, and acute rheumatism. Pharyngitis
in horses, accompanied by high fever, is sometimes controlled
by a moderate dose, followed at intervals of an hour by half-
doses, repeated until five or six have been given. In the more
common epizootic sore-throat of influenza, aconite is useless,
and indeed injurious. Although serviceable in pharyngitis,
laryngitis, and pleurisy, it is too reducing a remedy to be
used in most cases of bronchitis or pneumonia. Professor
Williams recommends it in equine pleurisy and pneumonia,
where pyrexia is considerable, but does not find it so
serviceable for these complaints in dogs (Principles and
Practice of Veterinary Medicine).
Conjoined with a purgative, aconite is sometimes prescribed
in spasmodic colic. In enteritis in horses, Mr. Hill states
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542 ACONITE
that, within five minutes after aconite tincture is swallowed
he has repeatedly found the pulse fall from 100 to 70 beats
per minute, and this notable effect is usually succeeded by
gradual abatement of fever and pain (Veterinarian, 1871).
Professor Robertson prescribed in enteritis Mv. Fleming’s
tincture, and 3ss. each of camphor and powdered opium in
a pint of gruel (Zquine Medicine). Mr. Richard Rutherford
informs me that he finds aconite specially useful in laminitis.
The patient, he urges, should be hobbled and thrown,
especially when all four feet are affected. A full dose,
followed by four or five half-doses, given at intervals of
one to two hours, abates violent cardiac action, fever, and
pain. In acute rheumatism it usually relieves both febrile
symptoms and local pain. Mr. Connochie, Selkirk, in the
treatment of acute rheumatism, after a dose of physic
conjoined with opium, recommends thrice daily, for either
horses or cattle, T|x. Fleming’s tincture and a drachm of
nitre. Repeated small doses are beneficial in the outset of
metro-peritonitis in cattle; and some flockmasters use
aconite tincture with success during the lambing season,
giving it with gruel to ewes which have a hard time, begin
to blow, or show febrile symptoms. Conjoined with perfect
quiet and a dose of physic, small doses of aconite have been
used in the earlier stages of tetanus by Mr. Thomas Dollar
and Mr. Macgillivray (Veterinarian, 1871). In small,
frequently repeated doses, either alone or with hemlock, it
usually controls and steadies tumultuous, excessive, or
irregular action of the hypertrophied heart, especially in
plethoric patients. Although administered for other pur-
poses, it frequently leads to the expulsion of intestinal
worms.
Paralysing sensory nerves, aconite is used externally as a
local anodyne in neuralgic and rheumatic affections, and for
swollen and painful joints. As with other anodynes, it is
more effective in combating irritative than inflammatory
pain. It frequently relieves the itching of dermatitis and
eczematous eruptions in horses and dogs. More rapid
absorption and greater anodyne effect are secured by adding
a little chloroform to the aconite tincture or liniment. The
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DOSES AND ADMINISTRATION 543
external application of aconite, it must be remembered,
demands, however, almost as much care as its internal use.
Dosss, etc.—The plant is not used in the crude state.
The extract, unless very carefully made from an alcoholic
solution, is apt to be of defective or irregular strength. The
B.P. tincture (1 in 20), now made with two-fifths of the
proportion of root ordered in the B.P. of 1885, is convenient
alike for internal and external use. For horses, the dose
varies from Txxv. to 3j.; for cattle, f3ss. to fZiss.; for sheep
and pigs, Mx. to Mxx.; for dogs, Tlij. to Mx. Fleming’s
tincture (1 in 14), still used in veterinary practice, is very
much stronger than the B.P. tincture, and, on account of its
concentration, requires to be used carefully. The dose for
horses is from Tv. to T|xx.; for cattle, from Tx. to T[xxx.; for
sheep, Mlij. or MLiij.; and for dogs, from Mss. to Tj. Hither
tincture should be given in several ounces of cold water.
The effects of full doses sometimes continue for twelve or
fifteen hours. Small and repeated doses are preferable to
larger doses at longer intervals. The first may be a full
dose, and may be followed by five or six half-doses, repeated,
as the case appears to require, at intervals of from half an
hour to two hours. The antipyretic effects which should
thus be produced are usually kept up by salines and other
treatment. Used hypodermically, less than half the above
quantities suffice. Professor Walley taught that the activity
of aconite is increased by giving it in combination with
alkaline carbonates. The liniment of aconite (1 in 14),
made with powdered root, camphor and rectified spirit, is
occasionally used. It should not be applied to a wound.
Aconitine is one of the most potent of sedative poisons.
Dr. Headland (Lhe Action of Medicines) records that 345th
of a grain in solution in water suffices to destroy a mouse;
zioth of a grain kills a small bird after a few minutes, and
zoth almost instantaneously; =y4th to j~,th kills cats, the
latter quantity in twenty minutes or half an hour. Half a
grain, given to a shepherd’s dog weighing 30 lbs., began to
operate in three or four minutes, and proved fatal in sixty-
five minutes. The lethal dose for an adult man is ~,th
grain. Mavor and Burness subcutaneously injected over the
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544 IPECACUANHA
scapula of a horse th grain, and noted in a few minutes
champing of the teeth, salivation, fits of retching, and
reduced number and force of the pulsations (The Action of
Medicines).
Majors Smith and Rutherford, of the Army Veterinary
Department, kindly placed at my disposal the unpublished
notes of four experiments made on healthy horses with
aconitina. One grain of the alkaloid was dissolved in one
ounce of water, and 10 minims, containing ;,th grain, were
injected hypodermically into the anterior region of the chest
of two geldings. Within ten minutes there were produced
biting and licking at the site of puncture, persistent shaking
of the head, yawning, pawing; increase of pulse in one sub-
ject to the number of ten beats, in the other of two beats;
no change of temperature occurred. The effects disappeared
in one and a half hour.
Two horses had injections of 15 minims of the above solu-
tion with 15 minims of water, the dose containing A,nd grain
aconitina. The same effects resulted ; but pawing and move-
ments of the head were more marked ; both subjects coughed
and sneezed; while one occasionally belched, ground its
teeth, and showed indications of pain; the pulse, previously
38 and soft, rose to 52 beats, and was firmer; there was no
change of temperature, and no increased secretion from skin,
bowels, or kidneys, and in about two hours the symptoms
passed off.
These and other experiments indicate that for hypodermic
use zyth to jth grain of aconitine is a sufficient dose for
the horse. As with other preparations, administered either
hypodermically or otherwise, the effects may be increased
and maintained by repeating half the dose three or four
times, at intervals of half an hour or an hour.
IPECACUANHA
IpEcacuanHa. Ipecacuanhe radix. The dried root of Psycho-
tria Ipecacuanha (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Rubiacee.
The Psychotria Ipecacuanha is a Brazilian shrub two or
three feet high. The root, the only officinal part, occurs in
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MEDICINAL USES 545
twisted, knotted pieces, two to four inches in length, of the
thickness of a quill. The tough, white, internal woody
matter is inert; the brittle brown bark, marked with un-
equal rings, contains the active principle. The powder is
grey-brown, has an acrid, bitter taste, a faint, nauseous
odour, and communicates its properties to hot water, alcohol,
and diluted acids. Besides other plant constituents, it con-
tains an odorous volatile oil, the amorphous red-brown
tannin called ipecacuanhic or cephaélic acid, and the alka-
loids emetine (C,,H,,0O,N,) and cephaeline (C,,H,,N,0O,).
Emetine is a colourless powder, slightly bitter, soluble in
ether, alcohol, and chloroform, but not in caustic potash.
Neutralises acids, forming crystalline salts. A volatile alka-
loid has also been isolated.
Actions anp Uses.—Ipecacuanha and emetine are topical
irritants and emetics. When absorbed they dilate blood-
vessels, reduce blood-pressure, increase secretion, notably
from the bronchi, intestines, skin, and liver. They are
used as expectorants and diaphoretics, and occasionally, in
small doses, as stomachics.
Ipecacuanha powder, and emetine, like tartar emetic, when
applied locally, irritate the skin and mucous membranes.
When swallowed by dogs or other carnivora, they produce
similar in-contact irritation, stimulate the ends of the vagus,
causing vomiting, and when absorbed into the blood like-
wise produce emesis by irritation of the vomiting centre.
Full doses induce gastro-enteritis, with congestion, and
cedema of the respiratory mucous membrane and lungs.
Professor Rutherford found that 60 grains of ipecacuanha
powerfully stimulated the liver of dogs; 3 grains given to a
dog weighing 17 lbs. produced no purgation, but increased
the mucus secreted from the small intestine. Bracy Clark
states that 3 ounces kill a horse. It is more active when
given in solution than in bolus. It is eliminated by the
kidneys, intestinal mucous surface, and the skin (Binz).
Mepicivat Uses.—As an emetic for dogs, cats, or pigs, it
acts more slowly and gently than zinc or copper sulphates,
and is less nauseating than tartar emetic. As an anti-
emetic, drop doses of the vinum, conjoined with morphine
2M
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546 IPECACUANHA—EMETINE
or chlorodyne, are sometimes serviceable in dogs. Given in
doses insufficient to cause emesis, or used in horses or other
animals which do not vomit, it promotes secretion of bron-
chial mucus, and hence is serviceable in the dry stages of
catarrh and bronchitis. Mr. Thomas A. Dollar frequently
gives a drachm of powdered ipecacuanha with an ounce of
ammonia acetate solution, in ten ounces of water, repeating
the dose several times daily. Following the practice of
human medicine, American practitioners prescribe it as a
remedy for dysentery, in half-drachm doses, for horses and
cattle, and Professor Robertson also recommended it in these
cases, in conjunction with opium.
Doszs, etc.—Of the powder, as an emetic, dogs take grs. xv.
to grs. XXV.; cats, gYS. V. tO grs. X11; P1gs, BTS. XX. tO OTS. Xxx.,
given in tepid water, either alone or with half a grain to a
grain of tartar emetic. Mr. Mayhew recommends for the
dog,—ipecacuanha, gers. iv., tartar emetic, gr. }, with anti-
monial wine, f3j. to f3ij., dissolved in tepid water, f3j., and
repeated every half-hour until vomiting takes place. Some
practitioners use Dover’s powder, or its pharmaceutical
imitation, made by triturating together one part each ipeca-
cuanha and opium, and eight parts potassium sulphate. Of
this expectorant and diaphoretic, horses and cattle take Ji.
to Zij.; sheep, grs. xxx. to Ji.; dogs, grs. x. to grs. xv.; cats,
grs. li. to grs. v., repeated several times daily, the patient
supplied with plenty of diluents, and kept comfortably
clothed, and in an atmosphere of about 60° Fahr. The wine
is prepared with an ounce of the liquid extract of ipecacuanha
and ten fluid ounces of sherry.
Emetine, when inhaled even in minute amount, irritates
the mucous membrane of the air-passages, and induces
symptoms analogous to hay-fever. Two grains swallowed
by a dog caused violent vomiting, increased secretion of
mucus from the respiratory and alimentary membranes, in-
flammation of the stomach and intestines, stupor, and death
in twenty-four hours (Magendie). It is eliminated by the
mucous membranes and liver, increasing secretion of bile.
large doses lower temperature, relax voluntary muscles, and
kill by cardiac paralysis (Dr. A. E. D. Ornellas, Pharma-
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VERATRINE 547
ceutical Journal, 1874). Emetine hydrochloride (or hydro-
bromide) has been prescribed as a gastric stimulant for
cattle and sheep, and as an emetic for dogs. Doses—Cattle,
grs. lil. to grs. vi.; sheep, gr. i. to grs. ij.; dogs, gr. + to gr. i.
Administered subcutaneously. For hypodermic use the
emetine salt is dissolved in equal parts of water and alcohol.
VERATRINE
Veratrina. An alkaloid, or mixture of alkaloids, obtained
from Cevadilla, the dried ripe seeds of Schcenocaulon
officinale (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Liliacez.
It is prepared from Cevadilla by precipitation with
ammonia. It is pale grey, amorphous, odourless, bitter,
and acrid, insoluble in water, but soluble in spirit, in ether,
and in diluted acids. In nitric acid it dissolves, yielding a
yellow solution, and, warmed with hydrochloric acid, pro-
duces a blood-red colour. Commercial specimens are said
to consist of veratrine and two other alkaloids, cevadine and
cevadilline, resembling jervine, an alkaloid of green hellebore.
Actions anp Uses.—Veratrine is a topical irritant and
subsequent paralysant, especially of the heart and other
muscles, and is sometimes used to relieve rheumatic and
neuralgic pains, and as a parasiticide and vermin-killer.
Genera Actions.—Rubbed into the skin or placed upon a
mucous surface, it causes irritation and then numbness,
similar to that produced by aconite, and depending upon
irritation, followed by paralysis of sensory nerve endings.
When inhaled it induces violent sneezing ; when swallowed in
considerable doses it causes gastro-enteritis, followed by col-
lapse. It isa nervo-muscular poison, first exciting, afterwards
depressing and paralysing the peripheral terminations of motor,
sensory, and secretory nerves. It produces prolonged mus-
cular contraction, followed by paralysis. Minimum doses
increase muscular power. Its effect on the heart muscle is
similar to that on voluntary muscles. Under the influence of
large doses the heart’s action becomes slower and weaker, then
irregular and intermittent, and finally arrested. Its actions
closely resemble those of Veratrum viride and V. album.
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548 VERATRINE
Toxic Errects—Magendie found that one grain of veratrine
acetate killed a dog in a few seconds when injected into the
jugular vein, and in nine minutes when injected into the
peritoneum. One or two grains swallowed by dogs caused
great uneasiness, nausea, vomiting, violent purging, slow-
ness of respiration, slowness and irregularity of circulation,
extreme prostration of strength, spasmodic twitching, and
subsequently paralysis of the voluntary muscles, especially
those of the extremities, and death from respiratory arrest,
usually amid convulsions. Horses swallowing five or six
grains, or one-fifth of these doses hypodermically, are sali-
vated, sweat profusely, have trembling of external muscles,
and violent contractions of the gastro-intestinal muscles, with
efforts to vomit. Similar doses in cattle produce emesis
(Kaufmann). The appropriate antidotes are stimulants,
warm coffee, potassium carbonate solution, and perfect quiet;
tannin, acetate of ammonia, and opium.
MepicivaL Uses.—For its febrifuge and analgesic actions
it has been prescribed in such febrile diseases as acute pneu-
monia, pleurisy, peritonitis, rheumatism, and laminitis; but
it must be used with extreme caution. In persistent cases
of shoulder rheumatism in horses Friedberger recommends
4 to 1} grains, dissolved in alcohol, to be deeply injected
into the affected muscles daily, beginning with the smaller
amount, and gradually increasing it, intermitting the treat-
ment every fourth or fifth day, and walking the patient
after each injection until the general excitement produced
abates. Kaufmann prescribes it in muscular atony and in
chronic intestinal catarrh. Muller recommends it hypo-
dermically in locomotor paralysis; and Berre considers it
is the best gastric stimulant for cattle.
Externally, the ointment, made with 1 of veratrine, 4 of
oleic acid, and 45 of lard, is used to relieve rheumatic and
neuralgic pains, and as an insecticide.
Doszs, etc.—Horses per orem take gr. i. to grs. ij., but
hypodermically not more than gr. i, at least for a first dose;
cattle (hypodermic injection), grs. 24 to grs. 4 in 60 to 100
tainims of alcohol. Dogs take per orem gr. J,th; hypoder-
mically, not more than gr. gyth, in weak spirit.
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VERATRUM (VIRIDE AND ALBUM) 549
VERATRUM (VIRIDE AND ALBUM)
VeratriI Viripis Ruizoma. Green Hellebore Rhizome. The
dried rhizome and rootlets of Veratrum viride. (Not
official.)
Veratri ALBI Ruizoma. White Hellebore Rhizome. Dried
rhizome and rootlets of Veratrum album. (Not official.)
Nat. Ord.—Colchicacez or Melanthacee.
The Veratrum viride is a native of North America, the
V. album is indigenous in many parts of Continental Europe.
Both have a bitter acrid taste, excoriate the mouth and
fauces when chewed, and produce sneezing when the powder
is inhaled. They contain about a half of one per cent. of
the several alkaloids—jervine (C,,H,,NO;), pseudo-jervine,
cevadine, with traces of veratrine.
Actions anp Uses.—Both the viride and album are motor
depressants, closely allied in physiological action to vera-
trine, and resembling aconite and tobacco. They slow and
weaken the action of the heart, and cause muscular weak-
ness; nausea, and in men and dogs vomiting. Fuller doses
induce extreme rapidity, weakness, and imperceptibility of
the pulse, partial unconsciousness, and collapse. The album
is more powerful than the viride.
Professor H. C. Wood states that jervine depresses the
functions of the spinal cord and cardiac ganglia, producing
muscular and cardiac weakness, while concurrently it irri-
tates the motor centres of the brain, inducing convulsions.
Death ensues from paralysis of respiration.
Toxic Errecrs.— Waldinger states that two ounces vera-
trum album caused in horses increased salivation, efforts to
vomit, and relaxed bowels. Rytz declares that one ounce
induces purgation and gastric derangement. Mr. Miller
(Edinburgh Veterinary Review, 1863) records that a three-
year-old filly accidentally ate about two ounces of the
powdered root, and in half an hour was in much pain,
frothing at mouth, attempting to vomit, heaving at the
flanks, with a full pulse, numbering 40; painful spasms,
involving especially the muscles of the neck, injection of the
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550 VERATRUM (VIRIDE AND ALBUM)
mucous membranes of the nostrils and eyes, stiffness in
walking, and, after a few hours, partial paralysis of the hind
limbs. The filly was bled, and had drachm doses of tannin
given in starch gruel. In three hours the symptoms abated,
gradual recovery took place, and in four days she was again
at work.
Dogs are liable to suffer from absorption of strong dress-
ings. Mr. Howard records that liberal application of vera-
trum ointment causes nausea, sometimes vomiting, accelerated
and weakened action of the heart, short, catching, and moan-
ing respiration, prostration, with death sometimes in four
hours. Congestion of the mucous membrane of the stomach,
lungs, and heart was notable post-mortem (Veterinarian,
1873). The antidotes consist of demulcents, diffusible
stimulants to counteract cardiac depression, and morphine
to relieve nausea and gastric irritation. Infusions of tannin
form insoluble compounds with the unabsorbed alkaloids.
Mepicina, Uses.—As a sedative in acute inflammatory
diseases veratrum was highly spoken of by Percivall and
Morton, who prescribed it for horses in doses of 20 to 30
grains, repeated every four or five hours. But its actions are
irregular and uncertain. For neuralgic and rheumatic cases
it has been superseded by tincture of aconite. For the
destruction of lice, for setons, and as an addition to blisters—
objects for which it is still occasionally used—there are more
fitting agents. Active preparations have the disadvantage
of sometimes being absorbed and producing untoward con-
stitutional effects.
Doses, etc.—Of the powdered rhizome horses and cattle
take 3ss. to 3j.; sheep and pigs, grs. xx. to grs. xxx.; dogs,
gr. zy to gr. 3, given in bolus, or dissolved in dilute alcohol,
and repeated at intervals of three or four hours. It is used
externally in the several forms of powder, watery decoction
improved by a little spirit, and ointment made with one part
of veratrum to eight of vaseline or lard. It is occasionally
applied with tar or sulphur dressings.
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CINCHONA BARKS 551
CINCHONA
Rep Crycnona Bark. Cinchone Rubre Cortex. The dried
bark of the stem and branches of cultivated plants of Cin-
chona Succirubra. Wat. Ord.—Cinchonacee (Rubiacez),
QUININE SULPHATE. Quinine Sulphas. The sulphate of an
alkaloid obtained from the bark of various species of
Cinchona and Remijia (B.P.).
QUININE HypROCHLORIDE. Quinine Hydrochloridum. The
hydrochloride of an alkaloid obtained from the bark of
various species of Cinchona and Remijia (B.P.).
The evergreen trees or tall shrubs which yield the
medicinal barks were originally grown on the slopes and in
the valleys of the Andes, but are now cultivated in British
India, Ceylon, Java, and Jamaica. The bark, in 1639, was
brought from Peru to Madrid, distributed by the Jesuits,
and hence received the names of Peruvian and Jesuits’
bark. Of thirty-six known species, there are many varieties,
yielding barks distinguished as pale, yellow, and red.
The pale cinchonas, some of which are got from the stem
and branches of the Cinchona officinalis and C. condaminea,
are usually in single and double rolls, and yield more
cinchonine than quinine.
The yellow barks yielded by the C. calisaya and other
species are commonly met with in flat pieces, eight to fifteen
inches long, two to three wide, and two to four lines thick.
They consist mostly of liber, are furrowed and brownish-
yellow externally, fibrous and yellow-orange within. The
transverse fracture shows numerous short fibres; the powder
is cinnamon-brown ; the odour aromatic; the taste bitter
without astringency. Good specimens yield 5 to 6 per cent.
of quinine.
The official or red bark is the produce of the C. suc-
cirubra; imported in quilled or more or less in-curved
pieces, two to twelve inches long, one-tenth to one-fourth inch
thick. The pieces are red, rough, wrinkled, and coated with
epiderm externally ; finely fibrous, with granular fracture,
aud brick-red or deep red-brown internally; no marked
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552 CINCHONA— QUININE
odour; taste bitter and somewhat astringent. It yields 5 to
6 per cent. of alkaloids.
The cuprea barks from the Remijia—a genus nearly
allied to cinchona and cascarilla—are now largely imported ;
are dense, with a thin, longitudinally striated epidermis, and
a smooth pale red inner surface; and besides quinine and
quinidine, contain a special alkaloid, cinchonamine, but no
cinchonidine (Phillips).
Prorertizs.—The cinchona barks occur in quills, stripped.
from the smaller branches, and curled into single or double
rolls, and in flat pieces from the larger branches or trunk.
They are dried in the sun, or on hurdles over fires. Their
colour varies from deep yellow to red-brown, and is deepened
by moisture. They have a faint odour, and a bitter, usually
astringent taste. They are soluble in cold and hot water,
and in alcohol; their best solvents are alcohol (70 per cent.),
and diluted acids. The tests of quality and value are the
general appearance, fracture, colour, odour, taste, and per-
centage of the alkaloids, which are the active principles.
Composition.—Besides ordinary plant constituents—lignin,
starch, gum, resin, mineral matters, with traces of a volatile
oil—cinchona bark contains (1) a series of active alkaloids
ranging from 3 to 5 per cent.; (2) chinic and chinovic
acids, with which the alkaloids are naturally united, but
which have no very marked physiological actions; (3) tan-
nins, recognised as cincho-tannic acid, constituting 1 to 3
per cent. of the bark, and conferring astringency; (4) a
glucoside, chinovin; (5) a colouring matter, cinchona red.
Quinine (C,,H,,N,0,) is present in all the Cinchona and
Remijia barks. It is in the form of sulphate that quinine
is generally prescribed in this country. From a watery
solution of the sulphate the alkaloid may be precipitated by
ammonia. It occurs in delicate acicular crystals, inodorous
and intensely bitter. It requires for solution 900 parts of
cold water, but is readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform,
ammonia, and diluted acids. It forms colourless, bitter,
crystallisable salts, remarkable, like the alkaloid, for tonic
and febrifuge properties. Quinine and its salts turn a ray
of polarised light to the left. Aqueous solutions, acidulated,
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ALKALOIDS AND SALTS 553
even when extremely diluted, exhibit blue fluorescence.
Treated with chlorine or bromine solutions, and then with
a drop of liquor ammonia, a green coloration is produced.
Quiniping, is isomeric with quinine, but crystallises in larger
prisms, is dextro-rotatory, and its salts are more soluble and
of nearly the same activity.
Crncnonine (C,,H,,N,O), is present in the bark of various
species of Cinchona and Remijia. It is obtained from the
mother-liquors, after crystallisation of sulphate of quinine.
Like quinine, it is used in the form of sulphate, which occurs
in hard, colourless prisms, having a feebly bitter taste. It is
anhydrous, dextro-rotatory ; soluble in alcohol, and in thirty
parts of water; its acidulated watery solution exhibits no
fluorescence. It is the least active of the cinchona alkaloids,
requiring to be given in double the dose of quinine.
CincHonmpine, an alkaloid isomeric with cinchonine, is
obtained from the mother-liquors of the crystallisation of
sulphate of quinine. Like the other alkaloids, it is used as
a sulphate, and is considerably more active than cinchonine.
Quinine and cinchonine, when heated with excess of a
mineral acid, are converted into amorphous isomeric alka-
loids, termed respectively quinicine and cinchonicine.
Quinine SupHare [(C,,H,,N,0,),, H,SO,],, 15H,0, contains
743 per cent. of the alkaloid. In filiform silky white crystals
of an intensely bitter taste. Soluble in about 800 parts
water, entirely soluble in water acidulated with a mineral
acid, and in alcohol.
Quinine Hyprocutorwe (C,,H,,N,0,, HCl, 2H,O) contains
83 per cent. of the alkaloid. In crystals resembling those
of the sulphate but somewhat larger. Soluble in thirty-five
parts cold water, and in three parts cold alcohol (90 per
cent.), and very soluble in boiling water.
Acw Quinine Hyprocatorme, is a white crystalline powder,
soluble in less than its own weight of water, yielding a some-
what acid liquid (B.P.).
Actions anp Uses.—Cinchona bark is astringent from the
presence of tannin, and antiseptic, tonic, and antipyretic
owing to its alkaloids. These alkaloids have in concentrated
form the several actions of the crude drug, but not its
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554 QUININE
astringency. They differ only in the degree of their action.
Quinine is the most powerful and most generally used.
Small doses stimulate, large doses depress the functions of
the organs with which they are brought into contact.
Generat Actions.—Quinine and its salts combine with
albumin, and have antiseptic properties nearly as marked as
those of carbolic, benzoic, and salicylic acids, camphor,
eucalyptol, or chloral-hydrate. One part to 830 hinders, one
part to 625 prevents, development of anthrax bacilli (Koch).
It diminishes fermentation, especially when depending upon
such organised ferments as the alcoholic, lactic, or butyric.
It checks oxidation, and lessens protoplasmic and amceboid
movements. Similar antiseptic effects doubtless occur when
quinine is administered, and afford explanation of most of
its curative eftects.
Quinine in the mouth, from its bitterness, reflexly in-
creases the flow of saliva. Small or moderate doses
stimulate the stomach and increase appetite; but large
doses impair appetite, and may induce nausea and vomiting.
Its effects on intestinal secretion and movement are
unknown; but it does not increase secretion of bile. It is
absorbed from mucous, serous, and areolar surfaces,
especially when in perfect solution, and its effects are
notable fifteen to twenty minutes later. Small doses
stimulate, large doses depress. Small to moderate doses
reduce the calibre of the blood-vessels, and increase the
strength of the circulation, but large doses weaken cardiac
action and diminish blood-pressure. Moderate doses
quicken respiration, large doses slow and_ eventually
paralyse it. Death results from respiratory failure. The
brain functions are stimulated by small, but depressed by
large doses. Sensory and motor nerves are affected only
when the drug is locally applied.
Tissue change is diminished. Experiments on dogs have
shown that less oxygen is taken up, while less carbonic
acid and albuminoid waste materials are excreted. Tem-
perature, notably in febrile cases, is lowered. These effects
may depend upon the antiseptic action of quinine, and may
be connected with its property of increasing the size of the
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MEDICINAL USES 555
red globules while diminishing their capacity to give up
oxygen, and on its diminishing the number, contractility, and
movements of the white blood-corpuscles. It diminishes
all secretions except the urinary, which is increased.
Repeated full doses contract the spleen and also the uterus,
sometimes exciting abortion. This may result from large
quantities causing gastro-intestinal irritation. That the
drug has no specific ecbolic action appears to be proved by
Dr. H. C. Wood’s experiments on healthy pregnant cats
(Practitioner, 1879 and 1881). The headache, impaired
sight and hearing, and other symptoms of cinchonism pro-
duced in man by large or repeated doses, have not been
distinctly recognised in the lower animals.
Cinchona bark as a bitter tonic resembles cascarilla bark,
calumba root, and hydrastis, the rhizome and rootlets of
Hydrastis canadensis, or golden seal, which yields the
alkaloids berberine and hydrastine. The antiseptic and
febrifuge properties of quinine ally it to various substances
of the aromatic carbon series, while the anti-malarial actions
resemble those of arsenic.
Mepicivat Usts.—The bark and its alkaloids are prescribed
for all classes of patients as bitter stomachics and tonics.
They improve appetite, check abnormal gastro-intestinal
fermentation, and counteract relaxed conditions of the intes-
tine and accumulations of mucus, which prove favourable to
the development of worms. In troublesome cases of atonic
indigestion in horses, where alkaline treatment has failed,
Professor Robertson frequently gave 20 to 30 grains of
quinine sulphate, with half a drachm to a drachm of nitric
or hydrochloric acid. Weakly foals and calves affected by
relaxed bowels, after a dose of oil, are often much benefited
by a few doses of cinchona bark, hydrochloric acid, and
spirit. Few tonics are so effectual as bark or quinine in im-
proving appetite and muscular strength, and hastening
convalescence from debilitating disease. In anemia they
are advantageously joined with iron salts. They are service-
able in the earlier stages of tuberculosis, in septicemia, and
pyemia in all animals; in influenza, protracted cases of
strangles, purpura, and other similar diseases in horses, in
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5456 CINCHONA—QUININE
septic metritis in cows and ewes, and in lingering cases of
distemper in dogs—their beneficial effects in these and other
diseases probably depending on the action of quinine on
micro-organisms or their products. | Drachm doses, con-
joined with iron salts, repeated night and morning, are
certainly the most effectual treatment for purpura. The
sulphate, in doses of 240 to 350 grains, repeated if requisite,
is strongly recommended as a remedy for red water in cattle
(Veterinarian, 1900).
In malarial diseases, which in various regions attack the
lower animals as well as man, no remedies prove so effectual.
Not only do they mitigate the febrile symptoms and cut short
the attack, but full doses, given one or two hours before a
periodical seizure, frequently prevent it. The antiseptic pro-
perties of the drug explain this remarkable power. Mr. R.
W. Burke, A.V.D., has successfully used drachm doses of
quinine in malarial and other fevers affecting horses and
cattle in India, and, where febrile symptoms run high, reports
that the medicine, within an hour after administration, reduces
the temperature 1° to 3°, and when persisted with prevents
its subsequent rise (Veterinarian, 1887). It is often useful
in rheumatism, being given either by the mouth or hypoder-
mically, frequently conjoined with salicylic acid or potas-
sium iodide. Mr. T. A. Dollar has successfully treated cases
of rheumatism and sciatica in horses, which have resisted
other remedies, by hypodermic injection into the affected
muscles of half a drachm of quinine sulphate in solution,
and has not found undue irritation or abscess follow the
operation. Like other bitters, when administered with
cathartics, it generally increases their activity. Alternated
with cod-liver oil and iron, quinine is the best tonic for
weakly dogs and those suffering from chorea.
The alkaloids are seldom used as antiseptics for wounds,
but occasionally in the form of spray or gargle are applied to
relaxed or suppurating throat.
Doszs, etc.—Cinchona bark is prescribed in the following
doses:—For horses, 3ij. to Ziv.; for cattle, 3i. to 3ij.; for
sheep and pigs, Ji. to Ziv.; for dogs, grs. xx. to Bi, repeated
twice or thrice daily for several days. If nausea or vomiting
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DOSES AND ADMINISTRATION 557
supervene, as occasionally happens in dogs, the dose should
be considerably reduced or intermitted for a day or two. It
is administered in bolus, pill, or solution, and is often con-
joined with camphor, gentian, ginger, spirit, or ether. The
infusion is made by digesting one part red bark with one-
fourth part aromatic sulphuric acid and twenty parts water,
and straining. The tincture, now standardised, is made by
maceration and percolation of 4 ounces red bark in one pint
of alcohol (70 per cent.). It contains 1 per cent. of alkaloids.
The compound tincture, made with tincture of cinchona,
orange peel, serpentary, cochineal, saffron, and alcohol (70
per cent.), is standardised to contain a half of 1 per cent. of
alkaloids. The liquid extract of cinchona, contains 5 per
cent. of alkaloids. The salts of quinine are prescribed in
the following doses:—Horses and cattle, grs. xx. to 3i.;
sheep and pigs, grs. v. to grs. xx.; dogs and cats, gr. i. to
grs. viij. Cinchonine sulphate is given in double these
quantities. These doses, in bolus, pill, or solution, are
administered two or three times daily. Given in the fluid
form, their solubility is increased and their bitterness
diminished by prescribing them in an acidulated solution.
They are also conveniently exhibited in milk. Any tendency
to nausea or vomiting is abated by combination with hydro-
bromic acid.
Intratracheal injection, horses, grs. ii. to grs. viij. in two
drachms distilled water. For hypodermic or intratracheal
injection, a convenient solution of the sulphate (80 grains)
is made with tartaric acid (40 grains) in 4 drachms of
distilled water. Another equally useful hypodermic solu-
tion is made with 15 grains quinine hydrochloride and 2}
drachms distilled water, containing a minim of diluted
hydrochloric acid. Quinine lactate, which is soluble in ten
parts of water, is sometimes preferred for hypodermic
administration. The cinchona alkaloids form comparatively
insoluble compounds with bile, and hence before their ad-
ministration any excess of bile should be cleared away by a
laxative. They are often conjoined with other bitter tonics,
and with capsicum, camphor, valerian, or salts of iron. The
citrate of iron and quinine is sometimes used in canine
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558 SALICYLIC ACID
practice, but it is better to prescribe a reliable quinine salt
with a salt of iron. The tincture of quinine, made with the
hydrochloride and the tincture of orange, contains one grain
of the salt in 55 minims. The ammoniated tincture of
quinine, made with the sulphate, solution of ammonia, and
alcohol (60 per cent.), contains about one grain in 55 minims.
Quini-chloral, a thick oily mixture of quinine and chloral,
soluble in water and in alcohol, is stated to be superior, as a
microcide, to corrosive sublimate.
SALICYLIC ACID—SALICIN AND SODIUM
SALICYLATE
Acipum SauicyLticum. A Crystalline Acid, C,H,OH‘COOH,
obtained by the interaction of sodium carbolate and
carbonic anhydride; or from natural salicylates, such
as the oils of winter-green (Gaultheria procumbens) and
sweet birch (Betula lenta). (B.P.)
Salicylic acid was originally prepared from salicin,
a crystalline glucoside obtained from willow and poplar
barks. It can also be extracted from the stems, leaves,
and rhizomes of violets. In these plants, and in the
volatile oils of the winter-green and various Spireas, it
occurs asa methyl salicylate. But the commercial source
is sodium phenol, through which carbonic acid gas is
passed for several hours. The mixture is raised to
482° Fahr., the residue is dissolved in a limited quantity of
water, and treated with hydrochloric acid, when salicylic
acid is precipitated, and is subsequently crystallised. Com-
mercial specimens frequently contain cresotic acid.
Prorerties.—Salicylic acid, occurs as a soft, light, colour-
less powder, consisting of minute acicular crystals; but it
may be crystallised in bold four-sided prisms. It is odour-
less, but when inhaled irritates the nostrils. It has a taste
at first sweet, but subsequently bitter. It is soluble in 538
parts of water, 120 of olive oil, 200 of glycerin, 34 of rectified
spirit, 2 of ether, and 8 of lard; and its solubility is in-
creased by admixture with sodium borate or phosphate. It
fuses at 311° Fahr., volatilises without decomposition below
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ACTIONS AND USES 559
392° Fahr., but above that is decomposed into phenol and
carbonic acid gas. Sodium salicylate may be obtained by
the interaction of salicylic acid and sodium carbonate. In
small, colourless scales, or in tabular crystals; odourless,
taste sweetish and saline; soluble in water, and in 6 parts of
rectified spirit.
Actions anp Uses.—Salicylic acid belongs to the benzene
or aromatic series of carbon compounds, and in chemical
constitution and physiological action is allied to benzoic
acid. It is antiseptic, antiperiodic, antipyretic, irritant and
astringent, and is specially useful in the treatment of rheu-
matism. The acid, its alkaline salts, and salicin have similar
actions, but salicin is now little used.
Geverat Acrions.—Salicylic acid, as an antiseptic, is less
penetrating, but rather more powerful than carbolic acid or
ereolin. It prevents fermentation and putrefaction. Watery
solutions are more active germicides than the alcoholic or
oily; they have no appreciable action on the intact skin, but
on a mucous membrane, or a wound, they irritate, and
coagulate albumin. Full doses of the powder or concentrated
‘solutions are in-contact irritants, provoking, when inhaled,
sneezing and coughing, and when swallowed vomiting in
carnivora and diarrhea in all animals. Sodium salicylate,
until the acid is liberated, is devoid of irritant action and
also of antiseptic power. Although not very soluble, the
acid and its salts are tolerably quickly absorbed. In the
blood the acid occurs as an alkaline salt, and its antiseptic
power must hence be neutralised. Both acid and salt slow
the pulse and breathing, lower blood-pressure, and diminish
excretion of urea. In most men and dogs full, continued
doses further cause nausea, occasional vomiting, and giddi-
ness—symptoms which resemble those of cinchonism. In
healthy animals the temperature is not affected, but in
rheumatic and malarial fevers abnormal temperature is
reduced, sometimes to the extent of several degrees. This
antipyretic effect Frohner ascribes to an excess of carbonic
anhydride, liberating salicylic acid. Clinical experience,
however, does not indicate that carbonic anhydride abounds
in cases in which the salicylate treatment reduces tempera-
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560 SALICYLIC ACID
ture. Professor Rutherford found that the acid and its soda
salt, like benzoic acid and benzoates, are hepatic but not
intestinal stimulants, and render the bile watery. They are
eliminated more quickly in vegetable than in flesh feeders
(Fréhner). They are excreted in the perspiration, saliva,
and urine, in which they appear as salicylates, and in com-
bination with glycol, as salicyluric acid. They communicate
to the urine a brown or green coloration, and retard its
decomposition.
Toxic doses are borne better by graminivora than grani-
vora. Fréhner records that a healthy horse, weighing 1000
Ibs., received during three days 300 grammes (about 9} ounces).
Slight dyspepsia resulted from irritation of the alimentary
mucous membrane, but no toxic symptoms. A healthy sheep
of 70 lbs. during three days had 50 grammes (14 ounce),
but remained perfectly healthy. The like negative results
also occurred in the case of a sheep o 65 lbs. which
received in three days 65 grammes (2 ounces) of sodium
salicylate. Dogs are not so tolerant; toxic effects were
produced by 1 gramme (15:04 grains) for each 5 kilogrammes
of body-weight. A dog 10 lbs. weight received 0°8 gramme
in repeated doses during six hours; he vomited, had muscular
trembling, and weakness of the hind limbs. A dog of 60
lbs, had 4 grammes, in divided doses, which caused
weakness and cramp of the hind-quarters. A dog of 10 lbs.
had 5 grammes sodium salicylate subcutaneously, and ex-
hibited dyspneea, irregular pulse, dilated pupils, dulness,
vomiting, lameness of the hind-quarters, convulsions, and
fatal paresis. A dog of 18 lbs. was fatally asphyxiated
by eight grammes injected into the rectum (Arzneimittel-
lehre fiir Thierdrzte).
Mepiciwat Uses.—The acid and its alkaline salts are service-
able in arresting dyspeptic fermentation and diarrhcea in
young animals. As bitters they are also gastric tonics. When
administered in cases of gastro-intestinal irritation, the sodium
salicylate, not being irritant, is preferable to the acid.
The salicylate treatment is almost a specific for acute
rheumatism in human patients. It frequently relieves
the pain before the temperature or fever is abated. The
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ACTIONS AND USES 561
beneficial results have been ascribed to the breaking up of
lactic acid products. But British veterinarians have not
found the treatment so effectual either in horses or cattle.
In animals such attacks are chiefly of a chronic type, on
which salicylic acid has not such marked effect as in the
acute cases, and it may be that the doses prescribed have not
been large enough, or given with sufficient frequency, or for
a sufficient period. Mr. E. Price, Birmingham, is, however,
satisfied with the effects on horses, and prescribes 10 grains,
repeated every two hours, gradually increased to a drachm,
and reports the disappearance of the rheumatic pains in
forty-eight hours (Veterinarian, 1888). Fréhner uses both
the acid and the sodium salt in muscular and arthritic rheu-
matism in all animals, and states that chronic cases are
benefited by continued doses, that good results need not be
despaired of until the drug has been persisted with for ten
or fifteen days, while to prevent relapse the administration
is continued for some days after the symptoms have been
relieved. Dogs are benefited especially where the joints
are prominently affected. Mr. J. Gresswell adopts similar
treatment in rheumatic arthritis and bad cases of foot-
and-mouth disease in sheep (Veterinary Pharmacology and
Therapeutics).
In horses, as in human patients, a few, frequently repeated
doses arrest attacks of acute catarrh when given in the earlier
stages, and appear to have a similar power in gastro-intestinal
and urinary catarrh. Froéhner recommends it in cystitis.
Professor Robertson used it in equine influenza accompanied
with gastro-intestinal symptoms. Other practitioners testify
to its value in purpura and also in strangles. In zymotic
and malarial fevers it is not so effectual as quinine. Feser
and Friedberger have shown that it exerts no antipyretic
effect in septic or pyeemic fever. Conjoined with tannic acid
it is prescribed for obstinate diarrhcea in calves.
In antiseptic surgery, salicylic acid is sometimes substi-
tuted for or alternated with carbolic acid or creolin. It is
serviceable in the treatment of canker and open joint, for
abating the itching and discharge of eczema, for dressing
sores on the teats of cows, washing out the uterus in metritis,
2N
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562 SALICYLIC ACID
and with alcohol as an injection in otorrhea. Its antiseptic
effects are increased by admixture of boracic acid.
Doses, etc.—Horses and cattle take Ziv. to Jviij.; sheep
and goats, 3j. to 3ij.; swine, grs. xxx. to grs. lx.; dogs, grs. v.
to grs. xv. of the acid, every two to four hours, mixed with an
equal quantity of borax to ensure solubility, and administered
with mucilage or glycerin, in bolus, electuary or drench.
Sodium salicylate and salicin are used in similar amounts.
The larger doses are given in fevers; the smaller, repeated
more frequently, in rheumatism, in the muscular form of
which a solution may be injected deeply into the affected part.
For surgical purposes convenient solutions are made by
dissolving one part each of salicylic acid and borax in
thirty to fifty parts of water. Ointments and liniments are
prepared with one part acid, mixed in a heated mortar, with
twenty to twenty-five of vaseline or bland oil. Salicylic
cream, employed as a pigment for surgical wounds, is com-
posed of two parts salicylic acid, and ten parts of glycerin.
The B.P. ointment consists of one part acid, and forty-nine
parts of white paraffin ointment. Lint, cotton-wool, or jute,
soaked in 4 to 10 per cent. hot, watery solution, made with
borax to ensure solubility, absorbs the acid, and is used as
an antiseptic covering for wounds and burns in the same
manner as carbolic, boric, or ‘Sanitas’ lint. Being unirritat-
ing, salicylic lint is applied directly to abraded surfaces
without the intervention of any protective. Iron salicylate,
is antiseptic and astringent.
Dithion, or di-thio-salicylate of sodium, a greyish-white
powder, freely soluble in water, is antiseptic and antipyretic.
In foot-and-mouth disease it has been given internally, and
applied externally as a dusting-powder, and as a lotion (23
to 5 per cent.) to the sores of the mouth, feet, and udder
(Lancet, 1892).
Aspirin, formed by the action of acetic anhydride on
salicylic acid, is a crystalline powder, soluble in 100 parts
water, and in dilute alkalies. It passes through the stomach
unchanged, and in the bowel is split up, salicylic acid being
liberated. It is used as a substitute for sodium salicylate.
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GENTIAN 563
GENTIAN
GENTIAN& Rapix. The dried rhizome and roots of Gentiana
lutea. (B.P.) Nat. Ord.—Gentianacee.
The Gentiana lutea, or yellow gentian, has a perennial,
often forked root, and an annual herbaceous stem, which
rises three or four feet, and bears axillary whorls of yellow
flowers. It abounds in most parts of temperate Europe,
thrives best between 3000 and 5000 feet above the sea-level,
and is extensively cultivated in the mountainous districts of
the Alps, Vosges, and Pyrenees. All parts of the plant are
bitter and tonic, but only the rhizome is officinal. It occurs
in cylindrical, usually more or less branched, often twisted,
pieces, or in longitudinal slices, marked by transverse
annular wrinkles and longitudinal furrows, and varying in
length and thickness. It has a peculiar aromatic and rather
disagreeable odour, and a taste at first sweet, but afterwards
bitter. When moist, it is tough and flexible; when dry,
brittle, and easily pulverised. The powder is yellow, with a
shade of brown, and readily yields its bitterness to water,
alcohol, and ether.
Gentian root contains gentianose, a sugar, which, in
Southern Bavaria and Switzerland, is fermented into a
drinking spirit; a large amount of pectin, a little volatile oil
and fat, the yellow crystalline gentianin, or gentianic acid
(C,,H,,0;), which is inert; and about 0:1 per cent. of an
intensely bitter glucoside, gentiopicrin (C,,H,,O,,), obtain-
able in colourless crystals, which are soluble in water and
alcohol. In its actions gentiopicrin is nearly allied to quinine.
Roots of other Gentianaceze are frequently mixed with
those of G. lutea; but this is not of much importance, since
all are possessed of similar properties. Admixture, however,
sometimes occurs of poisonous roots, such as monkshood,
belladonna, and white hellebore, which may be distinguished
by the absence of the pure bitter taste and bright yellow
colour so characteristic of true gentian. Gentian powder,
especially that met with abroad, is stated to be occasionally
adulterated with yellow ochre, easily detected by heating the
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564 GENTIAN
suspected specimen with a little sulphuric acid, filtering, and
testing for iron.
Actions and Uses.—Gentian is a pure bitter, and is pre-
scribed as a stomachic and tonic for all veterinary patients.
It resembles calumba, chiretta, quassia, and hydrastis cana-
densis, or golden seal. As a gastric tonic it has been
considered little inferior to cinchona; it is devoid of
astringency.
Mepicivat Usts.—Gentian improves the appetite and
general tone. In atonic indigestion it is particularly use-
ful amongst young animals, and in such cases is often
conjoined with ginger and sodium bicarbonate. In relaxed
and irritable states of the bowels, and where intestinal
worms are suspected, after administration of a laxative,
gentian and hydrochloric acid are often serviceable. For
horses suffering from simple catarrh few combinations are
more effectual than an ounce of powdered gentian, two
drachms nitre, with two ounces Epsom salt, dissolved in a
pint of water, linseed tea, or ale, and repeated night and
morning. In inflammatory complaints, after the acute
stage is passed, such a prescription also proves serviceable.
Where the bowels are constipated or irregular, or febrile
symptoms are insufficiently subdued, two drachms of aloes
are sometimes conjoined with the gentian. Where more
general tonic effects are sought, iron sulphate is alternated
with the gentian and salines. An ounce of gentian, with
an ounce of ether or sweet spirit of nitre, given three or
four times daily in a bottle of ale, proves an excellent
stomachic and stimulating tonic in influenza and other
epizootics, helps convalescence from exhausting disorders,
and is a useful restorative for horses, jaded, overworked, or
suffering from loss of appetite or slight cold.
For cattle the above prescriptions are as serviceable as for
horses, but require to be given in somewhat larger doses.
For sheep gentian is a very useful stomachic, and when
prescribed with salt arrests for a time the progress of liver-
rot. Next after quinine it is the best vegetable tonic for
dogs prostrated by reducing disorders.
Dosss, etc. —For the horse, Zss. to 3i.; for cattle, Zi. to Zij.;
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CALUMBA-—CHIRETTA 565
for sheep, Ji to Ziij; for pigs, 3ss. to Bi; for dogs, grs. v. to
grs. Xx., repeated twice or thrice daily. The carefully-pre-
pared Pharmacopeeia extract, infusion, and tincture, flavoured
with orange-peel and aromatics, are frequently used in
veterinary practice. The powder is prescribed in bolus,
prepared with treacle, glycerin, and meal, or in infusion,
made by digesting the powder during several hours in hot
water, and decanting off the clear fluid. A small addition
of diluted alcohol ensures more thorough solution and
better keeping.
CALUMBA
CaLump&® Rapix.—The dried sliced root of Jateorhiza
Columba; growing in Eastern Africa (B.P.). Nat. Ord.
—Menispermacez.
Calumba root occurs in irregular, flattish, circular or oval
slices, with a yellow centre and a brownish-yellow cortex.
The fracture is short, odour feeble, taste bitter (B.P.). It con-
tains a crystalline, neutral, bitter principle, Calumbin; an
alkaloid, berberine; Calumbic acid ; and 33 per cent of starch.
Actions anp Uses.—Calumba is a bitter, gastric stimulant
and carminative. It promotes secretion of gastric juice and
improves the appetite. As it contains no tannin it is devoid
of astringency and may be prescribed with preparations of
iron, Like quassia, calumba infusion may be used to destroy
worms in the horse’s rectum.
Doses, etc.—Of the infusion (one of calumba to 20 of cold
water) horses and cattle take ij. to Ziv.; dogs 3ij. to 3j.,
twice or thrice daily. The tincture, made with one of
calumba root to 10 of alcohol (60 per cent.) is also pre-
scribed. The doses are about one-third of those of the
infusion.
Chiretta, the dried Indian plant, Swertia Chirata, collected
when in flower, is closely allied in actions and uses to
calumba. It contains an active bitter principle, chiratin,
but no tannin. The infusion and tincture of chiretta are
prescribed in the same doses as calumba or gentian.
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566 CASCARILLA—-OAK BARK
CASCARILLA
CascaRILL& Cortex. The dried bark of Croton Eleuteria
(B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Euphorbiacee.
Cascarilla bark is principally imported from the Bahama
Islands in quills about the size of a drawing pencil, and
varying from two to four inches in length. Its outer surface
is fissured, and usually covered with a light-coloured lichen ;
its inner surface is smooth and light-brown. It has a
strong, pungent, rather nauseous taste; its aromatic odour is
increased by heat, and recommends it as a constituent of
fumigatory pastilles. It contains the neutral crystalline
bitter cascarillin (C,,H,,0,), 15 per cent. of two resins,
tannin, and 15 of a pungent volatile oil, one portion of
which is isomeric with oil of turpentine.
Actions anp Uses.—Cascarilla is an aromatic, bitter
stomachic, and carminative, allied to cusparia (Augustura
bark) and resembling cinchona, but less active, and occasion-
ally used in indigestion, diarrhea, and convalescence from
exhausting diseases. ,
Doses, etc.—For horses, 3ij. to Ziv.; for cattle, Z1.; for
sheep and swine, Zi. to 3ij.; and for dogs, grs. x. to grs. xl,
given in bolus, infusion, or tincture, which is made with one
of cascarilla to five of alcohol (70 per cent.).
OAK BARE
QueERous CorTex. The dried bark of the smaller branches
and young stems of Quercus robur (Q. pedunculata).
Collected in early spring from trees growing in Britain.
(Not official.) Nat. Ord.—Cupulifere.
Bark from smaller branches of young trees is more
astringent than thicker pieces of older growth; the interior
finer fibrous portions than the external rougher cortical.
Oak bark contains a bitter crystalline substance, quercin,
and owes its astringency to 10 or 15 per cent. of querci-
tannic acid, which differs somewhat from gallo-tannic acid,
and does not, by oxidation, yield gallic acid. The infusion
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QUASSIA WOOD 567
has a powerful astringent taste, reddens litmus, gives a blue-
black precipitate with ferric salts; and with gelatin solution
a white flocculent precipitate, which resists putrefaction
better than that of gallo-tannic acid. Acorns—the fruit of
the oak—are collected in many parts of England for feeding
sheep and pigs, are credited with a nutritive value approach-
ing that of beans, but on account of their astringency
require to be used sparingly.
Actions anp Usrs—Oak bark is astringent, resembling
galls and catechu. It is prescribed to check chronic
otorrhea, diarrhea, dysentery, and other excessive mucous
discharges. For weakly, scouring calves the infusion is
given once or twice daily as required, with warm starch
gruel, to which may be added aromatics, gentian, spirit,
ether, or chloroform, or where there is griping, laudanum.
It lacks the tonic properties of cinchona and gentian, and
constipates when given too frequently or freely. Infusions
are applied to dry and constringe hyper-secreting and
relaxed surfaces, and to relieve piles in dogs.
Dosss, etc.—Horses take 3ij. to Siv.; cattle, Zss. to Zij.;
sheep and pigs, 3ss. to 3ij.; dogs, grs. x. to grs. xxx,
administered in infusion made with one or two ounces of
bark to the pint of water.
QUASSIA WOOD
Quassi# Lianum. The wood of the trunk and branches of
Picreena excelsa (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Simarubacee.
The dense, tough, white quassia wood, the produce of a
handsome tree, is imported from Jamaica and other West
Indian islands in billets of varying length, and is met with
in yellow-white chips or raspings. Quassia has no odour,
but an intensely bitter taste, dependent on a neutral
crystalline principle, quassin (C,,H,,0,). It contains no
tannin.
Actions anp Usrs.—Quassia is a bitter stomachic and
tonic. It resembles gentian and calumba. It is prescribed
for the several domestic animals in dyspepsia, loss of
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568 TARAXACUM
appetite, and convalescence from debilitating disorders.
Although it has no appreciable vermicide effect when given
per orem, when used as an enema it destroys both ascarides
and lumbrici. Large doses are irritant. The infusion is a
narcotic poison for flies and other insects, and is said also
to kill fish.
Dosts, etc.—The B.P. infusion, prepared by macerating
one part of chips for fifteen minutes with one hundred parts
cold water, is administered alone, or with salines, acids, or
iron salts, with which, unlike most vegetable bitters, it
mixes without decomposition or discoloration. Of the
infusion, horses and cattle take £3ij. to fZiv.; sheep and
pigs, f3iv.; dogs, f3j. The tincture is not used by
veterinarians.
TARAXACUM
Taraxact Rapix. Dandelion Root. The fresh and dried
roots of Taraxacum officinale, collected in the autumn
(B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Composite.
The tap-shaped root is about six to twelve inches long,
half an inch to an inch thick, is dark-brown externally and
white within. It breaks with a short fracture; from the
fractured surface a milky juice exudes, which is inodorous,
but has a bitter taste. Its active principle is the bitter
taraxacin. Other constituents are, taraxacerin, inulin,
asparagin, resins, and salts.
Actions, Uszs, anp Doszs.—Taraxacum has had a popular
reputation as a blood purifier, liver stimulant, and remedy
for jaundice. But Professor Rutherford’s experiments accord
to it only a very feeble power of stimulating the liver. In
virtue of its bitterness, it is a mild stomachic, although
seldom so serviceable as either gentian or calumba, and it
has also slight laxative and diuretic effects. The fresh
succus is the best preparation, and the dose for the horse is
about £32j.,and for dogs, f3ss. to f3ij.
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MUSTARD 569
MUSTARD
Srvapis. The dried ripe seeds of Brassica nigra and Brassica
alba, powdered and mixed (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Crucifere.
The mustard plants are annuals, one to two feet high,
with yellow cruciform flowers, and pods containing several
brown seeds. They are indigenous in most parts of Europe
and extensively cultivated in Durham, Yorkshire, and Lin-
colnshire. An abundant wild variety, familiarly known as
charlock and kellocks, is sometimes used for adulterating
the better sorts. The black mustard seeds are red or
greyish-brown, about the size of millet; the greenish-yellow
powder has a pungent oily taste, and when triturated with
water yields a pungent odour. The white mustard seeds
are double the size of the black, and lighter in colour.
Inodorous when entire or powdered, and almost inodorous
when triturated.
Black and white mustard seeds contain about 25 per cent.
of a yellow, tasteless, non-drying fixed oil, similar to that of
rape, and consisting of olein, stearin, and glyceride of erucic
or brassic acid; 20 per cent. of mucilage, chiefly found in
the epidermis; 4 of inorganic matters, and 10 to 15 of
myrosin, a ferment similar to diastase or the emulsin of
bitter almonds, usually more abundant in white than in
black mustard seeds, and coagulated and rendered inactive
when heated above 140° Fahr. Black mustard, besides,
contains about 24 per cent. of the crystalline potassium
myronate or sinigrin; white mustard contains an allied
_principle, sinalbin. When dissolved in water, as in making
roustard flour into paste, the fermentescible myrosin decom-
poses the crystalloid bodies, and there are produced two
acrid, irritant oils—the pungent volatile oil of mustard,
allyl-isothiocyanate (H,C,NCS) from the black mustard,
and the fixed oil—acrinyl-isothiocyanate—(C,H,NSO) from
the white mustard.
Actions anp Uses.—Unbruised mustard-seeds, being only
partially and gradually digested, have little effect when
swallowed. When the ground seeds are mixed with water
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570 MUSTARD
the pungent, acrid oils are evolved; large doses of the flour
are accordingly irritant; medicinal doses are stomachic,
carminative, and stimulant. It is, however, rarely used
internally, excepting as a local acting emetic for the dog,
cat, or pig. For this purpose a dessert-spoonful of mustard
flour is given, dissolved in several ounces of water. It is
slightly laxative and diuretic.
As an external irritant, mustard is much used as a
rubefacient and vesicant. The paste made with water, and
rubbed into the skin of the horse, within twenty minutes
causes congestion, heat, and tenderness, with subsequent
swelling. Reflexly, the activity of conterminous and subjacent
partsisroused. In two to six hours vesication occurs; twenty-
four hours later some of the vesicles will have run together,
others being ruptured. From repeated, prolonged, or injudi-
cious use in irritable states of the skin, there occasionally
ensue active inflammation, sloughing, and destruction of the
hair-roots.
Compared with cantharides, mustard acts more promptly,
but unless used freely or repeatedly it is less permanent. It
is used to control functional disturbance rather than to
repair structural damage; it causes more swelling of sur-
rounding parts, but less exudation of serum; applied re-
peatedly, especially to the extremities of the horse, it is
more apt to affect the skin deeply, and hence produce
sloughing; unlike cantharides, it has no tendency to act
upon the kidneys. It is almost as prompt, and is more
rmoanageable than very hot water. For horses it is less irri-
tating and burning than oil of turpentine. It is not so
severe or so apt to cause suppuration as euphorbium or.
croton oil, For cattle it is an excellent blister, often acting
promptly when other agents have slight or tardy effect, and
seldom causing injury or blemishing. On dogs and sheep it.
acts powerfully, and must be used with caution.
Mepiciwat Uses.—lIn all veterinary patients suffering from
catarrh, sore-throat, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, and
pleurisy, mustard, applied in the early congestive stage,
lessens pain and relieves difficult breathing. It is more
serviceable in chronic than acute bronchitis. In pleurisy,
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MUSTARD DRESSINGS 571
mustard liniments alternated with fomentations are often
applied at intervals throughout the attack, but are specially
indicated after the tenth day, when such counter-irritation
seems to promote absorption of exudate. During the later
stages of pneumonia mustard is of little use; but occasional
dressings are sometimes serviceable in sustaining the action
of the heart and promoting absorption. It is frequently
rubbed over a considerable area immediately external to
the congested, painful, or inflamed parts; in about fifteen
minutes it is washed off, and in an hour or two, if required,
another application may be made.
Mustard dressings are serviceable in acute indigestion,
colic, and enteritis, especially among horses. Mustard is of
service in chronic rheumatism, especially amongst cattle, in
the second stages of inflammation of joints and tendons, in
enlargement of glands, and occasionally as a stimulant in
chronic scurfy skin diseases. Flying blisters, applied over
the chest or abdomen, or below the knees and hocks, especi-
ally when the limbs are cold, arouse vitality and overcome
congestion in the later stages of pneumonia, in parturient
apoplexy of cattle, and in poisoning by narcotics. With
stimulants administered internally, mustard is rubbed over
the region of the heart to counteract syncope. Applied over
the kidneys, it promotes diuresis. It is occasionally used
for maintaining or increasing the effects of cantharides, but
in horses considerable caution is necessary in applying the
one irritant soon after the other.
Mustard is specially indicated where extensive counter-
irritation has to be speedily produced and stimulation of the
kidneys avoided. Cantharides or mercuric iodide ointment
is preferable in chronic diseases of joints, and where struc-
tural changes have occurred in bone, cartilage, or tendon.
Neither mustard, nor indeed any blister, can be directly
applied to parts extensively or deeply inflamed without
causing much irritation, and probably sloughing.
Doses, etc.—If used as a stomachic, carminative, or mild
stimulant, horses take Ziv. to 3vi.; cattle, Zss. to 2j.; sheep
and pigs, 3j. to Sij.; dogs, grs. x. to grs. xx. To prevent
irritation of the fauces, it is given in the form of pill,
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572 SAVARY'S LIQUID SINAPISM
bolus, or electuary. Larger doses, especially in solution, act
as emetics in dogs, cats, and pigs.
Externally, it is used generally as a paste made as for the
table, with tepid water. Hot water or admixture of spirit,
acid, or alkali coagulates the ferment, or impairs its action.
A mustard paste made with water produced, in six minutes,
effects similar to those produced in fifty minutes with
mustard mixed with vinegar. Extra activity is secured by
using black and white mustard seeds, in about equal amount,
ground unmixed with bland ingredients, or by adding to the
paste made from the mustard of the shops a little oil of
turpentine. The freshly-made paste is usually applied
directly to the skin, with friction; after fifteen or twenty
minutes it may be washed off with tepid water, and, if
required, again applied three or four times. Such repeated
moderate external warming is usually more serviceable than
one violent dressing, whether for diminution of congestion,
relief of pain, or even for removal of exudate.
For veterinary patients little use is made of plasters
prepared by spreading mustard upon calico or paper; of
leaves consisting of powdered mustard seeds and gutta-
percha solution spread upon cartridge paper and dried; or
of poultices usually made with equal parts of mustard and
linseed meal, well stirred with four parts of hot water.
A tincture of the essence, in the form of Savary’s liquid
sinapism, has been used hypodermically in France. In
chest affections, 15 to 30 drops are injected at three or four
points on each side of the chest. The resulting cedema
appears within ten minutes, but is said to be less painful,
and to cause the patient less disturbance than mustard in
the usual form. No untoward local or general effects are
observed. Such injections have also been used in the neck,
in vertigo, and ophthalmia; under the belly in the gastro-
intestinal forms of influenza; and also in colic, enteritis, and
umbilical hernia.
The BP. volatile oil of mustard, distilled from black
inustard seeds after maceration with water, is antiseptic and
antipyretic, and one of the most poisonous of the volatile
oils. Soluble in alcohol, and in fifty parts of water. Rabbits
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MYRRH 573
are killed in two hours by a drachm, in fifteen minutes by
half an ounce, with symptoms of gastro-enteritis, loss of
sensation and muscular power, difficult breathing, and
collapse. Diluted and applied externally, it is a prompt and
powerful vesicant.
MYRRH
Myrrua. A gum resin obtained from the stem of Bal-
samodendron Myrrha and probably other species (B.P.).
Nat. Ord.—Burseracee.
Myrrh is imported from the coasts of the Red Sea. With
olibanum or frankincense it has long been used in making
incense, perfumes, holy oils, and unguents for embalming.
It exudes spontaneously, as a yellow-white oily substance,
from perforations or cracks in the cortical layer of the
trunk or branches of several species of the shrubby thorn-
like balsamodendrons. The best sorts are in irregular-
shaped, semi-translucent, red-brown tears, or masses of
tears, which deepen in colour when breathed on. They
are brittle, and easily powdered; their fracture is irregular,
shining, oily, and occasionally dotted with opaque white
markings. Myrrh has a slightly bitter, acrid taste, and
an agreeable aromatic odour. When heated, it softens,
froths up, and burns, leaving a dark spongy ash. Powdered
with water, it forms an emulsion, but it readily dissolves
in rectified spirit. It consists of 50 to 65 per cent. of
soluble gum, chiefly arabin ; 23 per cent. of a resin, myrrhin,
soluble in alcohol, ether, and acetic acid, and 2 per cent.
of a pale yellow volatile oil, myrrhol (C,,H,,O), isomeric
with thymol and carrol, and some bitter substances.
Actions anp Uses.—Its antiseptic volatile oil and slightly
irritant resin render myrrh a topical stimulant. When
swallowed it increases the secretions of the gastro-intestinal
glands, producing stomachic, carminative, and mild laxative
effects. During elimination it stimulates the mucous lining
of the respiratory and urinary tracts, and is hence prescribed
as a disinfectant, expectorant, and diuretic. It is sometimes
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574 PEPPERS
used as an antiseptic, mildly astringent vulnerary, and a
flavouring agent. It resembles the fragrant gum resin oli-
banum, produced by several species of Boswellia, and the
concrete resin of the Elemi tree imported from Manilla.
It is less stimulant than the balsams and foetid gum resins.
Doses, etc.—Horses and cattle take 3ij.; sheep and pigs,
3ss. to Bi; dogs, grs. x. to grs. xx., repeated several times
daily, in bolus, decoction, or tincture, used with vegetable
tonics, or with aloes. The tincture of myrrh is thus pre-
pared :—Macerate 4 ounces of myrrh in 16 ounces of alcohol
(90 per cent.), for seven days in a closed vessel; shake fre-
quently, filter, and add sufficient alcohol to make one pint.
PEPPERS
The black and white peppers in daily domestic use are
obtained from the brown wrinkled berries of an East Indian
perennial climbing plant—the Piper nigrum, of the natural
order Piperacee. They are imported from the Malabar
coast, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and the West
Indies. The pendulous spike, bearing twenty to thirty
berries, is gathered as it begins to redden, shortly before
ripening, and is dried in the sun. The berries rubbed off,
and ground without separating their outer covering, yield
black pepper. To prepare the milder white pepper, the
best and soundest ripe berries are steeped in water, and
stripped of their pungent outer covering before they are
ground. Long pepper, the produce of Chavica Roxburghi,
is brought from Singapore and Batavia, and consists of
small, closely-attached berries, arranged on cylindrical grey
spadices one or two inches long.
The peppers when ground have a hot, pungent, spicy
taste, and owe their properties to 16 to 22 per cent. of
a volatile oil—isomeric with oil of turpentine (C,,H,,), a
soft, pungent resin, and 2 to 3 per cent. of the colourless,
crystallisable, neutral piperine (C,,H,,NO,), which is isomeric
with morphine, and when boiled with caustic potash yields
an active oily alkaloid, piperidine (C,H,,N).
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ACTIONS AND USES 575
Cubebs, or Cubeba, is the dried, partially ripened fruit
of the Piper Cubeba, cultivated in Java and other islands
of the Indian Archipelago. The berries are stalked, and
lighter coloured than those of common pepper, are globular,
rough, and wrinkled, with a strong odour, and pungent,
aromatic, bitter taste. They contain a volatile oil, a resin,
and the neutral crystalline cubebin, which is devoid of any
marked action.
Piper angustifolium, a shrub found in moist regions
throughout Brazil and Peru, yields matico leaves, much
used in America as a styptic dressing, and also occasionally
administered for the arrest of internal hemorrhage.
Pimenta, pimento, Jamaica pepper, or allspice, closely
resembles the true peppers; is the dried, unripe berry of
Pimenta officinalis, an evergreen West Indian tree of the
natural family Myrtaceze, The berries are about the size
of those of the Piper nigrum, have the same penetrating
aromatic odour, and hot, pungent taste, but are more
truly aromatic and less acrid. They contain an acrid fixed
oil, and about 6 per cent. of volatile oil, with traces of
an alkaloid, having the odour of conine (Fliickiger). Oil
of pimento contains about 70 per cent. of aphenol, eugenol,
and is sometimes substituted for oil of cloves.
Capsicum—the dried ripe fruit of Capsicum minimum—
is also known as Chili pepper, chillies, Guinea or pod pepper.
The red pods are filled with numerous small round or ovoid
red-brown seeds. Both pericarp and seeds are pungent, and
when ground constitute the familiar Cayenne pepper, which
owes its pungent acridity and irritant properties to an acrid
volatile substance, capsaicin (C,H,,0,), and an alkaloid,
capsicine, resembling conine in odour.
Actions anp Uses.—The peppers are irritants, stimulating
stomachics, carminatives, and rubefacients. Large doses,
especially in carnivora and omnivora, are irritant poisons,
inflaming the alimentary and sometimes also the urino-
genital mucous membranes. That they are especially
poisonous to pigs is a popular error. Properly regulated
doses promote salivary and gastric secretions, are stomachic
and carminative, and during their excretion stimulate the
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576 GINGER
urino-genital mucous membrane. Rubbed into the skin
they cause redness, irritation, and swelling. The several
peppers differ in the intensity of their action. The black
is more active than the white and long peppers, which are
of nearly equal strength. Pimento is less active, while
capsicum is more irritant than black pepper. In virtue
of its stimulant effect, and its rendering the urine anti-
septic, cubebs checks irritation and discharges from the
urino-genital mucous membrane.
Black pepper (the variety chiefly used in veterinary prac-
tice) is administered in simple indigestion, and for obviating
the disagreeable taste and nauseating effects of various drugs.
It is not now given as a sialogogue, nor for the object of
increasing sexual appetite, which, when defective, may
usually be restored, not by irritating drugs, but by measures
which improve general vigour. It ought not to be used for
blistering ointments, or for setons, nor introduced into the
rectum of horses exposed for sale—a barbarous practice,
apt to induce serious intestinal irritation.
Doszs, etc.—Of black pepper, as a stomachic, horses take
about 31.; cattle, ij; sheep and swine. grs. x. to 3ss.; dogs,
grs. v. to grs. x., repeated two or three times a day, given in
bolus, dissolved in water or spirit, or suspended in well-boiled
gruel, The tincture of capsicum is made with one of capsi-
cum and twenty of alcohol (70 per cent.).
GINGER
ZINGIBER. The scraped and dried rhizome of Zingiber offici-
nale (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Zingiberacee.
The Zingiber officinale, grown in many tropical countries,
has a biennial, creeping, fleshy, and nodulous rhizome, which
gives off numerous descending short radicles, with several
ascending annual leafy stems, reaching three or four feet in
height, invested with alternate elliptical leaves, and termi-
nated by spikes and racemes of purple flowers. For making
green or preserved ginger, the rhizomes are gathered while
still soft and juicy, and when about three months old. For
other purposes they are taken up when about a year old,
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AN AROMATIC STIMULANT 577
when the aerial stems have withered, but while the rhizome
is still plump and soft. They are scalded to check vegeta-
tion, usually scraped to remove the brown wrinkled epider-
mis, and dried in the sun.
Properties.—Several sorts are recognised. The Jamaica,
in plump, flat, pale pieces or races, the bark stripped of
epidermis, producing a light-coloured powder of superior
quality; Malabar or Cochin China, a little darker, but
usually good; Bengal and African, imported both coated
and uncoated, and generally cheap and excellent; Barbados,
in short thick races, retaining its brown corrugated epider-
mis. The unstripped descriptions are sometimes termed
black gingers. The several varieties are in flat, irregular-
lobed, knotted, zigzag pieces, two to four inches in length,
externally pale yellow, striated, and fibrous, breaking with a
mealy, short, somewhat fibrous fracture, having a strong,
agreeable, aromatic odour, a warm, pungent taste, and dis-
solving in water and alcohol.
Ginger owes its taste to a pungent resin, its aroma to a
volatile oil, and its medicinal and flavouring properties to
both constituents, which are chiefly found in the delicate
felted layer of skin lying between the starchy, mealy paren-
chyma and the brown, horny, external covering. As a condi-
ment and medicine Great Britain annually imports about
300 tons of ginger.
Actions anp Uses.—Ginger is an aromatic stimulant, and
is used as a stomachic and carminative for all pens
notably for cattle and sheep.
Blown into the nostrils it increases nasal discharge ;
chewed, it reflexly augments the flow of saliva; administered
internally, it promotes gastric secretion, digestion, and appe-
tite. It is prescribed in atonic dyspepsia, often along with
antacids and laxatives. Conjoined with purgatives, it dimin-
ishes their tendency to nauseate and gripe, and also somewhat
hastens their effects.
Doszs, ete.—For the horse, Ziv. to 31; for cattle, Zi. to ai
for sheep, 3i. to 3ij.; for pigs, Jss. to Hi.; for dogs, gers. x. to
grs. xxx. A bolus is made with any suitable excipient; an
infusion is used sometimes sweetened with treacle or sugar;
20
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578 CINNAMON
the B.P. tincture is prepared with two ounces powdered
ginger to a pint of rectified spirit by maceration and sub-
sequent percolation. A syrup of ginger, made with a strong
tincture and the B.P. simple syrup, is occasionally prescribed.
An oleo-resin, obtained from ginger, and known as gingerin,
may be substituted for ginger in dispensing purgatives.
CINNAMON
CINNAMOMI CoRTEX. Cinnamon Bark. The dried inner
bark of shoots from the truncated stocks of Cinna-
momum zeylanicum. Imported from Ceylon, and dis-
tinguished in commerce as Ceylon cinnamon (B.P.).
Nat. Ord.—Laurinee.
CINNAMOMI OLEUM. The oil distilled from cinnamon bark
(B.P.).
The bark occurs in rolled quills, is thin and brittle, yellow-
brown externally, darker brown on its inner surface, with a
fragrant odour, and a warm, sweet, aromatic taste. Besides
mannite, resin, and other vegetable constituents, the bark
contains tannic and cinnamic acids, but its aroma and
medicinal properties depend upon the presence of about
one per cent. of a volatile oil (C,H,OH), which, when fresh,
is bright yellow, but becomes cherry-red when kept. Its
constituents are eugenol (also found in cloves), cinnamic
aldehyde, and a terpene. An inferior oil is extracted from
the leaves.
Actions anp Uses.—Cinnamon bark is aromatic, carmina-
tive, and astringent, and is used for flavouring.
The oil resembles that of anise, caraway, coriander, pepper-
mint, and of other Umbelliferze and Labiatz. It is antiseptic,
carminative, stimulant, and hemostatic, and is useful in all
animals affected with indigestion, flatulence, or diarrhea. Mr.
Richard W. Burke, A.V.D., thus testifies to its merits : ‘After a
long trial I have found there is no more efficacious remedy in
the treatment of diarrhea in the dog, especially in that form of
the disease which is noticed during the rains in India. It will
check diarrhea when opium, chlorodyne, and other remedies
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ASAFGTIDA 579
usually employed have been found to produce no effect in
allaying the symptoms. I have also employed the tincture
of cinnamon in doses of one or two drachms for smaller
animals. It is nearly, if not equally, as rapid in its effects
as the oil of cinnamon bark’ (Veterinarian, February 1888).
The tincture is made with 4 ounces of bark to a pint of
alcohol (70 per cent.).
Doss, etc.—of the bark, horses take Jiv. to Zi.; dogs, Jss.
to Ji. Of the oil, horses take Txx. to [3i.; dogs, Ti. to MLiv.
administered on sugar, or in syrup, mucilage, or spirit and
water.
ASAFGOTIDA
A Gum Resin obtained by incision from the root of Ferula
feetida, and probably other species. Imported from
Bombay (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Umbelliteree.
The Ferula fcetida, or Narthex asafcetida, has a massive
perennial root, black externally, white within. When the
plant is four years old, the leaves and stems are removed, and,
six weeks later, a slice is cut from the upper part of the root;
the slicing is repeated several times at intervals, when the
plant is exhausted, after yielding from a half pound to two
pounds of a fcetid milky juice, which concretes. The yellow-
brown tears are mixed with soft earth and made into
irregular masses, which are red-brown externally, and within
are opaque and milk-white, but gradually change to a dull
yellow-brown. Asafcetida has a strong, persistent, alliaceous
odour, and a bitter, acrid taste. It is pulverised with
difficulty, forms an emulsion with water, is dissolved in
rectified spirit, and also in potash and ammonia. Its active
constituents are resin, gum, and about 5 per cent. of an
acrid volatile oil containing allyl sulphide (C,H;),S. A good
sample of asafcetida should contain about 65 per cent. of
matter soluble in rectified spirit.
Actions anp Uses.—Asafcetida is a mild stimulant, expec-
torant, carminative, antispasmodic, and vermifuge. It is
speedily absorbed, its disagreeable odour indicating its
general distribution; it is eliminated from the pulmonary
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580 ARNICA
mucous surface, the skin, and kidneys, gently stimulating
their secretions. Professor Robertson used asafcetida, with
aloes and nux vomica, in constipation and torpidity of the
bowels in horses, and in flatulent colic prescribed the tinc-
ture along with oil of linseed and of turpentine. The
spiritus ammonie foetidus, made with 14 ounce asafcetida,
2 ounces strong solution of ammonia, and sufficient alcohol
(90 per cent.) to make one pint of the spirit; and the tinc-
ture of asafoetida, are sometimes prescribed in colic and
chronic cough. Like other substances containing odorous.
volatile oils, asafcetida is a vermifuge, but its action is.
uncertain. It is allied in some of its actions to valerian,.
and to sumbul, and closely resembles the two gum-resins,,.
ammoniacum and galbanum, which are scarcely so active,
and are chiefly used for making charges and plasters.
Doses, etc.—Horses take Zij. to Ziv.; cattle, 3j.; sheep, i. ;.
and dogs, grs. x. to grs. xx. It is given several times a.
day ; may be made into bolus with camphor and ammonium
carbonate ; is frequently prescribed in draught with watery
or alcoholic solution of ammonia; and, to prevent their
misappropriation, it may be added to alcoholic and ethereal
preparations intended for veterinary patients.
ARNICA
Arnic# Ruizoma. The dried rhizome and roots of Arnica
montana (B.P.). Leopard’s Bane. Mountain Tobacco.
Nat. Ord.—Composite.
Arnica montana is a perennial, growing in the mountainous.
parts of Central and Southern Europe, and also in Asia and
America. It has a hairy stem about one foot high, com-
posite yellow flowers, used in America for making the tinc-.
ture, obovate leaves, and a cylindrical, contorted, brown root,.
one to three inches long, two or three lines thick, distin-
guished by a peculiar, aromatic, offensive odour, and a bitter,.
peppery, acrid taste. It contains mucin, extractive matter,
two volatile oils, and an active, bitter, yellow, amorphous
principle, arnicin.
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ACTIONS AND USES 581
Actions anp Uses.—Arnica is irritant and stimulant, has
been credited with alterative properties, and is used exter-
nally as a stimulant for strains, bruises, and wounds.
Viborg gave a horse six drachms of the flowers in infusion,
and records production of quickened circulation and diuresis.
Professor Williams recommends one to two ounces of the
tincture in congestion of the lungs and lymphangitis in
horses, stating that it stimulates cutaneous circulation.
Other practitioners have administered it in the second
stages of pleurisy, in weakness of the loins, in muscular
strains, and in rheumatism. Mr. Dollar, London, has, how-
ever, repeatedly tried it, without benefit, in horses suffering
alike from acute and chronic rheumatism. In the several
forms of rheumatic lameness in dogs, and in stiffness pro-
duced from over-exertion, it has been employed empirically
both externally and internally. It is a favourite homeopathic
remedy.
Externally, arnica is a popular vulnerary for strains,
bruises, and wounds, and especially for broken knees and
sore shoulders. An ounce of the tincture is dissolved in
twelve to twenty ounces of cold water. A more efficient
lotion is made with a drachm of arnica tincture and one to
two drachms of zinc sulphate or lead acetate, diluted with
ten or twelve ounces of water. For painful or irritable
wounds the tincture is employed with chloroform, bella-
donna, or laudanum, diluted with water according to cir-
cumstances. Along with liberal feeding and tonics, a drop
of arnica tincture placed daily within the eyelids is one of
the remedies for those troublesome ulcerations of the cornea
which affect weakly dogs recovering from distemper. Arnica
has, however, been over-estimated; the evidence of its value
as an internal remedy requires confirmation, while the heal-
ing properties ascribed to it appear to depend on the other
drugs, spirit, or cold water with which it is generally
used.
Doszs, etc.—Horses take fJiv. to £31. of the tincture;
cattle, double that quantity; dogs TMLv. to Mviij., mixed with
water, ale, or gruel. The flowers, leaves, and root are
occasionally used powdered, especially in poultices; the
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582 ANISE
tincture is made with an ounce of the root in powder
(No. 40) to a pint of alcohol (70 per cent.). Watery infu-
sions can be of little efficacy, for neither the arnicin nor
volatile oil is soluble in water. Arnica opodeldoc consists of
white soap four parts, rectified spirit ten; tincture of arnica
five and camphor one. It is used as a local stimulant.
ANISE
AnisI Fructus. Anise fruit. The dried ripe fruit of Pim-
pinella Anisum. Nat. Ord.—Umbellifere.
OxLeum Anist. Oil of Anise. The oil distilled from anise
fruit; or from the fruit of the Star anise, [licium
Verum (B.P.).
The natural order Umbelliferee yields many aromatic
fruits, such as anise, caraway, coriander, dill, and fennel, as
well as the aromatic gum-resins, asafcetida, galbanum, and
ammoniacum. These aromatic umbelliferous fruits, like the
fruits, leaves, and other parts of various plants of such orders
as the Myrtacez, Labiatz, and Coniferz, owe their medicinal
value chiefly to their yielding volatile oils. These oils
possess certain properties and actions in common, and the
student should be familiar with their group characters.
Volatile oils are readily diffusible; their in-contact effects
are produced, not only when they are applied topically, but
when they are absorbed and distributed in the blood stream.
When concentrated they are local irritants; when diluted
they paralyse peripheral nerve-endings, and hence are
anodyne, carminative, and antispasmodic. They are also
expectorant, antiseptic, and parasiticide. When absorbed
they stimulate circulation and secretion. As with other
stimulants large doses paralyse the heart. They reduce
inordinate reflex activity of the spinal cord. They are
eliminated chiefly—(1) by the respiratory mucous mem-
brane, increasing bronchial secretion, and counteracting
septic conditions of the membrane; and (2) by the kidneys,
in moderate doses producing diuresis and antisepsis through-
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MEDICINAL USES 583
out the urinary tract, but in large doses causing over-
stimulation and strangury.
Anise is chiefly imported from Spain, Germany, and
Southern Russia. It is an ovoid, oblong, grey-brown fruit,
one-fifth of an inch in length, and covered with minute
hairs. Like other fruits of this order, it is separable into
two symmetrical mericarps, each of which is encircled by
five slender ridges, while its transverse section exhibits
about fifteen vittz, which elaborate the oil.
Both anise fruits yield about 5 per cent. of a mixture, in
nearly equal proportions, of a fixed oil, and a volatile anethol
or camphor-like body, common to the Umbelliferz, and some
other plants, and having the formula C,,H,,0. It is believed
to be a phenol derivative, with some of its hydrogen atoms
displaced by methyl and allyl, and having the rational
formula C,H, C,H; OCH,. It is colourless, but becomes
yellow on keeping; exhibits intensely the characteristic
aromatic odour and taste of the fruit, and is soluble in
alcohol and ether. The oil from the pimpinella solidifies
at from 50° to 60° Fahr.; that from the star-anise at about
36° Fahr.
Actions anp Uses.—Anise is an aromatic stimulant, stom-
achic, and carminative. It is used to relieve indigestion and
flatulence, to communicate an agreeable flavour to many
medicines, and to diminish the griping of purgatives.
Doszs, etc.—Horses receive about Zi.; cattle, Zi. to 3ij.;
sheep and swine, 3ij. to Ziij.; dogs, grs. xx. to grs. L, given
powdered, repeated several times a day, often conjoined with
ginger or other aromatics, and conveniently administered in
ale or in spirit and water. Oil of anise, like oil of caraway,
or coriander, is a diffusible stimulant, antiseptic, carminative,
and antispasmodic. For such purposes cheaper remedies
are generally, however, employed ; but it is occasionally used
as a flavouring ingredient, more especially for ball masses,
and, mixed with a little spirit and bland oil, for the destruc-
tion of lice in pet dogs and other small animals.
Caraway, cardamoms, coriander, fennel, and fenugreek
resemble anise in their actions and uses, and may be given
in similar doses. These seeds are sometimes used by feeders
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584 EUCALYPTUS
of pigs, sheep, and cattle, and by waggoners and others, for
improving the coat and condition of their charges. Fenu-
greek especially is prized for such purposes, is a constituent
of various ‘drinks, and, with ground peas, maize meal, locust
bean, and linseed meal, forms several vaunted condiments or
‘nourishing foods.’
HUCALYPTUS
Oxeum Evcatypri. Oil of Eucalyptus. The oil distilled
from the fresh leaves of Eucalyptus Globulus, and other
species of Eucalyptus (B.P.). C,,H,,0.
Eucatypt1 Gummi. Eucalyptus gum, a ruby - coloured
exudation from the bark of Eucalyptus rostrata, and
some other species of Eucalyptus. Imported from
Australia (B.P.). Mat. Ord.—Myrtacee.
The leaves and flower-buds of various Myrtacez, such as
cloves, pimento, myrtle, and cajuput, as well as eucalyptus
yield, when distilled, aromatic, antiseptic, volatile oils.
The rapidly-growing eucalyptus trees, indigenous to the
Australian colonies, are now largely cultivated in many
temperate regions with the view of preventing malarial
fevers.
The dried leaves yield about 70 per cent. of eucalyptol, a
colourless or pale, straw-coloured, liquid volatile oil, darken-
ing by exposure, of an aromatic odour and spicy, pungent taste,
and soluble in about its own weight of alcohol. Its antiseptic
powers increase as it undergoes oxidation by keeping. Other
constituents are a crystallisable resin, tannin, and an oil,
cineol, which crystallises at 30° Fahr.
Eucalyptus, or red gum, occurs in grains or masses. It is
tough, and has a very astringent taste. Cold water dissolves
80 to 90 per cent., forming a neutral solution. It is soluble
in alcohol (90 per cent.). Red gum contains kino-tannic
acid, catechin, and catechol. It resembles kino, which is less
soluble in water.
Actions anp Uses.—The oil possesses in marked degree the
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ACTIONS AND USES 585
group characters of volatile oils. When freely used in
concentrated form it is an in-contact irritant. It is power-
fully antiseptic and disinfectant, destroying the lower forms
of animal life. Locally applied it impairs sensibility. It is
readily absorbed, increasing cardiac action, and is hence a
stimulant and antispasmodic; and as it passes out of the
body it increases the activity of the excreting channels,
chiefly the respiratory mucous membrane and the kidneys.
Its antiseptic properties confer some anti-malarial action;
but it cannot, as has been suggested, take the place of the
cinchona alkaloids.
Eucalyptus oil is used as a stimulant and antiseptic gargle,
inhalation, and spray to diminish excessive quantity and feetor
of nasal, pharyngeal, and bronchial secretions. It is adminis-
tered in protracted cases of strangles, influenza, and purpura
in horses, septiceemia in all animals, and in distemper in
dogs—in such cases being usefully combined with quinine,
ether, and alcohol. Arloing and Thomas state that solu-
tions containing one ;8,th part destroy the virus of black-
quarter. As an antiseptic it is three times as powerful as
carbolic acid, for which it is sometimes substituted in sur-
gical cases. Eucalyptus gauze is unbleached cotton im-
pregnated with one part oil of eucalyptus, three of dammar
resin, and three of paraffin wax. Eucalyptus wool contains
5 per cent. of the oil. In feetid uterine discharges, eucalyptol
injections or pessaries are useful. The gum is astringent,
and styptic. As a desiccant, mixed with starch and zinc
oxide, it is used for superficial wounds. Occasionally red
gum is prescribed for diarrhea in dogs.
Dosss, etc., of the oil—Horses and cattle take f3i. to f3iv.;
dogs, Mii. to Mx., in diluted spirits, mucilage, or milk. For
parasitic skin affections and other external purposes it is
dissolved in oil or cocoa butter, and is often usefully con-
joined with iodoform. Eulyptol, consisting of equal parts
of eucalyptol, carbolic acid, and salicylic acid, has been
recommended as an intestinal antiseptic.
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586 JUNIPER
JUNIPER
OLeum JunrreR!. Oil of juniper. The oil distilled from the
full-grown, unripe, green fruit of Juniperus communis.
SPIRITUS JUNIPERI. Spirit of Juniper. A solution of the
oil in alcohol (90 per. cent.) (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Coniferee.
The junipers are shrubby evergreen trees, growing in most.
temperate countries. Their leaves are dark-green, linear
and arranged three in a whorl. Juniper berries are
bluish-purple, furrowed, of the size and appearance of
currants; have an aromatic, terebinthinate odour, and a
warm, sweet taste, followed by bitterness. For flavouring
gin about two pounds of the berries are added to one hundred
gallons of spirit. They owe their distinctive properties to
about 2 per cent. of a mixture of two volatile oils, one of
which is polymeric with terpene (C,,H,,).
The fresh and dried tops of Juniperus sabina yield oil of
savin, which is sometimes used as an ecbolic. From the
wood of the Juniperus oxycedrus, and occasionally from
that of the communis, the brown empyreumatic oil of cade
is got by dry distillation ; is used in France and other con-
tinental countries for most of the purposes of oil of tar, and
is recommended in scaly skin diseases.
Actions anp Uses.—The fruit, oil, and spirit of juniper are
topical irritants, and when absorbed are stimulant, stomachic,
carminative, and diuretic. They resemble the turpentines,
and thuja, or arbor vite.
Two ounces of the berries given to horses and cattle have
little notable effect; but three or four ounces induce diuresis.
The fruit and oil are occasionally given as diuretics,
stomachics, and carminatives in indigestion and flatulence,
and are stated to diminish the evil effects of bad fodder and
marshy pastures, and to aid alike the prevention and cure of
ascites in sheep. The oil mixed with lard and applied to
exposed wounds, prevents irritation from flies.
Doses, etc.—Of the fruit, as a stomachic, horses and cattle
take 3i. to Zij.; sheep, ij. to Ziv.; dogs, grs. xx. to grs. xl.,
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PEPPERMINT—-MENTHOL 587
repeated twice a day, in electuary or bolus. The fruit is
readily eaten by most animals, especially by sheep. A
decoction, made from the fruit, is occasionally prescribed,
and also used as an external stimulant. As a diuretic the
oil is the best form. Horses and cattle take 3i. to 3ij.; dogs,
Tv. to Mlx., which may be repeated at intervals of three
hours till diuresis is induced. Of the spirit, as a carminative
and stomachie, cattle and horses take Ziv. to 3j.; sheep, 3ij.
to Ziv.; dogs, Mxx. to 3j., in oil, or mixed with other
medicines.
PEPPERMINT
OLeEuM MeEnTH#® Piperirz. Oil of Peppermint. The oil
distilled from the fresh flowering peppermint, Mentha
piperita (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Labiate.
The natural family Labiatz furnishes peppermint, spear-
mint, pennyroyal, lavender, rosemary, marjoram, and
thyme; and from these plants, when fresh flowering,
aromatic, antiseptic, volatile oils are obtained. Similar oils
are extracted from the leaves of various Myrtacez, from the
petals of roses, from the flowers and fruit of various Rutacee,
and from the seeds of various Umbelliferze.
Of the Labiatz volatile oils peppermint is the most com-
monly used. The fresh plant yields 1 to 1:25 per cent. of the
colourless or pale yellow oil, characterised by its warm
aromatic taste and subsequent sensation of coldness. It
consists of two isomeric oils—the fluid menthene (C,,H,,),
and the crystalline menthol (C,,H,,'OH), which is homologous
with thymol, obtained from the volatile oil of thyme.
Actions anp Uses.—Oil of peppermint is a typical volatile
oil; it is an antiseptic, topical stimulant and anesthetic,
carminative, antispasmodic, and parasiticide. It is more
active than the oil from Mentha viridis, or spearmint, or M.
pulegium, or pennyroyal. Diluted solutions arrest the de-
velopment of bacilli as effectually as carbolic acid, or euca-
lyptus oil, and are hence used as dressings for wounds, and
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588 CHAMOMILE FLOWERS
as sprays or gargles for ulcerated throat. It destroys veget-
able and animal parasites infesting the skin. After stimu-
lating, it paralyses the ends of sensory nerves with which it
is brought into contact, and hence relieves gastro-intestinal,
neuralgic, and other pains. Painful surfaces are gently
rubbed with a pencil of menthol, solution being promoted by
wetting with a little spirit. Increased anesthesia is secured
by diluting the menthol with eight or ten parts of ether, or
mixing it with an equal part of thymol, carbolic acid, or
butyl chloral-hydrate. Peppermint oil is used to prevent the
nausea and spasms sometimes produced by purgatives; to
‘ flavour medicinal preparations, or cover their unpalatable
taste,
Doszs, etc., of the oil—For horses and cattle, M[xx. to T|xxx.;
for dogs, Tliii. to TLv., given on a piece of sugar or in spirit
and water. Peppermint water contains one of oil in one
thousand of water. The spirit consists of one part of oil to
nine of alcohol (90 per cent.).
CHAMOMILE FLOWERS
ANTHEMIDIS FLores.—The dried expanded flower-heads of
Anthemis nobilis. Collected from cultivated plants
(B.P.). Nat. Ord—Composite.
Chamomile flowers are extensively cultivated in the
warmer parts of England, are gathered during dry weather,
exposed for a short time on trays in the shade, and carefully
stored and kept very dry. Both varieties, but especially the
single, have a hot, bitter taste, and a strong aromatic odour.
They contain bitter extractive matter, soluble both in water
and alcohol; a small quantity of tannin ; traces of the bitter
anthemic acid; a crystallisable, soluble base, anthemine;
and 0°60 to 0°80 per cent. of volatile oil, obtained by
distillation. The oil is of a pale-blue or green colour,
gradually becoming yellow-brown, and consisting of a
mixture of esters, chiefly of the angelates and valerianates
of butyl and amy].
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VALERIAN 589
Actions anp Uses.—Chamomile flowers are mildly stimu-
lant, aromatic, stomachic, and carminative; full doses
produce emesis in dogs. The infusion is sometimes given in
atonic dyspepsia and diarrhcea. Horses and cattle take one to
two ounces; calves, sheep, and swine, a drachm or more. The
flowers are occasionally used for fomentations and poultices.
Like other volatile oils, that of chamomile lowers reflex
irritability, and hence is useful in dyspepsia, diarrhea, and
spasmodic cough.
VALERIAN
VALERIANZ Ruizoma. The dried rhizome and roots of
Valeriana officinalis. Collected in the autumn (B.P.).
Nat. Ord.—Valerianacec.
The officinal valerian consists of a short, yellow-brown,
tuberous rhizome, about the thickness of the little finger,
with attached radicles, shrivelled, brittle, and of an earthy-
brown colour. It has a penetrating odour, becoming strong
and even fetid by keeping, and a camphoraceous, unpleasant,
rather bitter taste. It contains 1 to 2 per cent. of a strong-
smelling, active volatile oil, isomeric with oil of turpentine
(C,,H,,), and the oily, acrid valerianic acid (C,H,.CO,H),
which is also present in the berries of the guelder rose, in
cod-liver oil, and decaying cheese, and may be obtained
artificially by distilling amylic alcohol, and treating the
distillate with caustic alkali.
Actions anp Uszs.—Valerian and its volatile oil are topical
irritants, stimulants, and antispasmodics. In large doses
they paralyse the brain and spinal cord, lower blood-
pressure, and slow the pulse. Valerianic acid has no special
stimulant action, but is said to resemble acetic acid. The
valerianates accordingly do not exhibit the action of valerian
or of the volatile oil.
Mepicwwat Usrs.—Valerian resembles asafcetida, the other
gum-resins, camphor, and sumbul or musk-root imported
from Russia and India, and produced by an umbelli-
ferous plant. It has little effect on horses or cattle, even in
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590 TURPENTINES
doses of several ounces. It is occasionally given to dogs to
allay nervous irritability, and relieve chorea and epilepsy ;
but little dependence can be placed on it. It attracts and
excites cats, developing by its suggestive odour their
amatory propensities. The volatile oil abates the convul-
sions of strychnine poisoning, is an anthelmintic, and is
excreted by the lungs, skin, and kidneys.
Doses, etc.—Used for horses or cattle, valerian may be
given in quantities of 3]. to 3ij.; for dogs, grs. x. to 3j.; for
cats, grs. v. to grs. Xxx., given in powder or infusion several
times daily, conjoined with ginger, gentian, or camphor, or
dissolved in spirit of ammonia.
THE VALERIANATES, aS above indicated, exhibit the actions
of their bases, but not those of valerian. Where it is
desired to conjoin the physiological action of valerian with
iron, zinc, or other metallic salt, or with quinine, the oil of
valerian should be prescribed with a suitable salt of the
metallic or vegetable base. The valerianates have been
used for dogs and cats in epilepsy, chorea, and nervous
excitability, in doses of grs. ij. to grs. v.
TURPENTINES
TEREBINTHINE. Nat. Ord.—Conifere.
The Conifere yield the following drugs—
I. Oleo-resinous juices exuding spontaneously or from
incisions made into the trunks or branches, consisting of
common and Venice turpentines, Canada balsam, frankin-
cense, and Burgundy pitch.
II. Oil of turpentine (C,,H,,)—the volatile or essential
oil procured from turpentines by distillation.
Ill. Hydrates of turpentine —terebene, terpene, and ter-
pinol, prepared by acting on oil of turpentine with acids.
IV. Resins—the residue of the distillation of turpentine.
V. Tar and black pitch—got by subjecting the roots and
wood to destructive distillation. Wood wool prepared from
pine wood.
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BORDEAUX AND VENICE TURPENTINES 591
I. Tot TURPENTINES OR CONIFEROUS OLEO-RESINS.
The terebinthinate juices while recently exuded are fluid,
or nearly so; but exposure to the air volatilises and oxidises
their essential oil, and they solidify. They have a peculiar,
pungent, bitter taste and odour, are scarcely soluble in
water, partially soluble in rectified spirit, dissolving readily
in oils, ether, and alkaline solutions; are inflammable, and
leave, when burnt, a finely-divided residue of carbon or lamp
black. Several of the more important varieties demand
notice.
Common Turrentine is obtained throughout the Southern
States of America, from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico,
chiefly from the Pinus Teda and P. palustris, australis,
or swamp pine, a tree sixty or seventy feet high, having
bright green linear leaves about a foot in length, and
collected into bundles like those of the Pinus sylvestris, or
Scotch fir, from which, throughout Northern Europe,
turpentine is also procured.
Borpeaux Turpentine, chiefly produced in the south-west
of France, from Pinus maritima and P. pinaster, is got by
bleeding or hacking the bark, and conducting the juice
into suitable vessels placed at the foot of the tree.
Turpentine from different sources differs somewhat in
appearance; the American is dextro-rotatory, the French
levo-rotatory ; it is semi-fluid, its consistence varies with the
temperature; it gradually solidifies from escape and oxidation
of the volatile oil; it has a yellow colour, an aromatic odour,
and a warm, pungent taste. Unless melted and strained,
it usually contains impurities. Water acquires its flavour,
but separates only traces of its active principles. Rectified
spirit and ether dissolve it; eggs and mucilage form with
it emulsions convenient for administration. The crude
American variety, when recent, yields 15 to 25 per cent. of
volatile oil.
Venice Turrentine (Terebinthina Veneta) is chiefly ob-
tained in the Tyrol, Switzerland, and Piedmont, from the
common larch, Larix Europza—a lofty tree with graceful
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592 TURPENTINES
drooping branches, and leaves at first in fascicule, like the
pine tribe, but afterwards becoming solitary by elongation of
the twigs. Venice turpentine is tenacious, rather opaque, and
fluorescent; less apt than common turpentine to concrete
with keeping; has a pale yellow colour, an acrid, bitter taste,.
a disagreeable terebinthinate odour, and contains 15 per cent.
of oil of turpentine. The Venice turpentine of the shops.
almost invariably consists of about three parts of common
resin dissolved in one part of oil of turpentine. This artificial
mixture is distinguished by its strong odour, and its more
quickly evaporating, and leaving a varnish on a sheet of
paper, on which the natural Venice turpentine remains
viscid.
Canapa Batsam, chiefly brought from Lower Canada, is
obtained by puncturing the vesicles lying between the bark
and wood of Abies balsamea. It is a pale, greenish-yellow
oleo-resin of the consistence of thin honey, has an agreeable
terebinthinate odour, and a slightly bitter, feebly acrid taste.
On exposure it dries slowly into a transparent adhesive
varnish, and solidifies when mixed with one-sixth of its
weight of magnesia and water. It contains 15 to 18 per
cent. of oil, is much used by varnish-makers, opticians, and
microscopists, and, with collodion and castor oil, constitutes
flexible collodion. It is sometimes improperly termed
Balm of Gilead, which, however, is derived from an Arabian
balsamodendron. Strasburg turpentine is a fluid, citron-
smelling oleo-resin obtained in the vicinity of the Alps from
Abies picea. Chian or Cyprus turpentine, from the island
of Scio, nearly resembles Canada balsam in its properties
and uses; it is a greenish-yellow, liquid oleo-resin from the
Pistacia terebinthus, a tree of the mastic order.
Frankincense, or Thus Americanum, is the semi-opaque,
soft, concrete turpentine scraped off the trunks of Pinus
palustris, P. Teeda, and other American Conifer. On keep-
ing it becomes dry, brittle, and darker in colour. A similar
concrete turpentine comes from the south of France under
the name of gallipot or barras.
Bureunpy Pircn is the resinous exudation from the stem
of Picea excelsa, or spruce fir, melted and strained. It
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IRRITANTS, STIMULANTS, AND ANTHELMINTICS 593
consists of an amorphous resin, oil of turpentine, and other
isomeric oils, and abietic acid. It occurs in semi-opaque
red-brown masses, breaks with a shining conchoidal fracture,
and has an empyreumatic turpentine odour and aromatic
taste. The substance sold as Burgundy pitch is generally
made by melting resin and palm oil and stirring in some
water. True Burgundy pitch and its imitations spread upon
leather are used for stimulant and adhesive plasters, applied
in swellings of joints, chest affections, and rheumatism.
Actions anp Usts.—The turpentines are topical irritants.
When swallowed they are speedily absorbed, act as general
stimulants, and are discharged by the kidneys, bronchial
membrane, and skin, stimulating these channels of excretion.
Their uses resemble those of their more active constituent,
oil of turpentine. In percentage of oil, and hence in activity,
they stand as follows: Canada balsam, Venice turpentine,
common turpentine, and frankincense. They are occasionally
used as stimulants in indigestion, colic, and general debility ;
as laxatives, especially when in combination; and as
anthelmintics, diuretics, and expectorants.
Externally applied, they are stimulants, astringents, and
antiseptics, and are used for making up diuretic and
stimulant balls. In the south of France the resinous vapours
of the Conifer have been employed for the relief of bron-
chitis, phthisis, and rheumatism in human patients. The
growing pine forests, and the oleo-resins extracted from
them in presence of oxygen, evolve antiseptic camphoraceous
oils and peroxide of hydrogen, which purify the air and
destroy disease germs.
Doszs, etc.—Horses and cattle take 3j. to Ziij.; sheep, 3j.
to Ziij.; pigs, 3j. to Zij.; dogs, grs. xx. to grs. lx. The
maximum doses are stimulant and antispasmodic; the
minimum, frequently repeated, are diuretic and expectorant.
They are administered with milk, oils, linseed gruel, mucilage,
eggs, or about =,th part of magnesia. For external purposes
they are made into liniments and ointments.
2P
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594 TEREBINTHINZ OLEUM
II. Or or TuRPENTINE. Oleum Terebinthine.
The oil distilled from the oleo-resin, obtained from Pinus
sylvestris, and other species of pinus.
The crude turpentines when heated, as they usually are, by
steam, yield 15 to 25 per cent. of oil of turpentine, sometimes
improperly called spirit of turpentine. It is a mixture of
several hydrocarbons having the composition C,,H,,. It is
limpid, with a strong, peculiar odour and a pungent, bitter
taste. It commences to boil at about 320° Fahr. According
to its source, it varies in its odour, specific gravity, boiling
point, and effect on polarised light. It is very inflammable,
burning with a heavy yellow flame and producing much
smoke. It is insoluble in water, soluble in 64 of alcohol, and
readily dissolved in ether, chloroform, glacial acetic acid,
fixed and volatile oils. It is a valuable solvent for wax, resins,
fats, many alkaloids, iodine, and phosphorus.
It is the representative of a large group of terpenes,
including the volatile oils of chamomile, caraway, juniper,
lemons, pepper, savin, thyme, tolu, and valerian—all of
which have the formula C,,H,,. In common with other
terpenes, it is convertible into isomerides, oxidises on
exposure to air, forming camphoric peroxide; with water
produces crystalline hydrates; and with hydrochloric acid
forms crystalline compounds. By this action of hydrochloric
acid on turpentine artificial camphor is produced.
Terebene (C,,H,,2H,O), a mixture of dipentene and other
hydrocarbons, obtained by agitating oil of turpentine with
successive quantities of sulphuric acid, and then distilling
in a current of steam; is less disagreeable and acrid to
the taste, and optically inactive. It has the same medicinal
properties.
Actions anp Uses.—Oil of turpentine has the group actions
of a volatile oil. It is an antiseptic topical irritant and
disinfectant, and is used as a rubefacient and vesicant.
Large doses are irritant and narcotic. Medicinal doses are
antiseptic, stimulant, especially of mucous and skin surfaces,
antispasmodic, hemostatic, anthelmintic, and antiparasitic.
It is also prescribed as an adjuvant cathartic, diaphoretic,
and diuretic.
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ANTISEPTIC AND GENERAL STIMULANT 595
Genera. Actions.—Like other volatile oils, it is an active
antiseptic. In destroying bacteria spores, Koch found it
more effective than alcohol, ether, chloroform, or benzol. It
poisons lice, acari, entozoa, and other parasites, whether
lodged in the skin, bronchial tubes, or bowels. Applied to
the skin it irritates, and, if evaporation be prevented, vesicates,
and even ulcerates.
When swallowed it is rapidly absorbed, diffused, and
excreted, and may be speedily detected in the sweat, breath,
and milk, and in the urine, to which it imparts the odour of
violets. Small doses stimulate, large doses weaken heart
action; and according to Binz the white corpuscles of the
blood are increased in number. Full doses first stimulate
and then paralyse vaso-motor centres. According to dosage
and stage of action, it thus produces a rise or fall of blood-
pressure, quickening or slowing of the pulse, rise or fall
of temperature; but respiration throughout is generally
quickened. It is eliminated by the lungs, acting as a
stimulating antiseptic expectorant; by the skin, promoting
diaphoresis; by the kidneys, inducing diuresis; while full
doses, especially in combination with laxatives, are cathartic.
Toxic Errecrs——Large doses when inhaled irritate the
respiratory mucous membrane, and reflexly cause difficult
‘breathing. Large doses when swallowed cause irritation, and
occasionally ulceration of the bowels. A large dose quickly
‘swallowed, as in the case of alcohol, produces brief primary
stimulation and prolonged subsequent paralysis of the central
nervous system. Rabbits and kittens were paralysed by in-
jection of turpentine emulsion into the stomach. The motor
centres are implicated in the same order as in poisoning
with members of the alcohol series, those of the brain being
first affected, those of the cord later, and those of the
medulla last. A dog receiving two drachms, intravenously,
staggered, was convulsed, circulation and respiration failed,
and death occurred in three minutes (Christison On Poisons).
During excretion large doses cause congestion of the urino-
genital organs, diminish or arrest secretion of urine, and
induce strangury and sometimes hematuria.
Mepiciwaz Uses.—In indigestion, flatulence, and atonic
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596 TEREBINTHINZ OLEUM
diarrhea, it checks undue fermentation and acts as a car-
minative and gastro-intestinal stimulant and astringent.
Although an uncertain cathartic when given alone, like
many other volatile oils it promotes the action of cathartics,
with which it is usefully conjoined in flatulent colic, and in
such cases it is also used in enemata. Alike in flatulent
and spasmodic colic in horses, it is frequently given combined
either with linseed oil or with mucilage and aloes, and in
spasmodic cases is conjoined with opium.
As a cardiac and general stimulant it is not so effective
as alcohol or ether. But stimulating vaso-motor centres
and contracting arterioles, it checks excessive or faulty
mucous discharges. Thus, in chronic bronchitis and nasal
gleet, terebene gargles and turpentine emulsions and inhala-
tions prove useful, especially when seconded by turpentine
liniments applied externally. The astringent hemostatic
effects are also serviceable in purpura, and in passive
hemorrhage from the lungs, stomach, or bowels, as well as
from the kidneys, although in renal cases the drug must
be used cautiously and in small doses. In purpura in
horses, ounce doses are prescribed, with the same quantity
of ferric chloride tincture, in milk, twice or thrice daily.
This prescription, with two drachms potassium chlorate, is
useful in many cases of hemoglobinuria. Chronic rheu-
matisin in all classes of patients is frequently relieved by
conjoining turpentine with salines, and in such cases it is
also usefully applied externally.
Turpentine, well kept and fully oxidised, as the French
variety generally is, contains formic, acetic, and carbonic
acids, and is an antidote in poisoning with phosphorus.
Phosphorus in repeated doses produces in animals fatty
degeneration; but neither this nor other forms of phos-
phorus poisoning occurred when the drug was given with
French turpentine (Kohler), Personne gave phosphorus to
five dogs, and all died. To five others, an hour or two after
similar lethal doses, he gave turpentine, and only one died.
Of five dogs to which he gave turpentine immediately after
deadly doses of phosphorus, only one died (Dr. Ringer’s
Handbook of Therapeutics).
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ANTHELMINTIC AND PARASITICIDE 597
In cattle practice full doses are valuable in hoven.
Chronic diarrhceea and dysentery, especially when accom-
panied by flatulence, are usually benefited by small doses
conjoined with lime-water, aromatics, or opium. When
contagious pleuro-pneumonia was subjected to curative
treatment, two ounces were sometimes prescribed several
times daily. In parturient apoplexy it is given with
ammonium carbonate; in peritonitis with laudanum, and in
such cases it is also applied as an external stimulant. Mr.
A. G. Macgillivray, Banff, in post-partum hemorrhage in
cows, gives three to five ounces, with eggs and ginger
(Veterinary Journal, 1888). Frequently repeated doses,
conjoined with iron salts, check that form of hematuria in
cattle popularly known as red-water.
For the destruction of intestinal worms oil of turpentine
is generally conjoined with a laxative, and given after the
bowels have been emptied by a cathartic, and the patient
has been fasted. Although it removes round worms,’it is
not in horses a certain remedy for tape-worms, but its
efficacy is increased by combination with male fern. A
tolerably good teniacide for the horse consists of two ounces
of turpentine and one ounce of male fern extract, dissolved
in a pint of linseed oil. For tape-worms in dogs, areca nut,
imale fern, and cusso are more effectual than turpentine.
For destroying strongyles infesting the air-passages of
calves and lambs, turpentine has been widely used. In
some sheep-breeding districts of England, thriftless, cough-
ing lambs, throughout the summer months, at intervals of
a week or ten days are given turpentine drenches, with
the view of killing both thread and tape worms: and such
treatment certainly greatly diminishes the scouring and
mortality to which lambs in some localities are liable.
Six-month calves take half an ounce, lambs of the like
age a drachm, of oil of turpentine, conveniently mixed
with milk, and administered by the mouth. Two or three
doses, at intervals of two or three days, usually effect a
cure. Turpentine inhalations, although fairly effectual, are
troublesome to manage. For calves intratracheal injection
of turpentine has been introduced by: Mr. J. Hutton, of
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598 OIL OF TURPENTINE
Kelso, who makes a small incision in the skin, half-way
down the neck, and between two rings of the trachea, and
with a suitable syringe injects f3i. to f3ij. oil of turpentine,
with f%ss. each of carbolic acid, chloroform, and glycerin,
which ensures solution of the carbolic acid. No serious
irritation results. A few paroxysms of coughing occasion-
ally occur. Brought into actual contact with the parasites,
the vermicide promptly destroys them (Veterinarian, 1885).
Gapes in poultry, caused by the Syngamus trachealis, is
successfully treated by a similar mixture, used diluted with
four or five parts of milk or bland oil, two or three drops
being placed in the mouth of the ailing fowl. A similar
dressing is sometimes applied around the throat, but, al-
though in part absorbed, is not so effectual as when
swallowed.
Externally, oil of turpentine is used as an antiseptic,
stimulant, and counter-irritant. Rubbed undiluted into the
skin-of horses, it quickly causes topical irritation, restless-
ness, and much excitement, continuing for twenty or thirty
minutes, and, if used largely and repeatedly, it vesicates,
and may blemish. Cattle are not so sensitive to its irritant
effect, and for them it is sometimes employed to increase
the activity of other vesicants. A piece of flannel wrung
out of hot water, and sprinkled with turpentine oil, is
frequently applied as a counter-irritant. A continuous
moderate action is more serviceable than a single violent
effect. For inveterate eczema and psoriasis, after removal
of the scales with soft soap and water or alkaline dressings,
turpentine, diluted with one or two parts of oil or glycerin
and water, sometimes beneficially stimulates the hyper-
trophied, weakened skin, and promotes cure.
It is used as a stimulant for rheumatic swellings, more
particularly of cattle and sheep; for sprains and bruises
after the first pain and tenderness have been subdued. by
fomentation; for controlling congestion arising from frost-
bite, which is not uncommon in the limbs of horses used
for night work ; for promoting absorption of small cysts; for
healing the troublesome chronic sores occurring about the
heels of draught-horses ; for arresting necrosis of dogs’ ears,
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DOSES AND ADMINISTRATION 599
and for relieving tedious foot-rot in sheep. For such cases
it is usually mixed with two or three parts of vaseline, oil,
or glycerin. A similar mixture destroys lice and other skin
vermin, as well as the fungus of ringworm. An occasional
sprinkling over dogs’ beds keeps them free of fleas. It is
often added to stavesacre, tobacco, and other antiparasitic
dressings. It enters into the composition of various mix-
tures used by shepherds to protect their flocks from flies,
and to kill maggots. For such purposes three ounces oil
of turpentine, one ounce each of sweet oil, common salt,
and mucilage, and half a drachm corrosive sublimate, are
mixed in a quart of water.
Dosgs, etc.—For horses and cattle, as a stimulant and
dntLapacmedlt: the dose is £3]. to fZij.; as a diuretic, fZss.
to f3j. As an adjuvant cathartic or anthelmintic the dose
is about fZij., combined with aloes in solution, with castor
or linseed oil, with iron salts, quassia, gentian, or other
bitters. Full-grown cattle take double these doses. Sheep
and pigs receive f3j. to fZiv.; dogs, Mxx. to f3j. It is
administered dissolved in bland oils, shaken up with linseed
gruel or milk, or made into an emulsion with mucilage or
eggs. Aromatics, bitters, or ethers are sometimes added.
Intratracheally, 3j. to 3ij., mixed with an equal measure of
olive oil, may be administered to horses affected with catarrh.
For inhalation half a bucket of boiling water is placed
under the patient’s nostrils, and an ounce of turpentine
placed in it; or it may be introduced into the steam-kettle,
which is almost as serviceable in the treatment of bronchitis
in animals as in man. For enemata, turpentine is usually
diluted with fifty or sixty parts of oil; or it is mixed with
two or three parts of oil or mucilage to ensure solution,
and then added to the soap and water. In diarrhcea or
dysentery it is conjoined with laudanum and starch gruel.
For external purposes it is usually applied with linseed
oil, soft soap, or ammonia liniment. Convenient stimulant
dressings are made with equal quantities of oil of turpentine,
bland oil, and soft soap, or two to three ounces of oil of
turpentine are added to a pint of soap liniment. As a
stimulant for rheumatism, equal parts of oil of turpentine
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600 OIL OF PINE—TEREBENE—TERPENE-HYDRATE
and laudanum are mixed with two or three parts of linseed
oil or soft soap. For dogs, an active embrocation is prepared
with an ounce each of oil of turpentine and medicinal
ammonia, and six to ten ounces of olive oil.
Om or Scorcu Fir (oleum pini sylvestris) is prepared by
distilling the fresh leaves of the Scotch fir or Pinus syl-
vestris. It has most of the properties, and is applied to
many of the uses of oil of turpentine.
TereBENE being less acrid than oil of turpentine, and less
liable to act on the kidneys, is sometimes substituted for
it, especially as an internal stimulant and antiseptic in
excessive mucous discharges, and for relieving flatulence.
Externally, it is applied as a stimulant, antiseptic, and
deodoriser.
On or Pine, oleum pini (pinol or pumuline), the oil dis-
tilled from the fresh leaves of Pinus Pumilio, is used as an
inhalation in bronchial catarrh and in laryngitis.
TerPenE Hyprate (C,,H,,2HO), prepared by passing a
current of air through a mixture of four parts oil of tur-
pentine, one part nitric acid, and three parts rectified spirit.
It is crystalline, has an agreeable balsamic odour and taste; is
soluble in 220 parts of cold water, twenty-two parts of warm
water, and very soluble in alcohol, ether, turpentine, and
oils. Its general actions resemble those of oil of turpentine.
One to two drachms may be swallowed by small dogs with-
out causing gastric derangement; two to three drachms,
quickly produce intoxication with restlessness, uncertain
gait, impaired vision, and dreaming, followed in a few
hours by sound sleep. It has been prescribed in bronchitis,
especially in dogs, to stimulate secretion in the earlier
stages, and in the later chronic stages to liquefy and
diminish excessive discharges. The doses for horses or
cattle are grs. xxx. to 3ij.; for dogs, grs. x. to grs. lx., re-
peated two or three times daily, and given with alcohol,
glycerin, or syrup, in drench or in the patient’s food.
Terpinol, prepared by boiling terpene in water acidulated
with sulphuric acid, is a mobile liquid, with a strong
aromatic odour; insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol
and ether. It actions are similar to those of terpene.
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RESIN 60]
III. Resin, Rosin, REsina.
The crude turpentines contain 75 to 90 per cent. of resin
or colophony, developed by a process of oxidation. Crude
turpentine, when distilled with a little water, which the resin
retains, leaves a residue of yellow or white resin. When the
water is removed, the resin becomes transparent, and when
more strongly heated is still clearer, and is known as black
or fiddler’s resin. These turpentine resins are types of a
considerable group of resins, derived chiefly from the vege-
table kingdom, distinguished by their appearance, fusibility,
inflammability, acidity to test-paper; burning with a smoky
flame; insoluble in water, and soluble in alcohol, volatile oils,
and alkalies. They unite with fats, wax, and spermaceti, and
are largely used in the manufacture of yellow soap. Resin
has the formula C,,H,,O, Coarsely powdered, and shaken
with warm dilute alcohol, it undergoes hydration, and yields
80 to 90 per cent. of abietic or sylvic acid (C,,H,,0,). Bor-
deaux resin or gallipot contains, besides the isomeric,
pimaric acid.
Actions anp Uszs.—Resin is a gentle stimulant, astringent,
and diuretic. Two to four ounces, swallowed by horses or
cattle, cause diuresis. It is added to diuretic masses to
increase their consistence. Externally, it is used as a stimu-
lant, astringent, and styptic. In castration, a pinch applied
to the severed cord, and melted by the hot iron, helps to seal
bleeding vessels. It is largely used to impart firmness and
adhesiveness to stimulant plasters. Resin ointment is made
with eight parts each of resin, yellow wax, and olive oil, and
six of lard, melted with gentle heat, strained while hot
through flannel, and stirred constantly while it cools. This
simple ointment is much used as a lubricant, and mild
stimulant for wounds, ulcers, blistered surfaces, and for
giving bulk and consistence to other ointments.
IV. Tar, Or. oF Tar, anD PitcH.
Tar, or Pix liquida, is a thick, viscid, brown-black, aromatic
liquid, obtained from the wood of Pinus sylvestris and other
pines by destructive distillation. Mineral or Barbados tar
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602 TAR, OIL OF TAR, AND PITCH
has already been noticed. Coal tar, obtained from the
destructive distillation of coal, is a by-product in the manu-
facture of gas. Two descriptions of wood tar are in use—
one got from hard exogens, such as oak, birch, and ash, as a.
residual product in the making of charcoal for gunpowder ;
and the other an empyreumatic variety imported from
Stockholm, Archangel, and America, is got by roasting billets.
of the roots, branches, and refuse coniferous timber stacked.
in shallow pits dug on a bank or inclined plane. This old
process is now superseded by distillation of the refuse wood
in cast-iron stills, whereby nearly double the yield of tar is.
obtained ; 14 per cent. is got from air-dried stems, 16 to 20
per cent. from roots. When wood is thus distilled the con-
densed products separate into two layers, the upper a mixture
of methyl-alcohol, pyroligneous acid, acetone, etc., in water ;
the lower wood tar.
Tar is soluble in alcohol, ether, oils, and alkaline solutions,.
but not in water, which, agitated with it, acquires, however,
its odour, taste, and brown colour, and constitutes tar water,,
once regarded as a valuable medicine. Tar consists of pyro-
ligneous acid, methyl-alcohol, creosote, and various phenols,,
with toluene, xylene, and other hydrocarbons.
Tar when distilled yields oil of tar (oleum picis liquide),
an empyreumatic acid liquid, which, although colourless when
first distilled, speedily becomes yellow or brown, and is.
soluble in alcohol. It contains the more volatile hydro-
carbons of the tar. There remains in the retorts pitch, or
pix nigra, a black, bituminous substance, solid and brittle,
with a shining fracture, dissolved by the same solvents as
tar, and consisting of modified resin, and a colourless, in-
odorous, crystalline substance, melting at 194° Fahr., called
retine (C,,H,,) (Flickiger),
Actions anp Uses.—Tar is antiseptic, stimulant, diuretic,
diaphoretic, expectorant, and parasiticide. Its active prin-
ciples being diffusible phenols, it acts not only when applied
externally, but produces most of its effects when given inter-
nally. The urine of horses receiving tar water keeps un-
changed for several days. It is still occasionally prescribed.
for horses with chronic cough and bronchitis, where the
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TAR AN ANTISEPTIC STIMULANT 603
discharges are copious. It is used both internally and exter-
nally as a cutaneous stimulant and antiseptic in the squam-
ous stages of grease and other forms of eczema, in psoriasis,
and in pityriasis, the scaly surfaces being coated daily with
undiluted tar, the dressing after several days washed off
with soft soap and water, and any refractory spots dressed
with mercurial ointment. In chronic eczema one part of
tar is usefully added to four of zinc oxide ointment. Tar
water is a popular but serviceable lotion for indolent ulcera-
tions and hemorrhoids. For thrush and canker of the
horse’s foot tar is used either alone or with copper sulphate,
sulphuric or nitric acid, and other agents.
Mixed with equal parts of fatty matters or soft soap, to
impart proper consistence, it forms an excellent stopping for
horses’ feet, keeping the hoof moist and soft. As a hoof
dressing, Mr. Miles, in his useful pamphlet on the Foot of the
Horse, recommends a quarter of a pound each of tar, bees-
wax, and honey, a pound and a half of lard, and three ounces
of glycerin ; the lard and bees-wax are melted together, the
lard, tar, and glycerin stirred in, and stirring continued until
the mass begins to set. For foot-rot in sheep, tar has the
several advantages of stimulating healthy growth of horn,
deodorising, and preventing attacks of flies. It is used
in securing wounds, binding broken horns, and making
adhesive plasters.
Oil of tar is sometimes used instead of oil of turpentine.
Its empyreumatic constituents confer antiseptic properties ;
it cures mange and scab, destroys other parasites, is some-
times added to sheep dips, but has the disadvantage of
discolouring the wool, does not mix well with the other
ingredients, while large doses or strong solutions are apt to
poison. It is applied in both varieties of ringworm, but is
seldom so successful as iodine.
Pitch is used as a mild stimulant in thrush, canker, and
sand-crack in horses; in foot-rot in sheep; and to give
adhesiveness to plasters and charges.
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604 ARECA—ARECOLINE
ARECA
ArEcH Semina. The seed of Areca Catechu. Betel-Nut.
Nat. Ord.—Palmace. (Not official.)
The catechu or betel-nut palm is a straight, slender tree,
forty or fifty feet high, growing on the Coromandel and
Malabar coasts, and throughout the warmer parts of Asia.
Within a fibrous fruit lies the hard, ovoid, red-brown seed,
of the size and appearance of a nutmeg. _ When ground, the
powder is brown, astringent, and partially soluble in hot
water and spirit. It contains besides tannin, the alkaloids,
arecoline, arecaine, arecaidine, and guvacine. Arecoline
(C,H,,NO,), the chief alkaloid, is strongly alkaline, liquid,
colourless, and volatile, soluble in water, alcohol, ether, and
chloroform. With acids it forms salts, of which the most
important is the hydrobromide.
Actions anp Usrs,—Arecoline is a powerful sialogogue, dia-
phoretic, intestinal stimulant and vermifuge. In physio-
logical actions it is allied to eserine, pilocarpine, and
pelletierine. Like eserine it contracts the pupil and
stimulates peristalsis. Exerting more energy than pilo-
carpine it stimulates the secretory nerves of glands, and
under its influence the salivary, skin, and intestinal secre-
tions are much increased. It stimulates unstriped muscle
and promotes the discharge of urine. Large doses act
on striated muscle, causing twitching and spasm, followed
by partial paralysis. Medicinal doses diminish the force
and number of the pulsations, and excessive doses paralyse
the heart. In horses respiration is increased by small doses,
while large and repeated doses lessen the activity of the
respiratory nervous centre inducing dyspneea and suffoca-
tion. Arecoline has been used with excellent results in
the treatment of acute laminitis and colic in horses and of
constipation in cattle. Its value as a remedy for laminitis
—first ascertained by Fréhner—has been well attested by
Schumacher, Paimans, Gobbels, and others. Froéhner con-
siders that it produces a true deviation of the blood and
promotes resorption of the inflammatory edema, and
Schumacher asserts that it shortens the duration of the
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ARTEMISIA 605
disease. In colic and fecal impaction it is almost as power-
ful as eserine, and stronger and more rapid than pilocarpine
though not so lasting in its effects (Veterinarian, 1896-98).
Areca nut is an astringent resembling catechu, and, when
freshly powdered, an effective vermicide, especially for dogs,
proving destructive alike to tape- and round-worms. Its
effects on horses and cattle are less satisfactory. Mr. Hanley
(Veterinarian, 1862) records the case of a greyhound bitch,
which passed in fifteen minutes, after a dose of the nut, a
tapeworm 13 yards and 2 feet long. Such rapid expulsion
of tapeworms is not, however, always attainable, and it is ©
usually desirable to conjoin with the areca Tx. to T|xv. of
male fern extract. This combination Professor Williams states
is the most effectual remedy for tapeworm in dogs. If the
parasites are not removed a second dose of the mixture
should be given two or three days later. Tenaline, a
registered liquid preparation containing the teniafuge prin-
ciples of freshly ground areca nut, is a convenient and
efficient vermicide.
Doss, etc.—Areca nut. Dogs, grs. x. to 3ij.; horses,
Ziv. to Zvi. The dose of the powder for the dog is about
2 grains for every pound of the animal’s weight (Mayhew).
It is administered in linseed oil, soup, mucilage, or milk.
Arecoline hydrobromide. Horses, gr. 3 to grs. 1};
dissolved in 160 to 190 of distilled water, and injected
subcutaneously or into the jugular vein. In laminitis the
dose is repeated daily for four or five days. In colic a single
injection may suffice. To contract the pupil a 1 per cent.
solution of the hydrobromide may be employed.
ARTEMISIA
ARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM. Wormwood. (Not official.)
Artemisia Maritima. Santonica. Nat. Ord—Composite.
SanTonin. A crystalline principle prepared from Santonica.
(B.P.)
The Artemisia are low shrubby plants, characterised by
their aroma and bitterness. They belong to the natural
order Composite, which comprises the familiar southern-
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606 SANTONIN
wood and tansy, the mildly anodyne lettuce, and the harm-
less dandelion.
The dried Artemisia absinthium contains a volatile cam-
phoraceous oil, absinthol, and a bitter extract, yielding the
neutral crystalline absinthin, which is a narcotic poison and
spinal stimulant, causing in dogs and rabbits trembling,
stupor, and epileptiform convulsions, which may prove fatal.
In medicinal doses, it is an aromatic bitter tonic, and a
popular remedy for worms. It is the chief active constituent
of the liqueur absinthe.
Santonin. The wunexpanded minute flower-heads of
Artemisia maritima contain a volatile oil, a resin, and
about two per cent. of a crystalline neutral principle, san-
tonin (C,,;H,,0,). It is almost insoluble in cold water,
soluble in four parts chloroform, in boiling alcohol, fixed oils,
and alkaline solutions, and hence in the intestinal juices.
It is rendered yellow by sunlight, and gives a violet colour
when added to a warm alcoholic solution of potassium. It
imparts a blood-red colour to the urine. Large doses cause
in dogs giddiness, vomiting, and convulsions. It is a vermi-
cide, without effect on tanize, but destructive to round and
thread worms—given for the former by the mouth, for the
latter by enemata, and most active when combined with castor
oil. It is less effective in horses than in pigs and dogs, for
which the dose is 3 to 10 grains, conjoined with aloes or jalap.
Half an ounce mixed with the food serves as a vermicide for
fifteen young pigs. As in human practice, it is effectual in
checking incontinence of urine in young patients, for this
purpose being equal to belladonna and superior to nux-
vomica. The B.P. santonin lozenge containing 1 grain of
the drug, forms a very convenient worm medicine for some
canine patients.
Santoninoxim is derived from santonin, for which it is
sometimes substituted, as larger doses may be given without
much risk of paisoning. It is said to kill the worms outright.
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STA VESACRE—CUSSO 607
STAVESACRE SHEDS
STAPHISAGRIE Semina. The dried ripe seeds of Delphinium
Staphisagria (B.P.). Mat. Ord.—Ranunculacee.
Stavesacre, or larkspur, is a stout biennial herb, two to
four feet high, growing throughout the south of Europe.
Its officinal oily seeds are brown, wrinkled, irregularly
triangular, about a quarter of an inch long and scarcely so
broad, and have a bitter, acrid, and nauseous taste. They
contain about one per cent. of several alkaloids, soluble in
ether and acetic acid, the most important being delphinine,
which resembles aconitine and veratrine, slows the pulse and.
respiration, and paralyses the spinal cord; and staphis-
agrine, resembling curare, paralysing the motor nerves and
arresting respiration.
Actions anp Usss.—The seeds are used for the destruction
of lice, and hence have been popularly termed louse seeds.
Their action is also exerted on the acari of mange and scab.
For such purposes one part of bruised seeds is boiled for two
hours with twenty to thirty parts of water, making up the
water to the quantity originally used. Such a solution
rubbed into the skin not only kills pediculi, but also destroys
their eggs. Ointments and liniments are made with one part
of powdered seeds heated with six or eight of vaseline or oil.
Strong preparations too freely applied, absorbed from denuded
surfaces or licked, as they are apt to be by dogs, are liable to
nauseate and prostrate. Occasionally they are conjoined
with sulphur and tar.
CUSSO
Kousso. Brayera. The dried pannicles of pistillate
flowers of Brayera anthelmintica (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—
Rosacez.
Kousso consists of bundles, rolls, or clusters of pannicles of
small reddish-brown flowers. Its active principle is koussin—
a neutral crystalline glucoside, with a bitter taste, insoluble
in water, but soluble in alcohol and alkaline solutions. It
also contains resin, gum, tannic acid, and a volatile oil.
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608 MALE FERN
Actions anp Uses.—It narcotises and kills intestinal
worms, and in fasting dogs, two consecutive doses, given with
an interval of two hours, and followed by a purgative, bring
away tape-worms. Although it scarcely causes catharsis,
full doses nauseate dogs and cats, and sometimes excite colic.
Doses—sheep, 3jv. to 3j.; lambs, grs. Ixxx. to gers. cl.;
dogs, according to their size, take grs. xl. to to Ziij., usually
given in infusion, most effectually used unstrained, sweetened
with honey or treacle, and the taste veiled by a little
peppermint water. Koussin is occasionally given to dogs in
doses of grs. v. to grs, xx.
MALE FERN
Firix Mas. The rhizome of Aspidium Filix-mas. Collected
late in the autumn, divested of its roots, leaves, and dead
portions, and carefully dried. Should not be kept more
than a year (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Fikcine.
The male fern grows wild throughout most temperate
regions, on the sides of roads and in open woods, especially
where the soil is light. Its root stock is perennial, about a
foot long and two inches thick; is scaly, tufted, greenish-
brown, and firmly fixed in the ground by numerous black
root fibres. The dried root has a disagreeable odour, and a
sweet, astringent, nauseous taste. Besides the usual plant
constituents, it contains about 4 per cent. of resin, 6 of a
green fixed oil, a small amount of volatile oil, with 8 per
cent. of the crystalline filicic acid (C,,H,,0,), which is its
most active constituent. The root is preserved in stoppered
bottles, and the supply renewed annually. Deterioration
from keeping, and the substitution of the roots of inactive
ferns, in great part explain the depreciatory accounts
sometimes given of its efficacy. The green parts are most
active, and should alone be used.
Actions anp Uses.—Male fern is irritant, vermicide,
laxative, and in large doses causes hemorrhagic gastro-
enteritis. It is one of the most effectual remedies for tape-
worm, especially in dogs, and Kuchenmeister considers it
quite as poisonous to the genus Bothriocephalus. Dr. John
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EU PHORBIUM 609
Harley believes that, like ergot, it stimulates the involuntary
muscular fibres of any hollow viscus in which it is placed,
and thus explains the vomiting and intestinal peristalsis
which full doses produce when swallowed, and the contrac-
tions induced when it is injected into the urinary bladder.
Professor Fréhner made various experiments with the
ethereal extract. He poisoned a small dog with Tl xxx., a
dog of 40 lbs. with f3v., a sheep of 88 lbs. with f3vi, a cow
of 660 lbs. with about f3iij.
Doszs, etc.—The powdered male fern rhizome is given to
horses and cattle in doses of Ziv. to 3vi.; sheep, 3j. to Ziv.;
dogs and cats, Zi. to Zii. But the powder is inconveniently
bulky, and less certain than the BP. ethereal or liquid
extract. The dose of the extract for horses or cattle is £3ij.
to {3vi.; for sheep and pigs, fJi. to {Hij.; for dogs or cats, Tx.
to {3j. It is given sometimes with half a dose of turpentine
in a little oil, milk, or gruel, flavoured with ginger or pepper-
mint, when the bowels have been emptied by a laxative and
several hours’ fasting. Professor Williams states that the
extract, with half a dose of areca-nut, constitutes the most
effectual remedy for tape-worm in dogs. If the parasite is
not expelled, the medicine may be repeated in three days.
Kaufmann recommends doses to be given in the morning, at
noon, and at night. The worms narcotised, relinquish their
hold, and are swept out by a laxative, administered a few
hours after the last dose of extract.
EUPHORBIUM
An acrid resin obtained from Euphorbia resinifera (Berg.).
Nat. Ord.—Euphorbiacez. (Not official.)
The Euphorbiacez include the shrubs yielding croton and
castor oil, the Brazilian tree producing danda or assu juice,
and cascarilla bark. The cactus-like plants yielding medi-
cinal euphorbium grow in the kingdom of Morocco and in
the region skirting the Atlas range. From incisions made
into their angular, jointed, prickly stems and branches, an
acrid, milky, resinous juice exudes, and concretes in irregular,
2Q
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610 HELLEBORE
dull-yellow tears, which are gathered in September, are
about the size of large peas, often hollow, and perforated
with little holes. Euphorbium has an acrid, persistent taste,
is without odour, but is so irritant that a mere trace of the
powder in contact with the nostrils provokes immediate
violent sneezing. The powder is grey, and insoluble in water ;
but its active resinous principle dissolves in alcohol, ether,
and oil of turpentine. When heated it melts, swells up, and
burns with a pale flame and an agreeable odour. It contains
38 per cent. of an amorphous, acrid resin (C,,H,,0,), 22 of
the colourless, tasteless euphorbon, allied to lactucerin, a
constituent of lettuce (Fliickiger and Hanbury).
Actions anp Uses.—Euphorbium is an energetic irritant,
vesicant, and pustulant. Introduced into the stomach or
areolar tissues, rubbed into the skin, or inhaled into the
nostrils, it causes violent and sometimes fatal inflammation.
Two ounces given internally caused fatal gastro-enteritis in a
horse; four drachms retained in the stomach of a large dog
had the like effect in twenty-six hours (Orfila). So intensely
irritating is euphorbium, that the workmen employed in
grinding it, although wearing masks or handkerchiefs over
their faces, often suffer severely from headache, inflamma-
tion of the eyes, and sometimes even delirium.
It is occasionally added to blisters, but the ordinary
ointment made with fatty matters is apt, especially in
horses and dogs, to inflame the deeper layers of the skin,
destroy the hair roots, and induce sloughing and blemishing.
Kaufmann states that a tincture containing one part to
sixteen of spirit may, however, be used as an energetic
vesicant for horses without injuring the hair roots. Unlike
cantharides, it has no tendency to act on the kidneys.
HELLEBORE
Biack HELLeBore. Dried rhizome and rootlets of Helleborus
niger, Nat. Ord.—Ranunculacee. (Not official.)
The Helleborus niger, Christmas rose, or bear’s foot, is
cultivated in this country, and is indigenous to many parts of
Continental Europe; the chief supplies come from Germany.
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KAMALA 611
It has a perennial, black, knotted, scaly rhizome, one to
three inches long and scarcely half an inch thick, from which
descend numerous dark-coloured rootlets, having a faint,
unpleasant odour, and an acrid, bitter taste. The plant
generally is acrid, but the rhizome and rootlets are most
active. The rhizomes of Helleborus viridis and fcetidus,
often mixed with those of the niger, are very similar in
action. Hellebore contains a bitter, neutral, non-volatile,
irritant glucoside, helleborin (C,,H,,O,); a slightly acid,
irritant glucoside, helleborein (C,,H,,0,,); other crystalline
principles, and an organic acid, probably equisetic (Fliickiger).
Actions anp Usts.—Black hellebore is an acrid irritant,
but scarcely so active as veratrum album, or white hellebore.
It is emetic, drastic purgative, anthelmintic, and parasiticide.
Full doses produce in all animals gastro-enteritis, with cardiac
depression. Two drachms swallowed by a medium-sized dog
killed him in a few hours, and smaller quantities have proved
fatal in a shorter time when applied to wounds (Christison).
Two or three drachms produce in horses colic and enteritis ;
two or three ounces cause death in forty to fifty hours;
one to three drachms induce similar effects among sheep
and goats (Hertwig). It is not prescribed in regular practice.
Even as a constituent of blistering ointments, it must be
used with caution, as it is liable to act with unexpected
violence. An ounce of powdered hellebore and two ounces
of alum, dissolved in a gallon of hot water, are used to
destroy caterpillars infesting gooseberry, rose, or other trees.
KAMALA
A powder consisting of the minute glands and hairs obtained
from the surface of the fruits of Mallotus philippinensis.
Nat. Ord.—Euphorbiacee. (Not official.)
The granular, brick-red, resinous powder, which constitutes
kamala, is obtained from the capsules of an evergreen small
tree indigenous to Australia, India, and Abyssinia. It yields
an active yellow crystalline substance—rottlerin.
Actions anp Uses.—It is a drastic purgative and vermi-
cide. For the destruction of tape-worm it is nearly as active
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612 ERGOT OF RYE
ag areca-nut and male shield fern. The dose for a dog is
3ss. to 3i., administered in thick gruel, treacle, or linseed oil.
ERGOT OF RYE
Ercora. Spurred or Horned Rye. Ergot. The sclerotium
of Claviceps purpurea, originating in the ovary of Secale
cereale (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Graminacer.
Ergot attacks not only rye, but the other Graminaces, the
Cyperacez, and palms. The earliest symptoms occur about
the time of blooming, when the ears of the rye exhibit drops
of yellow, sweet, fungous slime, called honey-dew, which
attracts ants and beetles, and which after a few days dries
up. The soft ovaries of the grains attacked are meanwhile
covered and filled by white, spongy, felted-together cells—the
mycelium (or spawn) of the Claviceps purpurea. The grain is
disintegrated ; at its base the mycelium cells separate, swell,
solidify, and form a compact, dark violet body, which, as it
grows in a curved, horn-like shape, protrudes from the pales,
and constitutes the ergot. The further history of this
biennial fungus, investigated by Tulasne, shows that it
reaches its fully-developed sclerotium or ergot state in July;
it should be gathered in August or September, before any
putrefaction appears; it usually remains in a quiescent state
during winter; on moist mould, in March or April, it pro-
duces fruit heads of the perfect fungus, the Claviceps
purpurea, which, after a few weeks, is again ready to distri-
bute its earlier spores. Close, damp weather and undrained
soils favour development and distribution of these ergot
spores as of other fungi. The injury done to the rye crop
by ergot varies much; sometimes only a few grains in each
head are diseased, sometimes scarcely one is altogether
sound; five to ten on an average are affected. It abounds
both in grain and grasses in various parts of the United
States of America, where it is stated that as much as 1 lb.
has been got from 100 lbs. of hay. It should be collected
before the plants are cut.
Properties.—Ergot of rye is cylindrical, or somewhat
triangular, curved, resembling a cock’s spur tapering towards
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STIMULATES AND CONTRACTS MUSCULAR FIBRE 613
the ends; it varies in length from one-third of an inch to
an inch and a half, and in breadth from one to four lines;
is marked by a longitudinal furrow on each side, often
irregularly cracked; has at one end a pale-grey, fragile
excrescence, the shrivelled remains of the style, and is covered
by the grey, powdery conidia or spores. It is dark violet-
black externally and pinkish-white within. Its odour is
peculiar and disagreeable; its taste, at first sweet, becomes
bitter and slightly acrid. When dry it is inflammable, hard,
and brittle; when moist, or long exposed, it becomes soft,
darker in colour, and covered with acari. Its structure is
made up of felted thread-like cells, amidst which lie drops
of oil. Ergot should be free from mustiness ; it deteriorates
by keeping, and by exposure to damp (B.P.). Infused in
boiling water, it forms a claret-coloured solution, retaining
the odour, taste, and actions of ergot.
Ergot consists of about 30 per cent. of a non-drying fixed
oil, which has no special action; a peculiar sugar termed
mycose; lactic, acetic, and formic acids; colouring matters ;
and, according to Kobert, of Strasburg, three active principles
—an alkaloid, cornutine, and sphacelinic and ergotinic
acids. Another base, ergotinin, has been described; but is
inert. Amine and ammonia bases are formed normally, and
are also produced by decomposition.
Actions anp Uses.—Ergot, cornutine, and sphacelinic acid
stimulate and contract involuntary muscular fibre, and
hence diminish the blood-stream passing through the
arterioles. Large or continued doses thus produce ergotism.
Medicinal doses are given to contract the uterus, and also
the blood-vessels in cases of hemorrhage.
Genera Actions.—The physiological effects of the three
active principles of ergot are thus described by Dr. Lauder
Brunton :—
Cornutine causes spastic rigidity in frogs, lasting many
days, even when given in very minute doses (,, of a milli-
gramme). In warm-blooded animals half a milligramme
causes salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, and active movements
of the uterus, which are clonic and not tonic. The vessels
are contracted and blood-pressure raised.
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614 ERGOTISM
Sphacelinic acid causes at first great spasmodic contrac-
tion of the blood-vessels, with rise of blood-pressure, and
subsequently gangrene. The heart is unaffected. Tetanus
of the uterus is produced. Cornutine and sphacelinic acid
are evidently the principles which cause uterine contraction
(Kobert).
Ergotinic acid causes ascending paralysis of the spinal
cord and brain both in frogs and mammals, with loss of
voluntary motion, paralysis of the vaso-motor centre, and
fall of blood-pressure, while respiration and reflex irritability
continue. It does not appear to have the power of increasing
uterine contractions, and hence cannot be regarded as the
most important constituent of ergot.
The fresh extract, injected into animals, causes inco-
ordination, cutaneous anemia, anesthesia, and paralysis,
and in large doses death due to paralysis of respiration.
The voluntary muscles are unaffected ; the motor nerves are
not paralysed, but, on the contrary, have their power some-
what increased; the sensory nerves are paralysed; but it is
uncertain whether this action is central or peripheral. The
spinal cord is paralysed (Brunton). The action of the heart
is weakened; the pulse-rate slowed. Blood-pressure is first
lowered and then raised. Respiration in dogs is first
quickened, but in most animals it is slowed from the
beginning. All unstriped muscular fibre is contracted ;
the calibre of blood-vessels is hence diminished, as may be
readily seen in the web of the frog’s foot; the iris is
contracted ; intestinal peristalsis is increased; the urinary
bladder is emptied, and the contents of the pregnant uterus
expelled. The contractions of the uterus are continuous
and tetanic, are usually produced in fifteen or twenty
minutes, and last about an hour. They result mainly from
general contraction of unstriped muscular fibre, but are
also believed to be in part determined by stimulation of the
uterine centre in the spinal cord.
Ergot, given experimentally in large or continued doses,
or the protracted use of ergoted grain, causes ergotism,
which is characterised by gastro-intestinal derangement,
nausea, diarrhea and vomiting in animals capable of emesis,
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CHRONIC POISONING 615
and from the impaired circulation and nutrition affecting
different areas, subsequently assumes two forms—(1) dry
gangrene, chiefly involving the extremities, ears, and tail;
(2) inco-ordinate spasms, and sometimes epileptiform con-
vulsions. This latter form is believed to result from irritation
and paralysis of the sensory centres of the spinal cord.
Ergot of rye, resembles maize ergot—a fungus occurring
on Indian corn, recognised by the U.S.A. Phar., and probably
containing the same active principles as ergot. Savin and
thuja also cause uterine contractions. Digitalis and its
analogues contract the involuntary fibres of arterioles.
The physiological antagonists of ergot are ethers and
amyl-nitrite.
Toxic Errrecrs are not so marked on horses, cattle, sheep,
and rabbits as on men and dogs. Thirty cows amongst
them took daily with impunity 37 lbs. for three months;
two milk cows had between them 9 lbs. daily, with no
further evil effect than that the butter was badly tasted.
Twenty sheep amongst them ate daily for four weeks 9 lbs.
without injury (Phebus and Pereira). Dogs receiving six
to twelve drachms suffered from vomiting, tenesmus, pro-
stration of muscular power, enfeebled pulse, convulsive
twitchings, spasms, and coma (Tabourin). Three ounces
proved fatal to a terrier bitch in twenty hours.
Chronic poisoning occurs especially in patients placed in
unfavourable sanitary surroundings. Dr. Samuel Wright
(Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vols. lii., liii.,
and liv.) found that ergot, given for several weeks to dogs
and rabbits, caused nausea, impaired appetite, a weak,
irregular pulse, soon becoming intermittent, diarrhea;
excessive foetor of the secretions and excretions, paralysis,
particularly of the hind extremities, enlargement of the
liver, contraction of the spleen, impairment of the special
senses, wasting, and general debility. Gangrene of the
extremities is not, however, produced so readily as in man.
Dogs, cats, and rabbits showed great aversion to it, even
when it was mixed with sound grain, or considerably diluted
with water; and, although pressed by hunger, would scarcely
eat it of their own accord. Ergot of maize, according to
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616 ERGOT AN ECBOLIC
Roulin, is common in Columbia, and its continued use is
stated to cause shedding of the hair, and even of the teeth,
both of man and beast. Mules freely fed on it lose their
hoofs, and fowls lay eggs without shells.
Abortion attributed to ergoted grasses occurs amongst
cows, ewes, and deer in many grass districts of England and
Ireland, especially in wet seasons. The hay from pastures
subject to ergot is seldom, however, so injurious as the
grass, for it is generally cut before the fungus is matured.
Cows abort from this cause more frequently than ewes or
deer; for they are more prone to eat the coarser, longer
ergoted grasses, and, moreover, are often pregnant in the
later months of summer, when ergot occurs. Experi-
mentally, abortion has been produced in guinea-pigs, sows,
bitches, cats, cows, and ewes, rabbits, and poultry (Stillé,
Therapeutics). Youatt declared that he had never known
ergot fail in its action on the pregnant uterus either of
monogastrics or ruminants. The negative results obtained
by some experimenters may be explained by their having
used ergot which had been too long kept.
Mepicinaz Uses.—As a parturient, ergot is seldom needed
in the lower animals. The foal or calf, coming naturally at
the full period, if assistance is requisite, is generally brought
away by judicious traction. It is sometimes useful in
uterine inertia, where the throes are languid and occurring
at long intervals, where the animal has been in labour for
some considerable time, where no obstruction is present,
and where the os uteri is considerably dilated. It is un-
suitable where there is malformation either of the mother
or foetus, where the position of the foetus prevents its ready
expulsion, and sometimes also in first pregnancies, where the
uterus, roused to continuous tetanic contractions, is more
liable to be injured or torn. After parturition, if the uterus
remain flaccid, and especially if hemorrhage occur, as
occasionally happens both in cows and ewes, ergot effectually
contracts the organ, and thus arrests the bleeding. In such
cases it may be given by the mouth, or, where prompt
effects are sought, it is injected subcutaneously, or into the
-substance of a muscle. It is sometimes prescribed to remove
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SAVIN 617
uterine cysts and hasten expulsion of the foetal membranes,
which in the lower animals may usually, however, be readily
removed by the hand. Given either by the mouth or injec-
tion, it is useful in all animals in hemoptysis, and sometimes
in hematemesis and other hemorrhages. It is of no avail in
purpura. Professor Robertson recommended it in cerebro-
spinal meningitis in horses; and several practitioners have
tried it, but without much success, in parturient apoplexy
in cows. The reduction of fibroid and other tumours has
sometimes been effected by injecting them with ergot.
In addition to the powdered drug the following official
preparations are used:—Extractum Ergot (Ergotin); Ex-
tractum Ergote Liquidum; Infusum Ergotz (1 to 20 of
boiling water); Tinctura Ergotzee Ammoniata; and Injectio
Ergotz Hypodermica (made with ergot-extract).
Doses, etc.—Ergot freshly powdered, as an ecbolic for the
mare or cow, 3ss. to Z1j.; for sheep about 3ij.; for swine and
bitches Jss. to 3j.; Extract of Ergot (Ergotin), horses and
cattle, grs. xxx. to grs. lxxx.; dogs, grs. v. to grs. x.; in drench
or electuary, and repeated as may be required. The liquid
extract may be prescribed for horses and cattle in doses of
TLlx. to 3ij; for dogs Mx. to Mxxx. Of the tincture horses
and cattle may be given Ziv. to Zj. or more. The B.P. hypo-
dermic injection of ergot contains 33 grains of the extract
in 110 minims. For the mare or cow the dose is M60 to
TL100 injected subcutaneously or into the substance of the
gluteal muscles. The smaller dose should first be tried.
SAVIN
Sapinaz Cacumina. Fresh and dried tops of Juniperus
Sabina, collected in spring from plants cultivated in
Britain. Nat. Ord.—Coniferee. (Not official.)
Juniperus Sabina is an evergreen shrub, common through-
out Middle and Southern Europe, and cultivated in this
country. The tops or young branches, with their attached
leaves, when fresh are green, but become yellow when kept;
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618 SAVIN
have a strong, heavy, disagreeable odour, and a bitter, acrid,
resinous taste. They communicate their properties to water,
spirit, and the fixed oils, and owe their activity to about
three per cent. of a colourless or pale yellow volatile oil,
prepared from the fresh tops by distillation, isomeric with
oil of turpentine (C,,H,,), and associated, as constantly
occurs in plants, with a more oxidised oil (C,,H,,O). From
the berries ten per cent. of these oils is said to be obtained
(Phillips).
Actions and Uses.—Savin is a topical irritant, antiseptic,
rubefacient and vesicant. Administered internally, moderate
doses are anthelmintic, and diuretic; they increase appetite,
promote digestion, and stimulate the urino-genital organs.
Large doses produce gastro-enteritis. Excretion occurs by
the skin, pulmonary membrane, and kidneys. Savin re-
sembles the turpentine yielding conifers, and especially the
other junipers.
Toxic Errects.—Hertwig gave horses half a pound twice
daily for six or eight days without effect; Professor Sick
administered small doses for half a year without notable
symptoms; but these observations probably underrate its
activity. Mr. Rose records the poisoning of five horses, of
which one died immediately, and two after five days; the
others recovered, after suffering from diarrhcea, intense thirst,
quickened pulse and breathing, with great prostration
(Veterinary Record, 1850). Two drachms kill rabbits in
a few hours, producing extreme congestion of the intestines,
kidneys, and bladder. Orfila records that four drachms
destroyed dogs in thirteen hours, when the gullet was tied
to prevent vomiting; and similar effects followed when
powdered savin was applied to a wound or introduced under
the skin. Vomiting, purging, gastro-intestinal inflamma-
tion, and collapse were produced. The kidneys and bladder
were irritated, usually causing copious discharge of bloody
urine.
The uterus is also irritated, and savin has been ignorantly
used to produce abortion and hasten parturition. Two cases
of abortion in mares heavy in foal are recorded in the
Veterinarian for 1855. In these cases the continued use
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COLCHICUM 619
of savin destroyed both foals, and, being still persevered with,
caused their expulsion apparently ten or twelve days later.
Mepiciwat Usrs.—Savin cannot be safely used to produce
abortion or hasten parturition. Unlike ergot, it does not
directly contract the muscular fibres of the uterus. It
stimulates the uterus, and expels its contents only as a
result of irritation of the intestines and urinary organs. It
is occasionally used chopped with fodder for the destruction
of intestinal worms; but other remedies are safer and more
certain. If used at all, the best form is the essential oil.
Infusions of the tops in an alkaline ley, and the essential oil,
are occasionally applied as antiseptics and stimulants to
warts and indolent wounds.
Doses, etc.—Of the volatile oil as an anthelmintic—the
only purpose for which savin is administered—horses or
cattle, £Hilj. to £Ziv; dogs, Mii. to Mv. dissolved in any mild
fixed oil or in mucilage. For external application, infusions
and ointments are used. Equal parts of savin and verdigris
ointments form a popular stimulant dressing for foot-rot in
sheep. An infusion, one of savin to one hundred of water,
is sometimes injected into the uterus to promote expulsion
of retained foetal membranes.
COLCHICUM
Concuicrt Cormus. Colchicum Corm. The fresh corm of
Colchicum autumnale. Meadow Saffron. Collected in
early summer; and the same, stripped of its coats,
sliced transversely, and dried at a temperature not
exceeding 150° Fahr.
Coxcuict SEmiInsa. The dried, ripe seeds of C. autumnale
(B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Colchicacee.
The meadow saffron grows wild throughout Middle and
Southern Europe, and on English lawns and coarse, wet
pastures, in mild, moist localities, and is cultivated in gardens.
It has an annual stem; lilac or purple flowers, numerous
round, red-brown, bitter, acrid seeds about the size of millet;
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620 COLCHICUM
and a bulbous root, which when about a year old, reaches
the size of a walnut, and matures in July.
The corms are used both fresh and dried. Dried slices are
kidney-shaped, about one and a half inch long, and an inch
broad, are greyish-white, dry, firm, and starchy, with a bitter,
acrid taste. They yield their active principles to alcohol
and vinegar. They contain about 70 per cent. of water, and
18 of starch and gum, with ~,th of 1 per cent. of a bitter,
erystallisable, poisonous alkaloid, colchicine (C,,H,,NO,). It
is conjoined with gallic acid, is present in other parts of the
plant, and is nearly a hundred times more active than the
fresh bulbs. Soluble in water and alcohol, slightly soluble
in glycerin; with acids, forms crystalline salts. Sulphuric
acid colours it yellow-brown, nitric acid dyes it violet, passing
through various hues to yellow. The corms also contain
traces of the allied alkaloid veratrine.
Actions anp Uses.—Colchicum irritates most textures with
which it comes into contact. Large doses are gastro-
intestinal irritants and cardiac depressants. Medicinal doses
are emetic, cathartic, and cholagogue. Its diuretic and
diaphoretic actions are uncertain. It resembles Veratrum
album, V. viride, and cevadilla.
Toxic Errects.—The corm, whether used green or dry, the
seed, any active preparation, and still more notably colchicine,
are in-contact irritants. Owing to the active principle
being slightly soluble they have little action on the sound
skin. When swallowed, a sense of acridity is produced in
the mouth and throat, and the flow of saliva is increased.
Passing into the stomach and bowels they cause colic,
tenesmus, and diarrhcea, and in carnivora nausea and vomit-
ing. Absorption, however, is slow. The gastro-intestinal
irritation is succeeded by cardiac depression, resembling that
caused by veratrine and aconite, while full or frequently
repeated doses induce collapse. The brain, motor nerves,
and muscles are unaffected; the spinal cord and sensory
nerves are paralysed.
Mr. Broad in the Veterinarian, 1856, records two cases of
horses dying from eating with their hay the stalks, leaves,
and seeds of colchicum. Colic, tympanites, and great dulness
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AN IN-CONTACT IRRITANT 621
supervened, with death in twenty-four hours, and on post-
mortem examination ‘inflammation and patches of erosion’
were found in the mucous membrane of the stomach. Mr.
Broad also mentions the poisoning of eight two-year-old in-
calf heifers, which suffered from hoven, purging, feeble pulse
and coma. Three died in about twenty hours, and the
mucous ‘membrane of the stomachs exhibited patches of
inflammation and erosion.
M. Barry (Recueil de Médicine Vétérinaire, 1862) records
the case of a cow and heifer in Aisne, which ate some cut
grass containing a considerable amount of meadow saffron.
In a few hours they had violent colic, profuse and bloody
diarrhoea, tenderness of the abdomen, coldness of the surface,
and prostration, The cow recovered; the heifer died from
irritation and exhaustion in three days. A number of cows
ate small quantities of colchicum, suffered from colic and
diarrhoea, but recovered when treated with emollient
drenches and mild saline mixtures. Three cattle having
eaten colchicum are reported (Veterinarian, 1864) to have
suffered from dulness, stupor, grinding of the teeth, dilated
pupils, imperceptible pulse, relaxed bowels, cold extremities,
and thirst, but no griping pains, or quickened breathing.
They were successfully treated by laxatives and stimulants.
Dogs and cats are more susceptible than horses or
ruminants. Two drachms of the dried bulb caused in dogs
vomiting, bloody evacuations, diuresis, tremors of the limbs,
depression of the heart action, and death in five hours. A
tenth of a grain of colchicine given to a cat occasioned saliva-
tion, vomiting, purging, staggering, extreme languor, colic,
and death in twelve hours. Rabbits, as well as frogs and
other cold-blooded animals, are stated to be less susceptible
to the drug.
As antidotes the stomach must be emptied; full doses of
tannin form an insoluble compound with the colchicine;
white of egg and other demulcents are freely given, and
stimulants if there be collapse.
Mepicinat Usts.—The fresh corm given in large doses by
Professor Rutherford to fasting dogs, and its expulsion by
vomiting prevented, increased secretion of bile, and also
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622 CAMPHOR
purged powerfully. But action on the liver and gastro-
intestinal membrane is more safely effected by other
medicines. Small doses, conjoined with alkalies or salines,
are occasionally given to horses in rheumatism and influ-
enza, especially in subacute cases in which the inflammation
appears to move from joint to joint. Foreign authorities
prescribe it in constitutional ophthalmia. Professor Williams
has used it, conjoined with potassium iodide, in pleurisy, in
rheumatic pericarditis, and sometimes in pneumonia when
the kidneys were torpid. It is excreted in great part by the
kidneys, and when not quickly removed by the bowels it
increases, alike in health and disease, both the organic and
inorganic constituents of the urine.
Doses, etc.—The powdered corm or seed as a diuretic for
horses, 3ss. to 3j.; for cattle, 3j. to 31j.; for sheep, grs. x. to
grs. xxv.; for dogs and pigs, grs. ij. to grs. viij., given with
salines. A convenient solution is made with one part of
colchicum, six or eight of vinegar, and a little spirit. Col-
chicine dissolved in 100 parts of water and alcohol may be
given hypodermically or intratracheally in doses of gr. i. to
gr. ij. to horses, and gr. 1th to gr. 4th to dogs. The tincture
is made with four ounces of colchicum seeds to the pint of
alcohol (45 per cent).
CAMPHOR
CampHora. A white crystalline substance obtained from
Cinnamomum camphora, purified by sublimation
(B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Laurinee.
The camphor laurel is a tall, handsome evergreen,
cultivated in Japan and China, and in many European
conservatories. Its wood and leaves evolve a characteristic
odour when bruised, and yield about =4,th of their weight of
camphor, which is sometimes extracted by dry distillation.
In Formosa, whence comes most of the camphor imported
to this country, the branches are cut into chips and boiled
with water in wooden troughs; along with the steam the
volatile camphor rises and condenses in earthen pots placed
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ANTISEPTIC, STIMULANT, AND ANALGESIC 623
over the troughs, and on reaching this country is purified by
mixing with a little charcoal, sand, lime, and iron filings,
and re-subliming.
Properties.—Camphor occurs in solid, colourless, trans-
parent, crystalline pieces, of tough consistence; also in
rectangular tablets or pulverulent masses known as ‘flowers
of camphor’ (B.P.). It has a bitter, pungent, cooling taste,
and a strong, peculiar, aromatic odour. It floats on water,
its specific gravity, varying with the temperature, is about
0995. Exposed to the air, it volatilises; heated, it sublimes
without residue, and burns readily with a bright but smoky
flame. It is dificult to powder, unless when mixed with
alcohol, ether, or chloroform. It dissolves readily in ether,
in about its own weight of rectified spirit, in one-fourth part
of chloroform, four parts olive oil, two parts oil of turpentine,
eight times its weight of milk, and in 700 times its weight of
water. Camphor (C,,H,,O) is an oxide of terpene (C,,H,,)—
the chief constituent of oil of turpentine, chamomile, carda-
moms, cloves, hops, juniper, savin, or valerian. Associated
with the terpene in these oils is an oxidised product or
stearoptine corresponding with the colophony of turpentine.
Continuously heated with nitric acid, camphor oxidises, and
is converted into camphoric acid (C,,H,,0,). Triturated
with chloral hydrate, menthol, phenol, or thymol, it forms
a liquid.
Borneo camphor (C,,H,,O) is an alcohol derived from the
wood of Dryobalanops aromatica, and is distinguished from
laurel camphor by its softness, friability, and opacity, its
higher density, and its somewhat alliaceous odour. From
Borneo, Formosa and other parts of China, fluid camphor
oils are obtained from several different trees. Artificial
camphor (C,,H,,HCL) is got by the action of hydrochloric acid
on oil of turpentine. Camphora monobromata (C,,H,,BrO)
resembles bromine rather than camphor in its actions, is
sometimes used instead of the bromides, but is not so
efficient.
Actions and Usts.—The camphors in large doses are
irritant and narcotic. Medicinal doses are antiseptic,
stimulant, antispasmodic, anodyne, aphrodisiac, and dia-
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624 CAMPHOR
phoretic. Externally, they are occasionally employed as
antiseptics, parasiticides, counter - irritants, and to relieve
itching in various skin diseases.
Genera, and Toxic Errecrs—The camphors, physiologi-
cally, are volatile oils. Like other bodies of the group they
are topical irritants, and large doses stimulate and sub-
sequently narcotise the central nervous system. They
frequently produce convulsions. Those which contain the
most hydrogen, as the Borneo, the monobromata, as well
as menthol (C,,H,,0), are least convulsant. In fine powder
or solution they are quickly absorbed; are oxidised in great
part into camphoric acid; stimulate the brain, spinal cord,
heart, and respiratory functions: and are excreted by the
skin and bronchial membrane, and in less amount by the
kidneys (Bartholow). Moiroud records that two ounces pro-
duced in horses convulsive movements and acceleration of
the pulse, unaccompanied, however, by fatal results. Hert-
wig mentions that two to four ounces given to horses and
cattle, two to four drachms to sheep, and one to three drachms
to dogs, accelerate respiration and pulsation, communicate
a camphoraceous odour to the breath, heighten sensibility,
and occasionally induce convulsions. Dogs, besides, exhibit
imperfect power of controlling the movements of their limbs,
and when the doses amount to three or four drachms in-
sensibility and death ensue. The vapour of cainphor destroys
fleas, bugs, moths, and spiders, exciting, enfeebling, and
stupefying them. It has considerable antiseptic power.
Koch found that one part to 2500 of water hindered
development of anthrax bacilli.
Mepiciva, Uses.—Camphor is a nervine stimulant, and
hence usefully controls reflex excitability in gastro-intestinal,
respiratory, urino-genital, and cutaneous irritability. It is
used, especially in young animals, as a gastric stimulant
and antiseptic. In diarrhea it is given with aromatics
and a few drops of hydrochloric acid, or with ether and
laudanum. Professor Robertson prescribed it with opium
in enteritis in horses. Many veterinarians give it freely in
catarrhal cases presenting increased secretion and dyspnea,
conjoining it with salines, ammonia salts, or belladonna.
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A NERVE AND GASTRIC STIMULANT 625
In chronic bronchitis in horses, Professor Robertson pre-
scribed it with squill, and in convalescence from catarrhal
complaints used a bolus consisting of a drachm each of
camphor, gentian, ginger, and myrrh. For influenza and
other exhausting diseases, whether in horses or cattle, a
stimulating draught is often made with two drachms each
of camphor and ammonium carbonate, and an ounce of
ether, given in ale or cold gruel. Sore-throat and irritable,
spasmodic cough are relieved by placing on the tongue, at
intervals of two or three hours, or as required, an electuary
made with equal parts of belladonna extract, borax, and
camphor, reduced to a paste with ammonium acetate solu-
tion, and mixed with eight or ten parts of honey or treacle.
Small doses prescribed with belladonna lessen urino-genital
irritability, resulting from cantharides or other causes. Its
aphrodisiac effects are not very notable in veterinary patients.
It does not, as has been popularly believed, diminish the
lacteal secretion.
For dogs, a mixture containing grs. v. each of camphor
and belladonna extract, with f3j. of ammonium acetate solu-
tion, in two ounces of water, is prescribed to relieve cough
and bronchial irritation. Professor Williams recommends
camphor and sweet spirit of nitre for allaying the restless-
ness and convulsions of chorea.
Externally, it is applied either in oil, or weak spirituous solu-
tion, to allay itching inchroniceczemaand urticaria. Dissolved
in oil or mixed with vaseline, it is used to destroy skin parasites,
and to prevent attacksof flies. It is aconstituentof soap,opium,
belladonna, chloroform, turpentine, and other liniments.
Aqua Camphore is made with 70 grains of camphor
dissolved in four drachms of alcohol (90 per cent.), and
added to one gallon of water.
Camphorated oil consists of one part of camphor in four
of olive oil.
Compound liniment of Camphor is made with twenty
parts camphor, forty strong solution of ammonia, one of oil
of lavender, and 120 of rectified spirit.
Spirit of Camphor consists of one part camphor dissolved
in nine parts alcohol (90 per cent.).
2R
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626 SANITAS
Doses, etc.—For horses, 3}. to 3ij.; for cattle, Bij. to Biv. ;
for sheep and pigs, grs. xx. to grs. xl; and for dogs, grs. v.
to grs. x. When used for anodyne purposes, it is con-
veniently made into an emulsion with eggs, or dissolved
in milk or oil. For external use, it is dissolved in ten
parts of alcohol, in diluted acetic acid, linseed oil, or oil
of turpentine.
SANITAS
Sanitas occurs in the form of oily and watery fluids, pre-
pared by oxidation of oil of turpentine, and containing
camphoraceous bodies and hydrogen peroxide.
A current of air is driven by an engine, for about 120
hours, through a series of Doulton’s stoneware receivers,
surrounded by vats of water, maintained by steam at a
temperature of 140° Fahr. In each receiver are placed
thirty gallons of American, Russian, or Swedish oil of
turpentine, and about double that amount of water. The
oil gradually becomes darker in colour, its specific gravity
and boiling point are raised, and it acquires a balsamic
odour resembling camphor and peppermint. As the process
continues, the turpentine (C,,H,,) is oxidised, producing
camphoric peroxide (C,,H,,03), which is gradually converted
into another antiseptic camphoric substance (C,,H,,0,), and
the soluble hydrogen peroxide which passes into solution
in the water.
The several essential oils of the terpene series (C,,H,,),
as well as cymene (C,,H,,) and menthene (C,,H,,), undergo
similar oxidation, and give rise to the same products. In
this way pine forests, especially during sunshine following
rain, render the atmosphere not only pleasantly balsamic
but antiseptic, more highly oxygenated, and curative for
throat and lung complaints. The Eucalyptus globulus in
like manner pours forth these antiseptic and highly oxy-
genated volatile products, which are antidotes to malaria,
and sometimes, it is said, even arrest the progress of pul-
monary consumption; while, on a smaller scale, every plant
or flower producing an essential oil exerts similar oxygenat-
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SANITAS AND HYDROGEN PEROXIDE 627
ing and purifying effects (Nature's Hygiene, by C. T. King-
zett, F.LC., F.CS.).
When the manufacture of Sanitas is completed, there
floats on the surface of the aqueous solution a yellow-brown,
dense, oxidised oil of turpentine, consisting chiefly of cam-
phoric peroxide, which is stated to have an oxidising strength
equal to that of a ten volume solution of hydrogen peroxide.
This Sanitas oil, mixed with a suitable mineral or other
basis, constitutes a useful disinfecting and deodorant powder.
It is introduced into various soaps, conferring disinfectant
properties, and, mixed with vaseline, oils, or fats, forms
serviceable antiseptic liniments and ointments. Melted
with Dammar resin and paraffin wax, a mixture is obtained
which is used to impregnate muslin, forming an antiseptic
gauze. Disinfectant desiccants are prepared by admixture
with chalk or starch. The watery solution, cleared by
filtration, and known as Sanitas fluid, consists chiefly of
thymol, a proportion of the camphoraceous constituents
which characterise the oil, and hydrogen peroxide.
The B.P. Solution of Hydrogen Peroxide is a clear, odour-
less liquid, with a bitter taste. It is readily soluble in water,
and should contain from nine to eleven volumes of available
oxygen. It is a powerful oxidising agent, and a valuable
antiseptic for abscess cavities, ulcers, and suppurating
wounds. A five to ten per cent. solution in water has been
employed to disinfect the facial sinuses after trephining,
and to irrigate the uterus after extraction of retained foetal
membranes.
Actions anp Uses.—Sanitas oil and fluid are volatile, oxidis-
ing, non-poisonous antiseptics, disinfectants, and deodorants.
Their several constituents in various ways attack and
destroy organised ferments, and the lower forms of vege-
table and animal life. Sanitas preparations have an agree-
able aromatic odour, are not corrosive, and do not stain or
injure clothing or other textile fabrics. Their power of
checking fermentation has led to the administration of the
fluid to calves fed on milk, and suffering from dyspepsia or
diarrhcea ; an ounce is prescribed with six ounces of water,
and may be conjoined with spirit, ether, or chloroform,
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628 SANITAS OIL AND FLUID
Useful antiseptic lotions for wounds, ulcers, and bruises
are prepared with one part of the fluid, diluted, according to
circumstances, with four to ten parts of water. Ointments
and liniments are prepared with about the same proportions
of oils and fats. When wounds, for ten days or longer, have
been treated with carbolic or other irritant dressings, granula-
tion and skin growth often proceed more satisfactorily with
the substitution of the milder Sanitas. In sore-throat,
catarrh of the sinuses of the head, aphtha, and foot-and-
mouth complaint, solutions and sprays are often useful, and,
being devoid of irritant effects, are also serviceable for rectal,
uterine, and vesical injections. Sanitas solutions and soaps
not only cleanse and disinfect, but gently stimulate the skin,
abate itching, remove scurf, and promote healing in prurigo,
chronic eczema, and similar skin complaints. Sanitas fluid,
diluted with twenty to fifty parts of tepid water, is serviceable
for sponging febrile patients, and for disinfecting animals
affected with contagious disease. In canine practice, the
fluid diluted with four to six parts of water, is used in canker
of the ear, ulceration of the mouth, eczema, and as a uterine
injection after parturition. Sanitas oil destroys the parasites
of scab and mange, as well as lice, fleas, and maggots, and
arrests the cryptogamic growth of ringworm. Even in con-
centrated form, there is no risk of its exciting undue irrita-
tion, or inducing from its absorption injurious constitutional
effects, such as are apt to follow the free use of strong
carbolic preparations.
Sanitas powder and sawdust are used with good effect
for disinfecting and deodorising stables, kennels, cow-
sheds, and piggeries. Sprinkled upon the floors, they also
purify the air of slaughter-houses, menageries, manufactories,
and exhibitions; while on shipboard they destroy unpleasant
odours, and substitute their own camphoric aroma. These
preparations are largely used in hospitals and by medical
officers of health.
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THYMOL 629
THYMOL
THyMoL—a crystalline substance, obtained from the volatile
oils of Thymus Vulgaris and Carum Copticum. Purified
by recrystallisation from alcohol (B.P.).
Thymus vulgaris (Nat. Ord.—Labiate) is a bushy ever-
green shrub found in dry situations throughout Southern
Europe. It derives its aroma from an essential oil separable
into two parts—(1) the fluid thymene, which is isomeric
with oil of turpentine (C,,H,,); and (2) the solid thymol
(C,H;.C,H,.CH,.0H).
Thymol occurs in large oblique prisms, with a pungent,
aromatic taste. It requires for solution 1500 parts of water,
190 of glycerin or two of olive oil; and is freely soluble in
alcohol, ether, and chloroform. It sinks in cold water, but
heated to 110° to 125° Fahr., it melts and floats on the
surface.
Actions anp Uses.— Thymol is antiseptic, disinfectant,
diaphoretic, diuretic, and vermicide. Large doses paralyse
the nerve centres of the cord and medulla. It has most of
the characteristic properties of a volatile oil. Dr. Lauder
Brunton states that its physiological actions place it between
oil of turpentine and carbolic acid.
Solutions of one per cent. destroy bacteria and prevent
reproduction of their spores. Applied to the skin or mucous
surfaces it causes irritation, followed by anesthesia. When
swallowed it is slowly absorbed. Dogs weighing 20 pounds
and rabbits weighing 7 pounds, receiving respectively 60 and
30 grains injected hypodermically, exhibited lowered blood-
pressure and muscular weakness, paralysis of respiration,
and coma; but the fatal effect of full doses was frequently
averted by artificial respiration. The respiratory mucous
membrane was congested, the lungs were congested and
sometimes consolidated, the kidneys inflamed, the urine
albuminous, occasionally bloody. In chronic poisoning tissue
metabolism appears to be impaired, and there is fatty de-
generation of the liver, as in phosphorus poisoning. It is
excreted chiefly by the lungs and kidneys, imparting to the
urine a green colour by direct, a brown by transmitted light.
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630 TOBACCO
Compared with carbolic acid, thymol is not so irritant,
caustic, or poisonous; when absorbed it does not cause
preliminary excitement, but from the first paralyses the
nerve centres; as an antiseptic it is stated to be more power-
ful and permanent. Its high price precludes its use as an
ordinary antiseptic. Concentrated solutions damage in-
struments.
Mepiciwat Uses.—It has been prescribed in vesical catarrh,
horses taking grs, x. to grs. xxx.; dogs, gr. ss. to grs.v. As
a vermicide in strongylosis of foals, grs. 10 to grs. 15, dissolved
in glycerin and alcohol, suspended in milk or mucilage, or
made into a bolus coated with keratin, are given daily for
four or five consecutive days, and followed by a laxative.
But its chief use is in antiseptic surgery. Notwithstanding
its greater cost, it is sometimes substituted for carbolic,
salicylic, and boric acids. For allaying irritation and remov-
ing scales in chronic eczema and lichen, 1 to 2 grains are
dissolved in an ounce of diluted spirit, or of potassium car-
bonate solution. For such purposes an ointment is also
used, made with 10 to 40 grains to the ounce of vaseline.
As a stimulating antiseptic in sore-throat and ozzna, it is
used in the form of gargle, spray, or inhalation. It is the
active constituent of Volekmann’s antiseptic fiuid, which,
with one part thymol, contains 20 of alcohol, 20 of glycerin,
and 960 of water. This solution prevents the development
of pyogenic organisms.
TOBACCO
Tapact Foura. Tobacco Leaves. The dried leaves of Nico-
tiana Tabacum. Nat. Ord.—Solanacee. (Not official.)
Tobacco derives its name from tabac, the instrument used
by the American aborigines for smoking the leaf, from the
island of Tobago, or from the town of Tobasco in New Spain.
It appears to have been cultivated from time immemorial in
America, and is now grown largely in the region watered by
the Orinoco, in the United States, and in many temperate
and sub-tropical countries of both hemispheres. It was
unknown in the Old World—at all events in Europe—until
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TOBACCO AND NICOTINE 631
after the discoveries of Columbus; and was first introduced
into England by Sir Francis Drake in 1586.
The Nicotiana Tabacum, which yields the Virginian and
several commercial tobaccos, is an herbaceous plant, three
to six feet in height, with a branching fibrous root, a tall
annual stem, funnel-shaped, rose-coloured flowers, and large,
moist, clammy, brown leaves, mottled with yellow spots,
covered with glandular hairs, and distinguished by a strong,
peculiar, narcotic odour, and a nauseous, bitter, acrid taste.
The leaves readily communicate their properties to hot
water and alcohol. The plant is cut down in August, and
the leaves dried, twisted, and carefully packed, with great
compression, in hogsheads. For many purposes the midrib
is removed, and occasionally the leaf is fermented, in order
to remove albuminoids, which, when smoked, give rise to
oils and unpleasant products. Sugar and liquorice are
sometimes added to impart mellowness and pliability.
Commercial tobaccos contain about 12 per cent. of mois-
ture, 20 to 25 of lignin, and about the same amount of
inorganic matters, chiefly salts of potassium and calcium.
The chief active principle is nicotine (C,,H,,N,)—a colour-
less, volatile, inflammable, oily alkaloid, with an acrid odour
and taste. It occurs in combination with malic and citric
acids, constituting 5 to 7 per cent. of the dried leaf. It is
soluble in water, alcohol, ether, the fixed and volatile oils.
Tobacco also yields, when distilled with water, a crystalline
volatile oil—nicotianin, or tobacco camphor—produced from
oxidation of the nicotine. Tobacco slowly burned, as when
smoked, is decomposed, and the smoke contains volatile
fatty acids and ethers, traces of hydrocyanic acid and am-
monia, while the nicotine in great part is converted into
alkaloids of the benzine series—pyridine (C,H,N), collidine
(C,H,,N), picoline (C,H,N), and lutidine (C,H,N.).
Actions anp Usts.—Tobacco and nicotine are in-contact
irritants. They stimulate and then paralyse the spinal cord,
the motor nerves of muscles, especially of involuntary
muscles, and the nerves of secreting glands. They enfeeble
circulation, cause trembling, staggering gait, convulsions,
and death from respiratory failure. Tobacco is rarely pre-
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632 TOBACCO AND NICOTINE
scribed internally, but is used externally as an antiparasitic.
Nicotine and Nicotianin are antiseptic.
Genera Actions.—Strong solutions are in-contact irri-
tants of mucous and denuded skin surfaces. Partly from
this topical irritant action and partly from stimulating
motor nerves they cause vomiting in carnivora. Large
doses in all animals induce gastro-enteritis with collapse.
Nicotine is quickly taken up from absorbing surfaces. Dogs
dressed with concentrated decoctions frequently suffer from
nausea and vomiting, while human patients have been
poisoned by enemata. Small doses cause muscular tremors ;
larger, produce strychnine-like clonic spasms, affecting espe-
cially the involuntary muscles of the intestines, bladder, and
uterus ; still larger doses are followed by muscular paralysis ;
death results from paralytic asphyxia. Small doses stimulate
the sensitive fibres of the vagus roots, and also its endings
in the heart and lungs, slowing the pulse, reducing blood-
pressure, and causing dyspnea. But larger doses both
peripherally and centrally paralyse the vagus, quickening
the pulse, and increasing blood-pressure. The cardiac gan-
glia, however, are not paralysed as by atropine. Twofold
stimulant and paralysant effects are likewise exerted on the
vaso-motor and secretory systems. Small to moderate doses
increase the secretions of the skin, bowels, and kidneys.
Toxic Errecrs are produced in horses by 9 ounces of
tobacco ; in cattle by 1 1b.; in sheep by 1 ounce; in dogs by
1 to2drachms. The poisonous dose of nicotine for horses
and cattle is 5 to 6 minims, for dogs 1 to 3 minims. One-
tenth part of these doses used hypodermically is dangerous
(Frohner and Kaufmann). MHertwig gave horses half an
ounce to an ounce of the powdered leaves, with the effect of
lowering the pulse three to ten beats per minute, and render-
ing it irregular and intermittent; while a repetition of such
doses increased evacuation both of feeces and urine. Large
doses, especially intravenously injected, accelerated the pulse,
increased the action of the bowels and kidneys, and caused
irritability and restlessness. A healthy middle-aged cow
received two ounces dissolved in water, in divided doses, but
given within two and a half hours. The temperature of the
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MOTOR PARALYSANTS AND PARASITICIDES 633
skin was heightened: the pulse raised from 65 to 70; the
breathing quickened and somewhat oppressed; the pupil
dilated, while perspiration was abundant. Next day the
animal continued dull, but by the third day she was per-
fectly well. An ox consumed about four pounds of tobacco
leaves, and speedily became very restive, ground his teeth
and groaned, lay with outstretched limbs and distended
rumen, passed quantities of thin foetid feeces, and died in
eleven hours in convulsions. The leaves were found in the
alimentary canal, and the mucous membrane, especially of
the fourth stomach, was red and eroded, particularly where
in contact with the tobacco. Hertwig further mentions
that goats are similarly affected by one or two ounces, and
generally die in about ten hours.
Orfila administered to a dog five and a half drachms
powdered tobacco (rappee), ensuring its retention by ligature
of the cesophagus. There ensued violent efforts ‘to vomit,
nausea, purging, tremors of the extremities, giddiness,
accelerated respiration, quickened pulse, convulsions, stupor
interrupted by spasms, and dependent on imperfect oxygena-
tion of the blood, and in nine hours death. A decoction
containing half a drachm, injected into the rectum of a dog,
produced similar symptoms, but was not fatal. Two and a
half drachms, applied to a wound, destroyed a dog in an
hour. The pupils are contracted, and in fatal cases are
insensible to light. A single drop of nicotine destroys small
dogs and rabbits in five minutes, producing convulsions and
general paralysis.
Post-mortem discloses appearances of asphyxia; and in
cases where the crude drug has been swallowed, and has not
been immediately fatal, the gastro-intestinal tract exhibits
evidences of irritation.
The treatment of poisoning, when the crude drug has
been swallowed, consists in the use of the stomach-pump or
emetics. Tannin renders nicotine insoluble. Keeping the
patient warm, and the cautious administration of stimulants,
antagonise nausea and depression; while artificial respiration,
and the careful hypodermic injection of strychnine, overcome
the tendency to death by asphyxia.
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634 TOBACCO AND NICOTINE
Tobacco is allied to several other motor depressors of
the Solanacez, notably to dulcamara and belladonna; but it
does not produce that peculiar disturbance of the locomotor
centres, and consequent irregular movements, which char-
acterise belladonna, while it increases, instead of diminish-
ing, cutaneous and other secretions, and contracts instead of
dilating the pupil. It resembles lobelia or Indian tobacco—
the dried flowering herb of Lobelia inflata, which is some-
times prescribed for the relief of spasmodic asthma in dogs
as well as in human patients. Tobacco is more limited
in its paralysant effects than hemlock, prussic acid, or
physostigmine.
Mepiciwat Usrs.—Tobacco is now seldom administered in-
ternally. There are many much better emetics than the
quid of tobacco sometimes given to the dog, and numerous
more effectual remedies for intestinal worms. Tobacco
smoke enemas were formerly used to relieve the spasms of
colic; but chloroform, chloral hydrate, opium, and other
anodynes are more effectual. A one to two per cent. decoc-
tion, used as an enema, brings away ascarides lodged in the
rectum. An infusion made with four ounces black tobacco
and a pint of boiling water, strained and cooled, has been
used successfully as an antidote in strychnine poisoning.
Externally, it is used to kill the acari of inange and scab,
and also lice, fleas, and ticks, but it does not effectually
destroy the ova of these parasites. Strong solutions, liberally
applied, are apt to cause nausea, trembling, spasms, and
sometimes death, but there is no danger in the careful use
of decoctions made with thirty or sixty parts of water. For
such purposes the leaves are boiled for half an hour with
a limited quantity of water, and the decoction diluted as
required. For sheep dips and washes two to five per cent.
solutions are used, their efficacy being increased by addition
of soft soap, potash, tar oils, and occasionally arsenic or
corrosive sublimate. Unless, however, the refuse juice of
the manufactory can be procured, tobacco is too costly for
sheep dips. Law’s sheep dip is made with tobacco, 16 lbs., oil
of tar 3 pints, soda ash 20 lbs., soft soap 4 lbs., water 50
gallons. Macerate the tobacco in three successive portions
of water and add be spther a er ats to, e fluid.
CATK.CHU 635
CATECHU
PaLE CatEecuu. Catechu pallidum. An extract of the leaves
and young shoots of Uncaria Gambier (B.P.). Nat. Ord.
—Rubiacee.
Biack or Brown Catecuu. Catechu nigrum. The aqueous
extract of the wood of Acacia Catechu, of Acacia Suma,
of other Leguminose, and of plants of other natural
orders. (Not official.)
The Uncaria Gambier, producing the pale catechu (cate,
a tree; chu, juice), is a stout climbing shrub, inhabiting the
islands of the Indian Archipelago, and cultivated for its
astringent juice. A decoction made of the leaves and young
shoots is evaporated, worked into red-brown, earthy-looking
masses or cubes, with surfaces about an inch square.
The black or brown catechu, chiefly brought from
Bengal and Burmah, is derived from several trees, largely
from the Acacia Catechu, a native of India and Africa. The
Acacia Suma, a large tree growing in Bengal, Burmah, and
Southern India, has a white bark used for tanning, and red
heart-wood, from which catechu is also made. The wood of
these and of other trees is cut into chips and boiled with
water, the decoction concentrated either by fire or the heat
of the sun, and the extract cut or moulded into square cakes
or masses.
The pale and black catechus are very similar in com-
position and properties; are porous and opaque; brittle,
breaking with a granular fracture; under the microscope
exhibit minute, needle-like crystals; are without odour, but
have a sweet astringent taste. They are soluble in alcohol
and ether, partially soluble in cold water, entirely dissolved
by boiling water, with which they form red-brown solutions.
They consist of about 40 per cent. of catechu-tannic acid,
which is soluble in cold water; and of catechin or catechuic
acid (C,,H,,0;), which is also a modification of tannic acid,
deposits in acicular crystals from boiling watery solutions of
catechu, and is soluble in alcohol and ether. They further
contain the yellow colouring matter quercitin.
Actions anp Uszs.—Catechu is astringent, acting by
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636 CATECHU
contact only. It forms insoluble compounds with albumin
and gelatin, and, like other tannin-containing substances, is
used in making leather. It is less astringent than oak bark
or galls, but more astringent than kino, the inspissated juice
obtained from incisions made in the trunk of Pterocarpus
Marsupium; than rhatany, the dried root of Krameria
Triandra or of K. Argentea ; than logwood, the sliced heart-
wood of Hematoxylon Campechianum; or than bearberry
or uva-ursi leaves (p. 535).
Catechu is administered to the several domestic animals
for the arrest of chronic catarrhal discharges and hemor-
rhage, especially from the throat and alimentary canal. The
insoluble catechin beneficially exerts its astringency on the
relaxed, over-secreting surfaces alike of the small and large
intestines. In persistent diarrhea and in dysentery it is
conjoined with aromatics to allay flatulence ; with opium to
relieve irritability and spasm; with alkalies, magnesia, or
chalk, to counteract acidity. A convenient prescription for
such cases consists of three ounces each of catechu, prepared
chalk, and ginger, and six drachms of opium, made, as is
most suitable, into either mass or draught. This will make
eight doses for a horse, six for a cow, and eight or ten for a
calf or sheep. For the horse the dose is given in bolus; for
the ruminant, suspended in starch gruel. Catechu is
occasionally applied to sluggish wounds and ulcers, to
excoriations on the udder of cattle, and for the several
purposes of a vegetable astringent.
Doses, etc.—For horses, Ji. to 3iij.; for cattle, 5ij. to Zvi. ;
for sheep and swine, 3i. to Jij.; and for dogs, grs. iv. to grs.
xx. These doses are administered three or four times a day,
with sufficient mucilage or gruel to cover their astringent
taste. An infusion is readily prepared for veterinary
purposes by pouring boiling water over coarsely-powdered
catechu, digesting by the fire for an hour, and straining.
Flavouring ingredients may be added as required. The B.P.
orders the tincture to be made with catechu, in coarse
powder, four ounces; cinnamon bark bruised, one ounce ;
alcohol (60 per cent.), one pint. Compound powder of
catechu, is composed of catechu, 4 ounces; kino, 2 ounces;
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GALLS 637
krameria root, 2 ounces; cinnamon, 1 ounce; and nutmeg,
lounce. All powdered and mixed. For external purposes
the powder, infusion, and an ointment are used.
GALLS
GaLLta. Oak Galls. Excrescences on Quercus infectoria
resulting from the puncture and deposition of an egg or
eggs of Cynips Galle tinctorie (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—
Cupuliferee.
Home-grown galls from the common oak (Quercus robur)
are in some seasons abundant throughout the southern and
midland counties of England, but seldom contain more than
half the tannic acid found in the foreign.
The best commercial variety, known as Levant galls, is
imported from Syria, Smyrna, and Constantinople; the
light, hollow Chinese, Japanese, or East Indian galls, are
yielded by the Rhus semialata; large Mecca galls, called
Dead Sea apples, are imported from Bussorah.
Galls vary from the size of a bean to that of a hazel-nut,
are round, hard, and studded with tubercles; of a bluish-
grey colour externally, and yellow within. An inferior
variety, from which the larva has escaped, are smoother, of
lighter colour, lower density, and less astringency. Galls are
easily reduced to a yellow-grey powder, devoid of odour, but
having an intensely astringent taste. The active principles
are dissolved by forty parts of boiling water and still less
of diluted alcohol. Ferric salts, added to a watery solution,
slowly precipitate the dark-blue or black iron tannate, the
basis of writing ink. An aqueous solution of gelatin throws
down a grey flocculent precipitate of tanno-gelatin. These
reactions, and other important properties, depend on the
presence of tannin or tannic acid, which, according to the
quality of the galls, ranges from 15 to 70 per cent., and is
associated with about 3 per cent. of gallic acid.
Tannic Acrp, or tannin (C,,H,,0,.2H,0), is the glucoside to
which oak bark, galls, logwood, and many vegetable astrin-
gents owe their properties. The tannic acid from these
several sources has, however, somewhat different charac-
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638 TANNIC AND GALLIC ACIDS
teristics, and generally receives such special designations as
gallo-tannic, cincho-tannic, catechu-tannic acids. Gallo-
tannic acid is prepared by softening powdered galls by
keeping them for two days in a damp place, digesting them
for several hours simultaneously with water, which dissolves
the tannic acid, and with ether, which dissolves colouring
matter and gallic acid. The mixture, filtered and allowed to
stand, forms into two layers, and the lower, carefully
evaporated, yields tannic acid. It occurs in pale yellow
vesicular masses, or thin glistening scales; has a strongly
astringent taste and an acid reaction; is readily soluble in
water, dilute alcohol, and slowly in glycerin; very sparingly
soluble in ether. The aqueous solution gives an olive-brown
precipitate with ferric-chloride, a yellow-white precipitate
with gelatin, and a red coloration having a blue fluorescence
with alkalies. It is also precipitated by, and hence is
incompatible with, most metallic salts, the mineral acids,
and the vegetable alkaloids. In several ways tannic acid
may be decomposed, yielding gallic acid and glucose, and
hence is termed a glucoside.
Gauuic Act, or tri-hydroxy-benzoic acid (C,H,(OH),.
CO,H,H,O), may be prepared by the action of diluted sul-
phuric acid on tannic acid or powdered galls, It occurs in
acicular prisms, or silky needles, which are colourless or
pale fawn. It requires for solution about one hundred parts
of cold water, three of boiling water, and twelve of glycerin ;
but is more soluble than tannic acid in alcohol and ether.
Its aqueous solution gives a blue-black precipitate with ferric
salts. Unlike tannic acid, it is not precipitated by isinglass,
albumin, hydrochloric, or sulphuric acid. Lime water browns
tannic acid slowly, browns gallic acid immediately, and with
pyrogallic acid yields a purple red, which becomes brown as
it absorbs oxygen (Attfield).
Actions anp Uszs.—Galls and tannic acid differ only in the
degree of their action. They are astringent and antiseptic.
Galls have about one half the activity of tannic acid. As
gallic acid does not coagulate either gelatin or albumin, it is
scarcely entitled to be considered an astringent.
Tannic acid may be taken as the type of the group which
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ACTIONS AND USES 639
includes galls, oak bark, catechu, kino, and rhatany. It has
little effect on the unbroken skin; but on abraded, atonic,
and hypersecreting skin and mucous surfaces it coagulates
albumin, causes dryness and tanning, with some contraction
of the soft textures. But, unlike salts of lead, silver, or other
mineral astringents, it does not contract capillary vessels.
It paralyses sensory nerves, and diluted solutions hence
relieve irritation. It coagulates blood and arrests bleeding.
In the digestive canal it combines with albuminoids and
alkalies, precipitates pepsin, and neutralises bacterial secre-
tions and toxines. It is slowly and partially absorbed, as
gallic acid or as an alkaline tannate, but when thus neutral-
ised it can have little astringent or hemostatic power. It is
excreted as gallic acid, or as some oxidised product thereof.
Meprctwat Uses.—Tannic acid and galls, in powder, solution,
or spray, are applied in stomatitis, and relaxed conditions of
the pharynx and nasal passages. In diarrhcea and dysentery
the slowly dissolving catechus and kino are sometimes pre-
ferred to tannic acid, as they reach the intestines and exert
their in-contact effects before they are neutralised. They are
frequently prescribed with chalk, acids, aromatics, and opium,
and given either in bolus or mucilage. For arrest of internal
hemorrhage, neither tannic nor gallic acid is so effectual as
ergot, ferric-chloride, or lead acetate and opium. Dr. Stock-
man’s investigations, reported in the British Medical Journal,
1886, show that gallic acid, even in full doses, has no special
general astringent action. Both tannic and gallic acids
are used as antidotes in poisoning by alkaloids; but in
combating metallic poisoning they are not so serviceable
as eggs, or suitable chemical antidotes.
Externally, tannic acid is used with glycerin and water in
the weeping stages of eczema; as an astringent wash with
opium in prolapsus of the uterus and rectum; while it also
checks the discharge and allays the irritability of otorrhea,
which is common in dogs. Tannic acid and antipyrine, ten
parts of each, with 100 of alcohol, form an excellent applica-
tion for soft, ulcerating, bleeding surfaces. For piles in dogs,
gallic acid is used in substance, or as an ointment, opium
being added if there is much irritability ; and such applica-
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640 TANNIC ACID, PREPARATIONS AND DOSES
tions are often advantageously alternated with calomel
ointment. Tannic acid is useful for burns mixed with boric
ointment and sometimes with opium. For nasal catarrh it
may be used mixed with starch, or iodoform, as an insuffla-
tion.
Doses, etc.—Of tannic acid horses take grs. xxx. to 3ij.;
cattle, Ziij; sheep and large pigs, grs. xv. to 3ij.; dogs, grs. ij.
to grs. x. Gallic acid is used in the same doses; powdered
galls in about double these doses. Glycerin of tannic acid,
made by stirring one part of acid with five of glycerin, is a
soothing antiseptic astringent, used diluted with water as
required. Gall and Opium ointment is made with 37 grains
powdered galls, 15 grains opium, and 148 grains of benzoated
lard, or with vaseline. A styptic colloid may be prepared
with one of tannin and eight of alcohol, mixed with four of
collodion. Pyrogallic acid is an antiseptic, astringent, and
caustic, recommended in cases of psoriasis and ringworm, and
for tanning and shrivelling carcinomatous growths. Jarisch’s
ointment for psoriasis consists of 60 grains pyrogallic acid to
1 ounce of lard. Tannalbin, a dried albuminate of tannin, has
been much used in the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery
in young animals. It is a light brownish powder, without
odour or taste, insoluble in water and unaffected by the gastric
juice. In the intestine it is slowly dissolved, exerting an
astringent-disinfectant action on the mucous membrane. It
contains about 50 per cent. of tannin. Doses,—horses and
cattle, 3]. to Ziv.; foals and calves, grs. xx. to grs. xl; three
times daily, in gruel, milk, or electuary. Tannigen (di-acetyl-
tannin), prepared by the action of acetic anhydride on tannin,
dissolved in glacial acetic acid, is a yellowish-grey powder,
odourless and tasteless, insoluble in water, freely soluble in
alcohol. Passes through the stomach unchanged and acts
as an intestinal astringent. Recommended as a remedy for
parasitic intestinal catarrh in foals. Doses,—grs. xx. to 3j.,
in boiled milk or linseed tea.
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BENZOIN 641
CHRYSAROBIN
Ararosa. Crude Chrysarobin. Goa powder, A substance
found in cavities in the trunk of Andira araroba, dried
and powdered, and imported from Brazil. Nat. Ord—
Leguminose (B.P.).
Chrysarobin, obtained from Araroba by extracting with
hot chloroform, evaporating and powdering, occurs as a
crystalline, brownish-yellow powder, insoluble in water, but
soluble in chloroform, and slightly soluble in alcohol. By
oxidation it yields chrysophanic acid, C,,H,O,, which is a
constituent of rhubarb, stains yellow, and is less irritant
than chrysarobin.
Both chrysarobin and chrysophanic acid are irritant and
parasiticide, are seldom given internally, but are applied,
usually in the form ot a2 to 5 per cent. ointment, in the
second squamous stages of eczema, and in psoriasis and
ringworm.
BENZOIN
Benzornum. A balsamic resin obtained trom Styrax Benzoin
and probably from other species of Styrax (B.P.).
Nat. Ord.—Styracee.
The styrax benzoin abounds in Siam, Sumatra, and Borneo.
Incisions are made into the bark, when the thick, white,
resinous juice exudes, and concretes in tears, which are
subsequently made into larger masses, and imported in
wooden cases. The colourless or reddish tears are imbedded
in an amber-brown transparent resin. Inferior qualities are
dark-brown or nearly black, and devoid of amygdaloid
structure.
Benzoin is brittle and easily pulverised, softens readily
when warmed, and when further heated yields fumes of
benzoic acid. It is slightly heavier than water; soluble in
alcohol and in solution of potassium hydroxide. Besides
traces of volatile oil, benzoin contains about 80 per cent. of
three resins, distinguished by differences of solubility,
and from 14 to 20 of the acrid, crystalline, benzoic
28
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642 BENZOIN—-BENZOIC ACID— BENZOATES
acid, HC,H,O,. Some samples contain as much as 10 per
cent. of the allied cinnamic acid.
Benzoic acid is obtained from benzoin by sublimation. It
may also be obtained from toluene, from hippuric acid, and
from other organic compounds (B.P.). It occurs in light,
feathery crystals, which are soluble in 400 parts of cold or
seventeen parts of boiling water, in three parts alcohol
(90 per cent.), five parts glycerin, seven of chloroform, and
in the fixed and volatile oils; also in solution of the-alkalies
and of calcium hydroxide forming benzoates. Ammonii
benzoas is a crystalline salt produced by neutralising
benzoic acid with solution of ammonia. Soluble in six parts
of water, twenty-two of rectified spirit, and in eight of
glycerin. Sodii benzoas, obtained by neutralising benzoic
acid with sodium carbonate, is soluble in two parts cold
water, and in twenty-four of rectified spirit.
Actions anp Uses.—Benzoin, benzoic acid, and its salts
are stimulant, expectorant, diuretic, antiseptic, and anti-
pyretic. Benzoin, although less frequently employed now
than formerly in the treatment of disease of the air
passages, is still useful as an antiseptic expectorant in
bronchitis and especially in chronic catarrh of aged dogs.
It may be administered by the mouth or added to the
steam-kettle and used as an inhalation. It is excreted
mainly in the urine, part of the benzoic acid being converted
in the kidneys into hippuric acid. Freely applied to recent
bleeding wounds, it forms an antiseptic coagulum and serves
the purpose of a temporary styptic dressing.
Benzoin is extensively used in the form of Friar’s
balsam, or its pharmaceutical imitation, tinctura benzoini
composita, which is thus prepared:—Take of benzoin, 2
ounces, storax, 14 ounces, balsam of tolu, $ ounce, socotrine
aloes, 160 grains, alcohol (90 per cent.), 16 ounces: macerate
for two days, filter, and add sufficient alcohol to produce one
pint. This tincture is an excellent stimulant and antiseptic
for wounds, simple ulcers, and various skin complaints in
all classes of patients.
Benzoated lard is made with 210 grains of benzoin to
each pound of lard.
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STYRAX—-TOLU AND PERU BALSAMS 643
Benzoic acid lowers abnormal temperature, promotes the
elimination of incompletely oxidised matters, renders alkaline
urine acid and disinfects the urinary tract. It is used in
the treatment of influenza and similar conditions, and as an
antiseptic diuretic in cystitis. Sodium benzoate is less
irritating and more soluble than the acid, for which it is
sometimes substituted. Commended as a remedy for joint
disease in foals, it abates the fever, and reduces the swelling
of the limbs in strangles and pneumonia, According to Dr.
Rutherford, it is a powerful hepatic stimulant. It is excreted
in the urine as a soluble hippurate. A 2 per cent. solution
is a good preservative for scalpels, forceps, needles, etc., in
daily use. Instruments may be kept in the solution for
months without oxidising.
Dosss, etc.—of benzoin for horses and cattle, Ziv. or more;
dogs, grs. v. to grs. x.; in bolus or electuary. Benzoic acid,
horses and cattle, grs. xxx. to grs. lx., dogs, gr. i. to grs. v.,
in bolus, pill, or drench. Hypodermically, horses may be
given grs. vi. benzoic acid dissolved in two drachms of a
solution of equal parts of alcohol and water. Intratracheally,
two drachms to half an ounce of a one per cent. aqueous
solution may be used. Benzoate of sodium is prescribed in
considerably larger doses, and generally in drench.
Styrax or Prepared Storax, a balsam obtained from the
trunk of liquidambar orientalis, and purified by solution in
alcohol, filtration and evaporation. Contains styrol, cinnamic
acid, styracin and various resins. Storax is a constituent of
the compound tincture of benzoin, and is occasionally
employed as a mild stimulant, expectorant and parasiticide.
For mange, lice, or fleas in dogs, it is used mixed with an
equal part of sweet oil.
Balsam of Tolu.—The product of the myroxylon toluifera,
contains a volatile oil, various resins, benzoic and cinnamic
acids. Soluble in alcohol, benzol and chloroform. It is
stimulant and expectorant.
Balsam of Peru, obtained from myroxylon Pereire,
contains about 60 per cent. of a volatile oil, various resins
and acids. It is insoluble in water and olive oil; soluble in
alcohol and in chloroform. It is an expectorant and
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644 BARLEY
parasiticide. The volatile oil is toxic to the acari of mange
for which a dressing is made with one part balsam of Peru
and eight of lard.
MARSH MALLOW ROOT
ALTH@A Rapix. Dried root of Althea officinalis. Nat.
Ord.—Malvacez. (Not official.)
The Malvacee are rich in mucilage, and several yield
tenacious fibres, from which cordage is obtained. The
species Gossypium have their seeds surrounded by delicate,
flattened, twisted hairs, which constitute raw cotton, and
the seeds by expression yield the bland cotton seed oil often
substituted for olive oil. The marsh mallow grows both
in this country and on the Continent, generally in the
neighbourhood of rivers and salt marshes. Mucilage is
yielded by most parts of the plant, notably by the two and
three year old roots, which contain about 35 per cent. each
of mucin and starch, and a little uncrystallisable sugar.
Actions anp Uses.—Marsh, and also common mallow
roots, are digested with boiling water, and the mucilage
thus extracted, which resembles that of linseed, is used as a
demulcent.
BARLEY
Horprum. Pearl Barley. Malt. Yeast. Nat. Ord.—
Graminacee.
Barley (Hordeum distichon) is used as food for most of
the domesticated animals; and, when stripped of its outer
husk, is recognised as pearl barley. Ground to meal, it is
used for making poultices and infusions. Good barley-meal
contains 68 per cent. of starch, 14 glutin and albumin, 2 fatty
matter, 2 saline matter, and 14 water. When moistened and
exposed to a temperature of about 100° Fahr., barley ger-
minates, the starch in great part being converted into dextrin
and sugar, and, if the process be arrested by drying, malt is
formed. Decoctum Hordei, may be made by boiling one part
of washed pearl barley with 15 parts water for twenty minutes,
and straining. It is nutrient and demulcent,
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GUM ACACIA—TRAGACANTH 645
Malt—a sweet, mucilaginous substance, which is more
easily digested, but weight for weight is rather less nutritive
than barley—forms a palatable and digestible article of diet
for sick or convalescent horses, and is used for making
poultices and demulcent laxative drinks. Barley-water,
infusions of malt, and soft mashes prove especially serviceable
in febrile cases, both in horses and cattle. Malt extracts
are occasionally prescribed for dyspeptic calves and foals,
and when well prepared are rich in diastase, and hence
useful in aiding digestion of starch.
When a solution of malt is fermented, as in the prepara-
tion of beer, ale, or porter, there rises to the surface of the
liquor a yellow-brown frothy scum, known as yeast or barm,
readily putrefying when moist, but when carefully dried
remaining for a long time unchanged, and owing its repro-
ductive properties, and its characteristic power of converting
cane into grape sugar, and thence into alcohol, to the
presence of ovoid, confervoid cells of Torula cerevisiz.
Yeast is occasionally used as a purgative, especially for
cattle, and is given in quantities of about a pint. Antiseptic
and deodorising poultices are made by stirring together one
part each of boiling water and yeast with two parts of bran
or linseed meal, and allowing the mixture to stand near a
fire until it rises, when it is fit to use.
GUM ACACIA—-TRAGACANTH
Acaciz Gummi. A gummy exudation from the stem and
branches of Acacia Senegal, and of other species of
Acacia (B.P.).
TRAGACANTHA. Tragacanth. A gummy exudation obtained
by incision from Astragalus gummifer, and some other
species of Astragalus (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Leguminose.
Gum is obtained from many plants, notably from various
species of Acacia. These are stunted, withered-looking trees,
occurring in tropical countries, most prolific when old and
stunted, and during dry, hot seasons. In June and July,
from natural cracks or artificial incisions in the bark, a viscid
juice exudes, and concretes into round masses or tears vary-
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646 GUM ACACIA—-TRAGACANTH
ing in size from a pea to a walnut, brittle, usually shining,
colourless, yellow or brown, odourless, and of a bland, sweet
taste. Gum dissolves in water, forming an adhesive, viscid
fluid or mucilage.
Gum acacia, or gum arabic is chiefly collected in Kor-
dofan, in Eastern Africa, and forwarded from Alexandria.
When imported, it is picked and sorted, usually into three
different qualities, distinguished by the size, colour, and
transparency of the tears. It is soluble in about its own
weight alike of hot and cold water, is insoluble in and incom-
patible with alcohol, ether, and oils. Boiled with dilute
sulphuric acid, it is converted into gum sugar; oxidised by
nitric acid, it is converted into mucic acid. It consists of
arabin, or arabic acid (C,,H,,0,,), which occurs in gum as
arabate of calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Gum senegal is similar to gum arabic, but less brittle, and
requires four or five parts of water to dissolve it. The Kast
Indian gums are generally dark-coloured, more difficult of
solution, and less valuable. The gums of Australia and the
Cape, now imported in considerable quantity, are also inferior
to gum arabic,
Tragacanth is collected in Asia Minor, mostly exported
from Smyrna, and occurs in thin, semi-transparent, tough,
horny, white-grey or yellow lamelle or plates, and marked
with arched or concentric ridges. It is tasteless and odour-
less. Although readily soluble in boiling water, it is sparingly
soluble in cold water, which swells it into a jelly containing
starch, as is indicated by the iodine test. Tragacanth con-
tains a neutral gum, bassorin, which, gelatin-like, swells up,
is not dissolved either by hot or cold water, but is soluble in
alcohol.
British gum or dextrin (C,H,,0,) much used in calico
printing, is made by treating starch with dilute nitric acid,
drying it, and heating it to about 240° Fahr.
Actions anp Uszs.—Gums are the least nutritive of the
carbo-hydrates; when swallowed, they are dissolved by the
alimentary secretions, and in part converted into sugar.
They are occasionally prescribed for ensheathing the mucous
surfaces in catarrh and diarrhea, and as demulcent injec-
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OLIVE OIL 647
tions in inflammation of the bowels and bladder, but for
veterinary purposes are usually superseded by well-boiled
linseed or starch gruels. For making emulsions, electuaries,
and boluses, gums have the disadvantage of speedily drying
and hardening.
Doses, etc.—Gums may be taken almost ad libitum.
Horses and cattle may have Zij. to Ziij; foals, calves, and
sheep, Zi.; and dogs, grs. xx. to grs. xl. An ensheathing
mucilage is made with one part gum to six of water.
OLIVE OIL
OLEuM Otiva. The oil expressed from the ripe fruit of Olea
Europea (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Oleacez.
Several varieties of the evergreen Olea Europea grow
abundantly in the countries bordering the Levant and
Mediterranean. From the stem a resinous juice once used
in medicine can be got; the leaves are bitter, astringent, and
tonic; the olives are oval, succulent, purple drupes, about
the size of damsons, and containing a single seed. The ripe
pericarp yields about 70 per cent. of oil, of which the finest,
imported from Provence and Florence, is obtained by mode-
rate pressure of the freshly-gathered fruit. Inferior qualities
are got from stale or damaged fruit, or by extra pressure of
the pulp.
Prorertiges.—Olive oil is one of the fixed, fatty, or expressed
oils which produce on paper or linen a greasy stain, not
removed by heat, and are glycerides of an acidulous radical,
oleic, palmitic, or stearic acid, and the basylous glyceryl or
propenyl. Olive oil contains about 72 per cent. of fluid olein
or tri-olein, C,H,(C,,H,,0,),, holding in solution about 28 of
palmitin and allied fatty matters. It is of the consistence
of syrup, unctuous, transparent, odourless, and of a bland
taste. When pure it is pale greenish-yellow ; when impure,
yellow or brown. Specific gravity 0-914 to 0919. At 50°
Fahr. it is liable to become of a pasty consistence ; and at
32° Fahr. to form a solid granular mass. It is not miscible
with water, is scarcely soluble in alcohol, but dissolves in one
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648 LINSEED
and a half parts of ether. It is a capital solvent for cantha-
ridin, atropine, and morphine. Exposed to air, it oxidises,
thickens, and slowly becomes rancid, but does not dry up.
Actions anp Uses.—Olive oil is nutrient, laxative, and
emollient. Like other bland oils, small quantities are easily
digested and assimilated, aid cell development, and by oxi-
dation support animal heat. Larger quantities, such as one
to two pints for horses or cattle, and two to three ounces for
dogs, are laxative. An ounce each of olive oil and castor
oil form a mild laxative for the dog. Like other fluid fats,
when injected into the veins, it fatally obstructs capillary
circulation. Half an ounce injected into the jugular speedily
destroys a dog. As a demulcent and emollient, it is used in
poisoning by irritants and corrosives; it antagonises the
action of alkalies by forming soaps, and retards solution
and absorption of arsenic. Small doses are occasionally
given to horses and other animals to soothe the irritable
mucous membrane in chronic catarrh and bronchitis, and to
dissolve the cholesterin of gall-stones. Not drying or readily
becoming rancid, it is a soothing protective for irritable or
abraded surfaces, but for such purposes the cheaper rape,
lard, or linseed oil, and vaseline, are usually substituted.
LINSEED
Linum. Flax or Lint Seeds. The dried ripe seeds of
Linum usitatissimum (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Linacee.
Linum Conrusum. Crushed linseed. Linseed reduced to
a coarse powder (B.P.).
LinsEED Orn. Oleum Lini. The oil expressed from linseed
at ordinary temperatures (B.P.).
LiysEED Cake. The residue left after expression of the oil.
LinsEeD Meat. Farina Lini.
The Linum usitatissimum, or common flax, cultivated in
Britain and other European countries, yields several im-
portant articles. The stem affords lint and tow; the seeds,
crushed, and subjected to hydraulic pressure, yield linseed
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LINSEED OIJ. 649
oil; the residual cake is a valuable feeding stuff, and when
reduced to powder constitutes linseed meal.
The fibrous stem is utilised by steeping in water, generally
used hot; starch and cellulose are got rid of by scutching;
the fibres are hackled and carded—the shorter, coarser
portions forming tow; the finer, when bleached, are made
into linen. Soft, loosely woven linen, when scarified, and
the cut fibres scraped into gauzy down, constitutes surgeons’
lint. Both lint and tow, as well as jute (the prepared fibre
of hemp), are employed as protectives for wounds. When
saturated with hot or cold water they prove cleanly sub-
stitutes for poultices. For cleansing wounds they are pre-
ferable to sponges, which are apt to retain and distribute
septic germs, while the rag, lint, or tow is thrown away
after use. These fibrous materials, saturated with carbolic
or other antiseptic solutions, are used for antiseptic dressings.
Oakum, consisting of detached fibres of old ropes, when
treated with Stockholm tar, is also a cheap antiseptic .
dressing.
Lint seeds are about two lines long, smooth, and shining,
of a brown colour and oval shape, flattened laterally, and
pointed at one extremity. They are inodorous, but have
an oily, mucilaginous taste. They consist of about 20 per
cent. of mucilage, wholly present in the envelope of the
seed, and hence only properly extracted by prolonged
steeping or slow boiling; 20 of albuminoids, a little sugar,
25 to 30 of oil, contained in the albumen and embryo;
5 to 6 of mineral matters, chiefly phosphates, mostly stored
in the husks; 5 to 8 of fibre, and 8 to 10 of water. Crushed
linseed should yield not less than 30 per cent. of oil when
exhausted by carbon bisulphide. The seeds, ground and
pressed without the aid of heat, produce about 25 per
cent. of oil of the best quality; steam heat extracts 25 to
35 per cent. The residual linseed cake, or oilcake, con-
tains 10 to 18 per cent. of oil.
Linseed oil is viscid, has a pale-yellow colour, a faint
but distinct odour, and a bland taste. Specific gravity
0-930 to 0940. It consists largely of olein, or of a variety
recognised as linolein. Although it does not solidify until
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650 LINSEED
cooled to —15° or —20° Fahr., at ordinary temperatures
it oxidises and becomes viscous, hence receiving the title
of a drying oil. This drying property is much increased
by boiling, or heating it with litharge or black oxide of
manganese. It is insoluble in water, soluble in ten parts
alcohol (90 per cent.), in one and a half of ether, and in
oil of turpentine. Boiled with alkaline solutions it forms
soaps. Mixed with an equal quantity of lime water it forms
Carron oil, a useful dressing for burns and scalds. Exposed
for some time to a high temperature it becomes a dark,
tenacious mass, which, when mixed with lamp-black con-
stitutes printers’ ink. It is sometimes adulterated with
rapeseed oil, but is more commonly of inferior quality from
rancidity, from preparation at a high temperature, or from
presence of impurities.
Actions anp Usrs.—Linseed and linseed cakes are valuable
feeding stuffs for cattle and sheep, and, in restricted amount,
for horses. As fat producers they represent about two and
a half times the value of starch or sugar. They are emul-
sionised mainly by the pancreatic and biliary fluids; they
are absorbed chiefly by the lacteals, and their combustion
develops heat and force. In moderate amount they favour
assimilation alike of carbohydrates and proteids, with which
they are generally given.
Well-boiled linseed gruel, or crushed linseed cake digested
in hot water, is a palatable, digestible nutrient for horses,
cattle, and sheep, not only in health, but notably in catarrhal
and other inflammatory attacks, in tuberculosis, rheumatism,
chronic skin complaints, and during convalescence from re-
ducing disorders. In such cases it proves both food and
medicine. In febrile cases many horses will sip cold linseed
tea when they will scarcely eat or drink anything else.
Where the patient is exhausted, the linseed tea is given
with milk, eggs, or beef-tea, or with alcoholic or other
stimulants. Horses that are bad feeders, with unthrifty
coats, and horses affected with roaring or thick wind, are
usually much benefited, especially while living mostly on
oats and hay, by about a pound daily of broken linseed
cake. For healthy hunters and carriage horses the con-
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NUTRIENT, MUCILAGINOUS DEMULCENT 651
tinued use of linseed cake proves, however, too fattening
and often causes itching. Young herbivora reared on skim
milk frequently have linseed gruel mixed with it to furnish
requisite fatty matters, and also to prevent the formation
of tough, indigestible curd. Linseed gruel, or a few ounces
of crushed cake given daily to calves or lambs, as soon as
they will eat it, not only economically favours growth and
early maturity, but is tolerably effectual in warding off
attacks of diarrhea, dysentery, and anemia.
A mucilaginous, demulcent decoction, made with about
one part of steeped seed to fifteen or twenty parts boiling
water, is useful in irritable conditions of the throat, respir-
atory passages, bowels, kidneys, and bladder; in poisoning
with irritants and corrosives; and as a convenient vehicle
for the administration of nauseous or acrid medicines.
Crushed linseed makes good poultices, especially when
mixed with an equal quantity of bran or oatmeal; but the
bruised linseed cake is cheaper, less apt to become rancid,
and equally effectual in retaining heat and moisture. The
common mass employed for making up balls and pills
usually consists of equal quantities of linseed meal and
treacle.
LinszEp Or has been used dietetically; but neither for
cattle nor sheep does it serve so well as properly prepared
linseed or linseed cake. It has the disadvantage of being
too laxative, and it increases rather than diminishes the
quantity of ordinary food consumed. As an adjuvant feed-
ing stuff for animals in health, I have found it inferior to
linseed cake, beans, or oats. One to two ounces repeated
daily are, however, often beneficial, in sore-throat and
bronchitis in horses, and especially for subjects that will
not take linseed gruel or mashes.
Linseed oil, in quantity too large to be digested, acts as
a cathartic; it is also emollient. It closely resembles rape-
seed, almond, and other fixed oils; but is scarcely so actively
cathartic as castor oil.
As a laxative it usually produces tolerably full and
softened evacuations, without nausea, griping, or super-
purgation. It is prescribed for young and delicate horses,
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652 LINSEED OIL LAXATIVE AND EMOLLIENT
and pregnant mares, and for all subjects in influenza, pur-
pura, and other debilitating disorders; in diarrhcea, hernia,
and irritable states of the intestine, as well as in over-
loaded, torpid bowels, where aloes and other active purga-
tives, especially if repeated, might cause dangerous symptoms.
It is serviceable in warding off attacks of lymphangitis,
hemoglobinuria, edema and itching of the limbs, which
are liable to occur when hard-worked horses have several
days’ rest. In the treatment of colic it is generally com-
bined with a stimulant and anodyne. A draught in common
use consists of one pint of linseed oil with an ounce each
of ether and laudanum, both being doubled in acute cases
and in large horses. In colic, aloes, however, generally
acts better than linseed oil; but for laxative enemas the
oil is preferable.
Two or three ounces of linseed oil, or of a mixture of equal
parts of linseed and olive oils, given daily in mash, often
suffice, with the use of enemata, to maintain the bowels of
horses in a sufficiently relaxed state throughout catarrhal
and other febrile attacks. This treatment is also specially
suitable in inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, when
it is desirable to rest these organs, and promote excretion
by the bowels and skin. An ounce or two of oil combined
with lime-water given daily to broken-winded subjects often
advantageously relieves the distressing breathing.
In cattle and canine practice linseed oil is much used as
a purgative, especially for young and weakly patients, in
advanced pregnancy, in gastro-intestinal derangements, in
irritant poisoning, where saline or other active purgatives
have been given, and their repetition is inexpedient, and as
a convenient menstruum for the administration of croton oil
and oil of turpentine. For calves and lambs it is milder and
safer than salts. For dogs, especially when young, when the
digestive organs are in an irritable state, and exhausting
disease has reduced strength, it is a suitable laxative, and
more effectual when mixed with an equal amount of castor
oil. As a lubricant and emollient linseed oil is useful in
choking; mixed with well-boiled starch gruel, and injected
into the rectum, it allays irritation; softening the hard,
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LIQUORICE ROOT 653
cracked, or scaly skin, it is applied, with an alkaline solution,
in psoriasis, impetigo, and eczema. Its analgesic effects are
increased by admixture with lead acetate solution. For
emollient dressings, to be used for a considerable time, vase-
line and benzoated almond, or cocoa-nut, oil are, however,
preferable, as they are not drying or prone to rancidity. The
drying properties, possessed in common with poppy and cod-
liver oils, render linseed oil less suitable than lard or olive,
almond, rape, or colza oil, for making ointments and lini-
ments. Friction with oil often reduces swollen joints and
burse. Flannel, soaked in hot linseed oil, is sometimes
applied for the relief of rheumatism. The ‘black oil’ used
in many parts of England for bruises, strains, and wounds, is
made with a pint of linseed or other oil, two ounces oil
of turpentine, adding six drachms diluted sulphuric acid,
and leaving the bottle unstoppered until the heat evolved by
admixture of the acid has passed away.
Doses, etc.—As a cathartic, horses take Oss. to Oj.; cattle,
Oj. to Oij.; sheep and pigs, fZvi. to £3x.; dogs, £31. to £3). ;
cats, f3i.; administered shaken up with linseed gruel, mucil-
age, milk, treacle, lime-water, or spirit and water. For
horses or cattle it is sometimes mixed with a well-made
bran mash.
LIQUORICE ROOT
Giycyrruiz® Rapix. The peeled root and peeled subter-
ranean stem of Glycyrrhiza glabra and other species.
(B.P.). Nat. Ord—Leguminose.
The perennial herbaceous plants yielding liquorice grow in
the temperate countries of Continental Europe. Their roots
and underground stems arrive at perfection about the third
year, and produce a yellow powder having a sweet taste, and
soluble in water, and, to a less extent, in alcohol. Besides
asparagin, gum, starch, sugar, malic acid, and a resinous oil,
to which it owes its sub-acrid taste, liquorice contains about
6 per cent. of a sweet, yellow glucoside, termed glycyrrhizin.
The natural juice or watery infusion, concentrated until it
becomes solid, forms the extupet, gx black sugar.
654 STARCH
Actions anp Usrs.—Liquorice resembles sugar and treacle
in its dietetic and medicinal uses. Powdered, it is oc-
casionally used as as a demulcent in irritation of the pul-
monary mucous membrane, for making up boluses and
covering the disagreeable taste and odour of various drugs.
The laxative compound liquorice powder, composed of
senna, liquorice root, fennel, sulphur, and sugar, is some-
times prescribed for calves, lambs, and dogs. The dose is
Jj. to Biv.
STARCH
Amytum. The starch procured from the grains of common
wheat, Triticum sativum; maize, Zea Mays; and rice,
Oryza sativa (B.P.). Nat. Ord.—Graminacee.
Starch is an important member of that dietetic series of
carbo-hydrates, including gums and sugars, which contains
at least six carbon atoms with hydrogen and oxygen in the
proportion to form water. Starch is largely present in the
cereal grains, in the stems of many plants, and in tubers,
being stored in the seeds and tubers for the nourishment of
the young plants. Wheat flour contains about 70 per cent.
of carbo-hydrates, chiefly starch, which receives the special
title of amylum, 10 of proteids with water, and ash. Oat-
meal contains 63 of starch and about 12°6 of proteids, with
traces of a bitter amorphous alkaloid; barley, 64 starch, 12
proteids; rice, 83 starch, 5 proteids; potatoes, 21 starch,
28 proteids. From any of these sources pure starch is got
by fine division of the grain or root; sometimes facilitating
separation of other plant constituents by fermenting; wash-
ing the starch granules from fibrous matters, straining, and
drying. The white starch used for medicinal and dietetic
purposes is dried in powder or granules. The blue preferred
for the laundry is in blocks, splits as it dries into columnar
masses, is coloured by addition of a little indigo, and generally
contains about 18 per cent. of water.
Arrowroot is the starch of the Maranta arundinacea;
sago, the granular starch from the sago palm; tous-les-mois,
the large ovular granules from the rhizomes of several
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A NUTRITIVE CARBO-HYDRATE 655
species of Canna; tapioca or cassava is prepared from the
expressed juice of the roots of Manihot utilissima. Corn
flour or Oswego is the flour of Indian corn deprived of gluten
by a weak solution of soda.
Starch consists of round or oval granules comprising a
cell-wall enclosing concentric layers of granulose. The large
grains from potatoes are about 33th of an inch in their
long diameter, the small rounded grains of rice measure
scovth of an inch. Starch grains from various sources differ
in appearance when examined under the microscope. Wheat
starch presents a mixture of large and small granules, which
are lenticular in form, and marked with faint concentric strize
surrounding a nearly central hilum. The maize granules
are more uniform in size, frequently polygonal, smaller than
those of wheat, having a very distinct hilum, but without
evident concentric strie. Rice granules are extremely
minute, and nearly uniform in size, polygonal, the hilum
small and without striz (B.P.).
Starch is insoluble in cold water, has the specific gravity
15, and hence is deposited when mixed with water. The
cell-wall consisting of cellulose and the contained granulose
are isomeric, having the formula usually given as C,H,,0,.
When mixed with water above 120° Fahr., the starch grains
burst; the granulose, escaping, occupies twenty to thirty
times its previous volume, and forms the viscid gelatinous
mucilage used by the laundress. A solution of starch when
cold gives the characteristic blue compound with solution
of iodine. Starch, when boiled with diluted sulphuric or
nitric acid, is converted into the isomeric but more soluble
dextrin or British gum, one variety of which is coloured red
by iodine. With further action of a weak acid and heat,
dextrin takes up water and is converted into maltose (C,.H.,
O,,-H,0), and eventually into dextrose (C,H,,0,).
When starch foods are eaten the salivary and intestinal
ferments gradually crack the granules, and quickly convert
the starch through several forms of dextrin into maltose,
and eventually into dextrose. These changes are also
readily produced by mixing starch paste with crushed malt,
the diastase of which develops the fermentative changes.
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656 STARCH DEMULCENT AND EMOLLIENT
Animal starch, or glycogen (C,H,,0,), present in the liver, in
blood, and in muscle, exhibits most of the characters of
vegetable starch.
Actions anp Usts.—Starch foods are rapidly digested,
especially when cooking or fermentation has cracked the
starch cells, or when they have been thoroughly insalivated.
Like other such proximate principles, pure starch cannot,
however, alone support life for any lengthened period. A
properly balanced dietary for horses or cattle should con-
tain one part of proteids and five to eight parts of starch
or other carbo-hydrates. Active exertion, as in the case of
hard-worked horses, or abnormal secretion, as of heavily-
milking cows, causes great expenditure of albuminoids, which
must be replaced by the food. Growing animals, in order to
build up their tissues, require relatively larger supplies of
albuminoids than suffice for adults. The starches—mostly
converted into sugar—are consumed in the body more
quickly and fully than fats. During their oxidation they
are the great source of animal heat, especially in herbivora.
They prevent wasteful consumption of the more costly
albuminoids and fats. Under favourable conditions, carbo-
hydrates, in excess, are also believed to be directly concerned
in the formation of fat, and Pasteur states that they furnish
glycerin—the basis of neutral fats. For nutritive purposes
seventeen parts (Voit) to twenty-three parts (Rubner) of
carbo-hydrates are equivalent to ten parts of fat.
As a demulcent and emollient, starch mucilage protects
and softens irritable surfaces. In diarrhea and dysentery
it is used about the consistence of cream, at the temperature
of 100° Fahr., either alone or with laudanum, sugar of lead,
or other astringent, and is given both by the mouth and
rectum. It is an antidote to excessive doses of iodine. Dry
starch readily absorbs water, and hence is a desiccant for
wounds, forming a protective covering. Mixed with equal
parts of zine oxide, it dries and soothes the weeping earlier
stages of eczema. Conjoined with carbolic acid, or boric
acid and iodoform, it forms a convenient desiccant antiseptic.
One part of starch, heated with five of glycerin and three of
water, make a soothing demulcent. Starch is used for mix-
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SUGAR 657
ing and subdividing medicines, and as a vehicle for their
administration. It is employed to stiffen bandages for
fractures and other surgical purposes.
SUGAR:
Sugar exists in many plants; is prepared in France and
Germany from white beet, in Asia from various palms,
and in America from sugar maple (Sorghum saccharatum),
and maize. The sugar used in this country is chiefly got
from the sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum), which is
extensively cultivated in the West Indies, has a perennial
root, and a jointed annual stem six to twelve feet high.
These canes are crushed between heavy rollers; the pale
green expressed juice, which contains nearly twenty per cent.
of sugar, is mixed with a little slaked lime to neutralise acids
and precipitate albuminoids, and concentrated in shallow
vacuum pans at a temperature not exceeding 140° Fahr.;
the coagulating albumin, entangling impurities, is skimmed
off; the syrup is cooled in wooden vats, and dried in the sun,
yellow dark-brown crystals of raw sugar are formed, and
there drains away a variable quantity of brown uncrystallised
molasses. A hundredweight of raw sugar yields about 80
pounds refined sugar and 16 pounds treacle.
There are two classes of sugars—(1) the Sucroses or Sac-
charoses, which, when dry, have the formula C,,H,,0,,, and
(2) the Glucroses, with the formula C,H,,0,.
Sucrose, saccharose, or cane sugar (C,,H,,0,,), like sulphur
and arsenious acid, has an amorphous and a crystalline form,
its crystals are monoclinic prisms; specific gravity 1:606;
it phosphoresces in the dark, and is dextro-rotatory. It is
hydroscopic, soluble in one-third of its weight of water at
60° Fahr., but insoluble in absolute alcohol. A strong
solution, evaporated and heated to 320° Fahr., fuses, and the
vitreous mass can be moulded into barley-sugar. Between
356° and 374° Fahr. sucrose parts with two molecules of
water, loses its sweet taste, acquires a dark colour, and
becomes caramel, which is used by confectioners and
distillers as a colopring Seyi pean
658 SUGARS
Sucrose in plants is gradually built up from the simpler
glucose (C,H,,0,), and, conversely, when acted on by dilute
acids or by ferments, such as diastase or yeast, it is again
converted into glucose. Sucrose undergoes this change
before it yields alcohol.
Maltose (C,,H,,.0,,.H,O) is prepared by grinding starch
with water, warming it until it gelatinises, and heating with
crushed malt, the diastase of which sets up fermentation,
causing three molecules of starch to appropriate one of
water, and yield one molecule of maltose and one of dextrin.
Maltose is also formed during the digestion of starch by the
ferments of the salivary, intestinal, and pancreatic juices.
It is soluble and readily fermented.
Lactose, or milk sugar (C,,H,,0,,,H,O), is prepared by
evaporating whey to a syrup, and crystallising. It occurs
in translucent, greyish-white, hard cylindrical masses of
rhombic prisms. It is gritty, and, being less soluble, is not so
sweet as the vegetable sugars. It is not directly fermentable.
Homeopathic chemists use it for subdividing medicines.
Glucose, dextrose, or grape sugar (C,H,,0,), is the variety
present in grapes and other fruit, and in honey. It is
obtained by boiling cane sugar, or acting upon it with
alcoholic solution of hydrochloric acid, is formed when
starch is boiled with water acidulated with sulphuric acid,
and is the variety occurring in blood and urine. It is
produced when glucosides, such as salicin, amygdalin, digi-
talin, ete, are boiled with diluted acid. It is neither so
sweet nor so soluble as sucrose, crystallises in six-sided
scales, is not charred by sulphuric acid, but forms with it
sulphosaccharic acid. It produces a readily crystallisable
compound with common salt.
Levulose, also termed fructose, is isomeric with dextrose,
and is associated with it in most fruits. By keeping, and
especially by exposure to light, the more soluble levulose in
fruits and syrups is gradually converted into the more
crystalline dextrose. These two sugars are distinguished
by the manner in which they turn a ray of polarised light.
Leevulose is sweeter than dextrose, and less fermentable.
Molasses, treacle, theriaca, or sacchari fex, is the un-
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NUTRITIVE, LAXATIVE, DEMULCENT, ANTISEPTIC 659
crystallised, fermentable, syrupy residue from the prepara-
tion and refining of sugar. It has a brown colour, a pleasant
sweet taste, and a specific gravity of about 1-4. Molasses is
the drainings from the raw sugar; treacle the darker, thicker
residue from the moulding process.
Honey or mel, the saccharine secretion deposited in the
honeycomb by the hive bee, when first collected is yellow,
translucent, and viscid, and consists of variable proportions
of sucrose and levulose. The popular household expectorant
oxymel is made of eight parts of honey, liquefied by heat,
and mixed with one part each of acetic acid and water.
Actions anp Uszs.—The sugars are members of the carbo-
hydrate series of dietetic substances, are digestible and
nutritive; their important function in all the higher animals
is the support of animal heat ; they moreover economise the
proteids and fats, and directly contribute to the deposit of
fat. They are laxatives, demulcents, and antiseptics, and
used pharmaceutically as excipients. One or two pounds
given to horses or cattle, eight to twelve ounces to sheep or
dogs, eight to ten drachms to poultry, increase the amount
and fluidity of the feces, and usually also augment secretion
of urine. As a demulcent sugar is used in the dry stages of
catarrh, in poisoning with salts of mercury and copper, and as
a domestic remedy for wounds, and for removing specks from
the cornea. Its antiseptic properties recommend it for pre-
serving many vegetable and some soft animal substances,
and for making up various medicines. It increases the
solubility of calcium salts and retards oxidation of ferrous
-compounds. The syrupus of the B.P. used for flavouring,
preserving, and suspending medicines, is made by dissolving,
with the aid of heat, five pounds refined sugar in two pints
distilled water, and adding after cooling, sufficient water to
make the weight of the product 74 lbs. Specific gravity 1:330.
Molasses and treacle are often substituted for sugar.
They are palatable, digestible, laxative articles of diet,
useful for sick and convalescent animals. They are con-
venient auxiliary purgatives, and valuable for hastening
the action, preventing the nausea, and covering the disagree-
able flavour of active cathartics. When full doses of physic
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660 PETANELLE
have been given, and their repetition is inexpedient, large
and repeated doses of treacle encourage the action of the
purgative, especially in cattle and sheep. As a soothing
antiseptic gargle for horses, three or four ounces of treacle
and an ounce of borax or of potassium nitrate or chlorate
are dissolved in a pint of water, and a few ounces slowly
administered every hour or two. When cough is trouble-
some an ounce of belladonna extract may be added. Treacle
is a convenient antiseptic excipient for ball masses, impart-
ing a proper consistence, and preventing their becoming dry,
hard, or mouldy. The common mass, so largely used as an
excipient, is made by thoroughly mixing with gentle heat
equal weights of treacle and linseed flour.
Doses, etc.—Of sugar and treacle, as laxatives, horses and
cattle take lb.i.; sheep, Zv. or Zvi.; pigs, Zij. to Zvi.; dogs,
Zi. to 3ij., administered with aromatics and salines, usually
dissolved in water, milk, or gruel, or mixed with a mash.
PETANELLE
Petanelle wool fibre, powder, and hygienic clothing, for
veterinary use, are manufactured by Messrs. Paté, Burke &
Co., London, Paris, and Rheims. The fibre extracted by a
patented process from red or moss peat, is sterilised, under
pressure, by means of moist heat at a temperature of
134° Cent., and then dried. It is aseptic, antiseptic, and
deodorant, and is used as a wound-dressing in place of
carbolised tow or other similar absorbent. The fibre is
eminently porous, very compressible and elastic, and a
powerful absorbent of liquids and gases. It is not putres-
cible; and it is said to undergo no change in whatever
medium it may be placed. Applied to wounds it promotes
healing, and frequent renewal of the dressing is unnecessary.
Petanelle powder is disinfectant and, according to Professor
Bayne, Royal Veterinary College, London, it is especially
useful as a deodorant. The rugs, saddle-cloths, and bandages
for horses, and the blankets and cushions for dogs remain
free from offensive odour after long use (see Veterinary
Record, 1900).
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SUBSTANCES DERIVED FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 661
CANTHARIDES
Cantuaris, Blistering or Spanish Fly. The dried beetle
—Cantharis vesicatoria. Class— Insecta. Order —
Coleoptera.
Cantharides flies are found in most parts of Southern
Europe, Germany, and Russia, and occasionally along the
south coast of England. They settle on such trees and
shrubs as the olive, lilac, privet, ash, elder, honeysuckle, and
rose. During May and June, after nightfall or before dawn,
the collectors, with their faces protected by masks and their
hands by gloves, shake or beat the insects from the trees on
which they feed, kill them by exposure to the fumes of oil of
turpentine, or by immersion in boiling water or vinegar, and
quickly dry them in the sun or by artificial heat. The flies
used in this country were formerly brought from Spain (and
hence their vernacular name of Spanish flies), but are now
chiefly imported from Hungary, St. Petersburg, and Messina,
usually packed in barrels or cases containing from 100 to
200 lbs.
Properties, etc.—The insect is from three quarters of an
inch to an inch long, and a quarter of an inch broad, with
two long elytra or wing-sheaths of a shining coppery-green
colour, under which are two thin, brownish, gauze-like,
membranous wings. The body, especially along its under
surface, is covered with grey-white hairs; the head is large;
the antenne or horns are black and thread-like. The insect,
which lives eight to ten days, deposits its larve in the earth,
leaving them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. It has
a resinous, acrid taste, and a disagreeable, penetrating, fetid
odour. Powdered cantharides is freely soluble in boiling
water, alcohol, ether, acetic acid, and fixed and volatile oils.
The active principle being volatile, no cantharides prepara-
tion should be heated beyond 200° Fahr. Its distinguishing
tests are its vesicant action, and the brilliant green appear-
ance of the wing-sheaths.
Cantharides, besides animal matters, acetic and uric acids,
contains a bland oil, a fotid,Zacrid, volatile oil, and about
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662 CANTHARIDES
2 per cent. of a fatty crystallisable principle cantharidin
(C,,H,,0,), which is confined to the soft parts of the body,
and is present particularly in the blood and female sexual
organs. It is slowly deposited, when an alcoholic solution
of cantharides is concentrated. When pure, it crystallises
in colourless scales or prisms, melts at 482° Fahr., is in-
soluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, acetic acid, ether,
chloroform, and oils; 73; of a grain suffices to blister.
Impuriries—As the powdered cantharides sold in the
shops sometimes contains euphorbium and various cheap
irritants, it is advised that the flies be purchased entire.
Other insects are sometimes mixed with them. The species
of mylabris sold as Chinese blistering flies have two orange-
coloured bands and spots on the wing-covers. Activity is
sometimes impaired by damp, long-keeping, and attacks of
mites, moths, and beetles—parasitic attacks which are pre-
vented by keeping the fresh flies in closely-stoppered bottles,
with a few drops of acetic acid, or a few grains of camphor
or ammonium carbonate.
Actions anp Uses.—Cantharides is an irritant, and pro-
duces its effects on any part with which the free cantharidin
is brought into contact. Applied externally, it stimulates
and vesicates, and is used as a counter-irritant. When
swallowed it irritates the digestive mucous membrane; large
doses produce gastro-enteritis. The active cantharidin is
absorbed, and in the blood forms a non-irritant albuminoid,
but in the kidneys is again liberated, developing its charac-
teristic irritation—small doses stimulating the urino-genital
tract, causing diuresis, and in some animals increased sexual
desire; full doses inducing inflammation, strangury, and
hematuria.
GeneraL Actions.—According to the strength of the pre-
paration, or the period during which it is applied, cantharides
produces redness, vesication, or sloughing of the skin or
mucous surfaces. An ordinary vesicant dressing causes con-
gestion, elevation of local temperature, and, usually within
three to twelve hours, formation of blisters, which, after a
variable but generally short time, burst, and discharge a
yellow, serous fluid, which dries into scurfy cicatrices. When
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AN IRRITANT POISON 663
freely or continuously used, the deeper-seated skin tissues
are inflamed, and ulceration, and sloughing with suppura-
tion ensue. When the true skin has thus been seriously
inflamed, the hair bulbs are injured; the hair is removed,
and permanent baldness and blemishing may result. Asa
vesicant it is most powerful on horses and dogs, and less
powerful on cattle, swine, and poultry.
Toxic Errecrs.—Orfila found that ‘three drachms of the
tincture, with eight grains of powder suspended in it, caused
the death of a dog in twenty-four hours, if retained in the
stomach by a ligature on the gullet, insensibility being the
chief symptom; and that forty grains of the powder killed
another dog in four hours and a half, although he was
allowed to vomit. When administered by the stomach, that
organ was found much inflamed after death ; and if given in
the form of powder, fragments of the poison were generally
discernible. When applied to a wound, the powder excites
surrounding inflammation; and a drachm will, in this way,
prove fatal in thirty-two hours, without any constitutional
symptom except languor ’ (Christison On Poisons). An ounce
of powdered cantharides administered to a horse caused
death in eighteen hours; and fatal effects are reported to
have occurred where only one drachm was given (Morton).
The treatment of the gastro-intestinal or urinary irritation
consists in the free use of mucilaginous drinks with opiates.
Oils and fats are inadmissible on account of their favouring
solution of any unabsorbed poison. When constitutional
irritation has resulted from absorption of the cantharidin
from a blistered surface, this should be dressed with soothing
remedies.
Mepicinat Usts.—Small, repeated doses are occasionally
prescribed in chronic catarrh. In such cases Professor
Robertson gave it with copaiba. It is sometimes serviceable
in chronic cystitis; while giving tone to the bladder, small
doses prevent involuntary escape of urine. In some parts
of Germany it is given to cows which are tardy in coming to
service; but its aphrodisiac effects on either sex are un-
certain, and seldom produced except by dangerously large
doses. When administered for some time, small vesicles
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664 CANTHARIDES
sometimes appear on the skin, depending on the excretion
of cantharidin cutaneously.
Exrernat Appiications.—Cantharides, in small amount and
diluted, stimulates the capillaries and trophic nerves of the
part to which it is applied, and thus increases the blood
supply and functional activity of the skin and hair bulbs.
It hence induces a healthier condition of the dermis in some
chronic scaly diseases, and promotes growth of hair; ulcers
and tardily-healing wounds are stimulated, and their repair
encouraged. Inflammatory products are liquefied and
absorbed—an effect familiarly illustrated by the action of a
blister on the swelling remaining around a bruise, or on the
fulness and thickening resulting from a strain. The bene-
ficial effects of a cantharides blister in arresting inflam-
mation and removing effusion were often exhibited when
blood-letting was the rule, and phlebitis of the jugular vein
of the horse was not infrequent. Blistering ointment, well
rubbed in along the course of the vessel, removed the tense,
corded, inflammatory swelling.
Cantharides blister is usefully applied in cases of open
joint or bursa, where the wound is small, to prevent
escape of synovia. It is also applied in umbilical hernia in
foals and calves; and while it mechanically prevents the
descent of the intestine, it gradually obliterates the opening in
the abdominal wall. Similar effects are sometimes obtained
by moistening the adjacent skin with sulphuric acid.
Cantharides is much used as a counter-irritant. The
external irritation reflexly relieves tension, inflammation,
and pain of adjacent or deep-seated parts. Blisters applied
experimentally to the chest or loins of dogs and rabbits,
while producing external congestion, cause anemia of the
pleura and lungs, or of the deeper-seated muscles of the
back. Professor Robertson has recorded that in pleuritic
and other cases a blister so notably modifies morbid action,
and relieves painful tension, that temperature is reduced 2°
to 3° Fahr., and the pulse ten beats per minute. He preferred
cantharides to mustard, believing it to cause less irritation
and pain, and to produce more permanent curative effects.
Professor Williams, however, maintains that cantharides
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USES AS A COUNTER-IRRITANT 665
and other blisters unnecessarily irritate most horses, and,
in acute diseases of the respiratory organs, are neither so
certain nor so satisfactory as hot fomentations (p. 700).
In many cases of catarrh and sore-throat, heat and moisture
are certainly more effectual than blisters; but tedious, irri-
table conditions of the larynx, inducing coughing, are often
relieved by a cantharides dressing. In the outset of roaring,
counter-irritation is often useful. In acute bronchitis, when
mainly affecting the larger tubes; it is serviceable, in con-
junction with inhalation of steam, and after stuping the
parts with hot water. But Professor Robertson also speaks
favourably of fly blisters in cases where considerable exuda-
tion blocks the smaller tubes. Their efficacy is seldom so
obvious in pneumonia, especially when involving a consider-
able area. In pleurodynia and most stages of pleurisy,
cantharides is specially useful; in the earlier stages it
moderates acute inflammation, while later it checks or
removes effusion. It is the counter-irritant usually applied
in inflammation ot the pericardium. Although occasionally
used, it is never of much value, in either colic or enteritis.
In peritonitis it is seldom so effectual as in pleurisy,
but was advised by Professor Robertson in chronic cases.
Where acute inflammation extends over a considerable
area of the peritoneum, it is desirable that the blister be
applied some little distance to the side of and not directly
over the closely underlying inflamed spot. Professor Williams
and other good authorities recommend cantharides blisters
in encephalitis and myelitis, as well as in chronic paralysis.
Cases of paralysis in cows depending upon parturient apo-
plexy are usually benefited by moderate counter-irritation,
maintained for a week or ten days. In rheumatism, in all
patients, advantage frequently results from a fly blister
which is maintained active by repeated application.
Irritation and inflammation of joints, burse, ligaments,
tendons, and bones are combated, and effused products
removed by blisters properly used. When external surfaces
or comparatively superficial textures are to be directly
stimulated, the cantharides application must be mild, and
not too long applied. When deeper-seated parts are to be
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666 CANTHARIDES
acted on, more powerful preparations are needful, and their
effects may be maintained by repetition. It is seldom
advisable to apply cantharides directly to any part which
is hot, tender, or inflamed. In applying blisters to inflamed
joints or bursie, it is judicious to place them, not immediately
upon, but somewhat above or below, the affected spot.
Where continued effects are desired, mercury biniodide
ointment is alternated with cantharides, or substituted for
it, or the actual cautery is used instead of blisters.
Owing to its liability to become absorbed and irritate the
kidneys, it is an unsuitable counter-irritant in inflamma-
tion of the urinary organs, In common with all other causes
of irritation, it must be avoided in tetanus. Unless on a
very limited surface, and freely diluted, cantharides must
not be used in weakly, exhausted subjects. It should not be
applied to any portion of the skin in a highly vascular or
sensitive condition, or where there is tendency to erysipelas.
In dogs, special caution is required, as they are apt to rub
the blistered parts, and cause sloughing. Cantharides some-
times acts with unexpected violence on the skin of well-bred
horses, and for such subjects strong blisters are not advisable,
and their application over considerable surfaces should be
avoided. No horse should have all four legs blistered at
one time. In some excitable subjects even a moderate
blister causes much constitutional disturbance.
Dosss, etc.—For horses, grs. iv. to grs. xx.; for cattle, grs.
x. to grs. xx.; for sheep and swine, grs. ij. to grs. viij.; for
dogs, gr. ss. to grs. 1j., repeated once or twice a day, usually
given with aromatics and bitters, in the form of bolus or
tincture; administration suspended if urinary irritation or
any untoward effects occur.
Cantharides is used externally in the form of powder
tincture, vinegar, ointment, liniment, and plaster.
Powdered cantharides is principally used for maintaining
irritation, and for scattering over mustard poultices and
other stimulant applications to increase their activity.
Tinctures of cantharides are made of varying strength.
The B.P. tincture (1 in 80), and other alcoholic preparations,
used in human medicine are too weak for most veterinary
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PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS 667
purposes, One ounce of coarsely-powdered flies, macerated
for seven days with fifteen or twenty ounces of alcohol, 60
per cent., forms a useful tincture of medium strength. The
activity is augmented by addition of liquor ammonie, or oil
of turpentine. The tinctures in common use act speedily, but
their effects are less powerful and permanent than those of
the ointments. Though producing considerable irritation,
they seldom cause blistering, unless applied repeatedly at
short intervals. In using them, it is not essential that the
hair be removed, nor even that the animal be kept idle.
They may be applied repeatedly to the same spot without
fear of blemishing.
Vinegar of cantharides made with one part of powdered
flies and ten of acetic acid—forms a prompt counter-irritant.
The B.P. Acetum Cantharidis is prepared with two parts
cantharides, and 10 parts each of glacial acetic acid and
water.
Ointments of cantharides are much used. Their olea-
ginous constituents ensure solution of the cantharidin, and
render them easy of application. Many contain a number
of ingredients, but the simplest are usually the best. A
useful’ ointment of medium strength consists of one part of
powdered cantharides to six of benzoated lard, palm oil,
or vaseline. A stronger ointment is made with one ounce
each of mercury biniodide and cantharides, and eight
ounces of vaseline or benzoated lard. Such an ointment,
when well made and applied with smart friction, acts
effectually. Another excellent ointment is made with one
part each of powdered cantharides, Venice turpentine, and
resin, with four parts of vaseline, palm oil, or lard. The
powdered flies are digésted with the oily matters in a
covered vessel, over a slow fire or a water-bath, for
twelve hours, and the vessel placed in boiling water for
fifteen minutes; any wax or resinous matters used to give
consistence are then melted and stirred in, any volatile
flavouring oil added, and the mixture, if required, strained
through muslin,
French, German, and Belgian practitioners frequently,
however, add other irritants to their cantharides blisters.
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668 CANTHARIDES
Degive, of the Veterinary College, Brussels, states that
numerous experiments convince him that the best vesicant
is made of ten to fifteen parts each of cantharides and
corrosive sublimate dissolved in one hundred parts of
vaseline. The part is prepared by clipping the hair, and
washing with soap and water. The ointment is rubbed in
for ten minutes, and, if needful, six hours later the surface
may be simply anointed. Swelling and vesicles appear
usually within a few hours; the vesicles are as large as
pigeons’ eggs; but by the second day inflammation subsides,
and blemishing, it is said, does not occur (Jour. Comp.
Path. and Therap., 1890).
In cattle practice, counter-irritation is generally produced
with mustard paste or blister, but some powder, or strong
ointment, of cantharides, mixed with the mustard, greatly
increases its effects. For dogs, a convenient ointment is
made with an ounce each of powdered cantharides and oil
of turpentine, and twelve to twenty ounces of lard.
To ensure full vesication, the hair should be removed,
the skin washed with soap and water and dried, and the
ointment then well rubbed in. The extent of surface to
be covered must obviously depend upon the nature, seat,
and extent of the malady. To prevent the blister, when
liberally applied, from spreading beyond the desired limits,
the blistered area may be surrounded with an edging of
resin ointment. The blister, while acting, often causes
considerable irritation, and the animal, if permitted, will rub
or bite the blistered part. In the horse this should be
prevented by securing the head to the rack, putting on a
cradle, or, when required, tying up the tail; in the dog, by
the use of the muzzle. On the next, second, or third day,
the blistered part should be dressed with zinc oxide
ointment, oil, lard, vaseline, or Carron oil. If sufficient effect
has not been produced, a little more of the blister may then
be applied.
Liniments of cantharides are merely liquefied ointments,
and, in respect of activity, usually occupy a place between
ointments and tinctures. They generally consist of one part
of cantharides and six to ten parts of rape or linseed oil.
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COD-LIVER OIL 669
Oil of turpentine is sometimes added. The BP. Liquor
epispasticus is made with ten of cantharides and twenty of
acetic ether.
Plasters of cantharides are made in the same manner as
ointments, but rendered more strongly adhesive by the
addition of yellow wax, soap plaster, and resin or pitch.
To prevent displacement they are usually applied in the
melted state, immediately covered by a little tow or teased
lint, and enveloped in a suitable bandage.
COD-LIVER OIL
OLEuM Morruvu#. The oil extracted from the fresh liver
of the cod, Gadus morrhua, by the application of a
temperature not exceeding 180° Fahr.; and from which
solid fat has been separated by filtration at about
23° Fahr. (B.P.).
The chief supplies of cod-liver oil come from Newfound-
land. An oil called candle-oil, prized by the Indians as a
tonic, and used along the Pacific coasts, is obtained from
the oslachan or boulican, which inhabits the waters of
British Columbia and Vancouver's Island. Good samples
of cod-liver oil have a pale yellow colour, and an oily, fishy
taste, which becomes, however, less obvious to those
accustomed to take it. The dark colour and nauseous
flavour of indifferent specimens result from exposure to
high temperatures, or from the oil being extracted from
stale, putrid livers. Specific gravity, 0920 to 0:930; ether
dissolves it readily ; cold alcohol dissolves 2 to 3 per cent. ;
hot alcohol, 8 to 7 per cent. It consists of olein (85 per
cent.), varying proportions of palmitin, myristin, and
stearin; traces of four volatile and two fixed alkaloids,
morrhuic acid, with biliary and other organic bodies
containing phosphorus, iodine, bromine, and chlorine. , borax ; 120
;, carbolic acid 676
», lodine 316
»» pepsin 681
»» starch : 676
,, tannic acid 640, 676
Glycerina 701
Glycoformal 387
Glycyrrhize radix 653
Glycyrrhizin . . 653
Golden eye-ointment . : 304
Golden seal 126, 555, 564
Goose grease . ‘ 672
Gossypium 644
Goulard’s extract 232
Grape sugar 658
Green vitriol . 256
Gregory’s mixture 455
Grey powder . 290
Guaiacol 411
Guarana 488
Gum acacia 645
ammoniacum 580
Arabic. 645
Bassorin 646
benzoin , 641
British . 646, 655
Cape é 646
resins 710
Senegal 646
tragacanth 645
Gun cotton 361
Gunjah 490
787
PAGE
Hazit modifies the action of medi-
cines, 23.
Hematinics—blood tonics, 23, 123,
133, 252, 255, 258, 259.
Hematoxylon (logwood) 636
Hemoglobin . 29
Hemostatics, 57, 234, 236, 344, 355,
383, 409, 530, 596, 616, 639.
Hartshorn’ 162
Haschisch 490
Heart, medicines acting on (see
Cardiac), 87.
Heat . 45
and moisture 708
a disinfectant i 45
a stimulant . 49, 701
Hellebore, black 610
green 549
white 349
Helleborin , 611
Helleborein 527, 611
Helleborus niger 527, 610
Hemlock 508
succus . 512
Henbane or hyoseyamus 513
Hepatic depressants . 110
stimulants (see Cholagogues),
110, 300, 333, 429, 449, 450, 453,
455, 546, 560, 621.
Hoffmann’s anodyne . 361
Hollands 347
Holocaine 517
Homatropine hydrobromide, ‘477, os
Homeopathy .
Honey or mel. 659
Horse, action of medicines on (see
p. 779), 19, 20.
alteratives 134, 182
anesthetics é 70
anodynes 67
antipyretics . 135
cathartics, 103, 428, 436, 441,
443, 652,
diuretics 121
sedatives 65
stimulants 64, "350, 364
tonics . 133
vermicides 113
Hordeum 644
Horses do not vomit . 20
Hot fomentation 157
Hot iron 52
Huile de cade. 586
Hyderabad—chloroform experiments,
72, 369, 370.
Hydragogue cathartics 102
Hydrargyri bichloridum 298
chloridum 292
cum creta 290
emplastrum 290
iodida . 302
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788 INDEX OF
PAGE
Hydrargyri linimentum 289
nitratis 304
unguentum 288
oleas : 289
oxidum flavum 292
nigrum . 291
rubrum . 292
perchloridum 298
pilula ‘ 291
subchloridum . 292
unguentum 288
Hydrargyrum. 285
Hydramel or pentane ‘ 46
Hydrastis Canadensis 126, 555, 564
Hydrobromic acid . : 335
Hydrochloric or muriaticacid 330
Hydroctarnine ‘ 459
Hydrocyanic or prussic acid . 418
Hydrogen peroxide 627
Hydronaphthol 393
Hydrotherapy 117
Hy droquinone 390
Hygienic remedies 130
Hyoscine $ 513
Hyoscyamine . 513
Hyoscyamus niger 513
Hypnone . 65
Hypnotics produce sleep, 64, 374, 379,
380, 490.
Hypodermic injections, 17, 152, 377,
382, 385, 396, 437, 461, 467, 475,
481, 487, 489, 502, 508, 512, 514,
517, 518, 522, 543, 544, 547, 548,
557, 605, 617, 622, 643-
Hypodermic syringe . 152
Hypochlorite of calcium 208
Icke. 159
Ice-bag 159
Ichthyol 681
Idiosyncrasies 23
Indian hemp . 489
tobacco 634
Infusion of catechu 636
cinchona 557
ergot 617
gentian 565
opium . 476
tobacco 634
Infusions 702
Infusoria 30
Inhalations, 87, 149, 328, 372, 396,
410, 599, 642, 712.
Injections, intramuscular, 501, 548,
562, 617.
intratracheal, 15, 87, 150, 284,
378, 383, 405, 411, 482, 508,
512, 522, 557, 597, 622, 643.
intravenous, 150, 218, 376, 378,
429, 605.
rectal . ‘i . 15, 149
MEDICINES
PAGE
Injections, subcutaneous (see Hypo-
dermic), 17, 151, 200, 284,
461, 475, 487, 489, 502, 508,
512, 517, 521, 544, 547, 548,
Injectio apomorphine hypodermica,
61,
atropine hypodermica 487
ergotz i 617
morphine 5 475
Inoculations . 4, 5, 6, 7
Insecticides (see Antiparasitics), 48,
192, 607.
Intestinal antiseptics and disinfect-
ants, 108, 223, 224, 308, 389, 390,
391, 393, 405, 409, 412, 414, 417,
562, 585, 630.
astringents, 107, 387, 640
stimulants 216, 502, 519, 604
Iodide of copper 245
iron 255
lead 232
mercury 302
potassium 177
starch . 311
sulphur 316
Iodine - 310
ointment 316
solutions 315
tinctures 316
Iodism 178, 313
Iodoform 415
Iodoform substitutes, 381, 391,417, me
Todoformal 418
Iodoformin 418
Iodoformogen . 418
Todol . 2 417
Todum . 310
Iodo-salicylic acid 418
Ipecacuanha . 544
Tron and its salts 2 251
and quinine citrate 255, 557
arsenate ‘ 255
carbonate 256
chloride 260
hydrated peroxide 259
iodide , ‘ 259
phosphate 255, 501
saccharine carbonate . 256
sulphate 256
salicylate 562
tincture 260
Isinglass 674
Itrol 250
Izal 415
JABORANDI 519
Jaborine 519
Jalap . 448
Jamaica, ginger 577
pepper . 575
James’s powder 263
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INDEX OF MEDICINES
PAGE
Jasmine 495
Jervine ‘ 549
J esuits’ bark . 551
Jeyes’ fluid 412
Jonah’s gourd 439
Juniper tops and berries 586
Juniperus communis . 586
sabina . 617
oxycedrus 586
Jute : 649
KAIRINE 396
Kaladana purgative seeds 448
Kalium or potassium salts 169
Kamala a vermifuge 114, 611
Kaolin 4 é 22%
Kelp 310
Keratin 679
Kermes mineral 263
Kidneys 119
Kino . 636
Koch, Professor 3, 38, 299
Kousso a vermifuge 607
Krameria triandra 636
Kreosote or creosote 408
LABARRAQUE’S soda disinfecting fluid,
201.
Lactose or lactine 658
Lanoline 673
Lanthoptine 459
Laudanine 459
Laudanosine . 459
Levulose—left-handed sugar, 658
Lapis infernalis 3 246
Lard 671
Larkspur or stavesacre ‘ 606
Laudanum or tincture of opium 476
Laughing gas . 70
Lavender ‘ 587
Laxatives, 101, 175, 186, 211, 290,
314, 319, 438, 458, 646, 651, 659,
678.
Lead and its compounds 225
“acetate - 232
carbonate 231
iodide - 232
oxide 231
oleate 231
plaster - 231
poisoning with 226
antidotes for 231
sugar of 232
white 231
Leopard’s bane or arnica 580
Leucocytes 29
Lime, burnt 203
carbonates 205
chloride 208
chlorinated 208
hydrate 204
789
PAGE
Lime, phosphate 207
saccharated 205
water : 204
Liniment of ammonia 166
belladonna 487
camphor 625
cantharides 669
croton . 445
lime 205
mercury 289
opium . 477
soap 679
turpentine 599
Liniments, 166, 205, 231, 407, 445,
474, 477, 487, 543, 599, 625, 667,
689, 706.
Linseed 648
cake 649
meal 649
oil 649
Lint. 649
Linum usitatissimum . 648
Liquor ammoniz fortis 162
acetatis 167
arsenicalis 284
arsenici et hydrargyri iodidi,
284.
atropine sulphatis 487
calcis 204
carbonis detergens 425
chlori ‘ 309
ethyl nitritis 362
ferri perchloridi 260
are! aan 301
iodi . 316
pancreatis 681
picis carbonis . 425
potasse 171
trinitrini 386
Liquors 702
Pane root 653
sugar 653
Litharge—oxide of lead 231
Lithium salts . 169
Lithontriptics . 123, 172, 174
Liver, drugs acting on . 109
stimulants, 109, 110, 333, 429,
449, 450, 455.
Lobelia—Indian tobacco 634
Logwood an astringent dye . 636
Long pepper . 574
Loose box 130
Loretin 418
Losophan 418
Lotions, 179, 181, 184, 186, 235, 237,
240, 245, 301, "326, 329, 332, 333,
338, 342, 407, 422, 474, 562, 628,
677, 702.
Lubricants 425, 601, 652, 673
Lunar caustic . A : 247
Lysol . 415
Digitized by Microsoft®
790
INDEX OF MEDICINES
PAGE PACE
M‘CaLL, PRoressor, experiments Mercurial ointments, 288, 292, 297,
with counter-irritants 302, 308, 304.
Macdougall’s disinfectants . 44, 398 pill ‘ i 291
Magnesium and its compounds 210 plaster . 290
calcined 210 | Mercurialism . 287
carbonate 211 | Mercuric salts 285
oxide 210 | Mercurous salts 285
sulphate 212 | Mercuro-zinc cyanide 302
Maize starch . 654 | Mercury and its compounds . 285
Male fern 608 ammoniated ; 302
Mallein 684 chlorides 292, 298
Mallows 644 corrosive sublimate 298
Malt extracts 645 iodides . 302
Maltose 655 liniment 289
Mammary glands, arugs act- nitrate . 5 304
ing on 126, 127 nitrate ointment 304
Mandrake : 449 ointment 288
Mange and scab dressings (see oleate 289
Parasiticides) 48 oxides . 291, 292
Marjoram 587 pill : 291
Marsh-mallow 644 poisoning 286
Mass, common 651 plaster . 290
Massage 50 with chalk 290
Materia Medica, definition of 1 | Methylated spirit ; 347
Matico leaves . , 575 | Methyl alcohol 347
May apple or podophyllum 449 chloride 347
Meadow satfron 619 conine - 509
Measures, pharmaceutic 714 morphine 459
domestic 715 strychnine 8, 495
Meconic acid . 459 violet é 2% 391
Meconidine 459 | Methylal s 71
Medicated spirits ; 712 | Methylene , 71
Medicines, absorption of, 13, 14, 15,16 blue 392
acting by counter- action, 26 | Metric weights and measures 716
acting generally 148 | Microbes 3, 32
acting hypodermically. 151 | Milk sugar 658
acting intratracheally . 150 | Milk of sulphur 317
acting locally . 148 | Mindererus spirit 168
acting by mouth f 149 | Mineral Kermes 263
acting by Peon oils 705
membrane 149 | Mixtures ; ; 703
acting by rectum 149 freezing ‘ . 159
acting by skin . 150 | Molasses—treacle 659
circumstances modify- Monkshood 536
ing . . ‘ 22 | Morphine 459
classification of 7, 10, 11 acetate . 460
curative action of 25 compared with atropine 480
doses 147 hydrochloride . 460
elective affinity : 17 muriate 460
on different patients, 18, 22, tartrate 475
269, 275, 287, 352. Morrhue oleum 669
physiological action of 12 | Mortars ; 709
therapeutic action of . 12 Motor depressants (see Paralysants),
Mel—honey : ‘ 659 62.
boracis ‘ 191 Mucilages 646, 703
Mentha piperita 587 | Muriate of ammonia ; 161
pulegium 587 antimony : 264
viridis 587 mercury 292, 298
Menthol 587 morphia 3 460
Mercurial compounds 285 soda. 2 195
liniments 289 | Muriatic or hydrochloric acid 330
Digitized by Microsoft®
INDEX OF MEDICINES
PAGE
Muscarine . 98
Musk 3 704
Muscle poisons 60
relaxers
59
stimulants, 56, 59, 499, 503, 507,
522, 525, 547, 548, 614, 619.
Muscles, drugs acting on 59
Mustard 569
applications 570
black 569
compared with other
irritants : 570
oil of 569
white 569
Mydriatics, dilators of the pupil, 82,
478, 485, 515.
Myotics, contractors of the pupil, 82,
503, 507, 605.
Myricin 683
Myristin 669
Myrosin 569
Myrrh ‘ 573
tincture of 574
Myrrhol 573
NaPHTHALIN . 392
Naphthalol 393
Naphthas 423
Naphthols 392
Narceine 459
Narcotics 66
Narcotine 459
Nataloin i 435
Natural orders of plants : 8
Nauseants 5 ‘ 98
Neriin. i 527
Nerve paralysers 63, 79
stimulants . 63, 80
tonics . 79, 247, 494
Nervous system, drugs acting on 62
Neurotics 62
Neutral organic principles 690
Nicotiana tabacum 630
Nicotine 631
Nicotianin . 631
Nightshade, deadly 477
Nitrate of mercury 304
potash 179
silver 246
soda 198
Nitrates 180
Nitre or saltpetre 179
sweet spirit of . 362
Nitric acid i 332
Nitrite of amyl 348, 384
Nitrite of ethyl Z 362
Nitrite of sodium 386
Nitro-glycerin 386
hydrochloric acid 334
Nitrous ether . 362
oxide gas 70
791
PAGE
Nut-galls ‘ ; 637
Nero 129, 646, "650, 654, 659,
670.
Nux vomica 493
alkaloids of 494
poisoning 496
Oak bark 566
galls 637
Oakum 649
Oatmeal 654
Cinanthe crocata 509
Oil, almond 651
anise 582
black 653
cake 649
Carron . 650
castor 439
chamomile 588
cod-liver 669
croton . 442
drying . 650
expressed or fixed - 647-703
linseed . F ‘ 649
olive 7 647
volatile 582, 704
of cade . 586
cinnamon 578
ergot 613
eucalyptus 584
juniper . ‘ 586
mineral 424, 705
mustard 572
myrrh . 573
peppermint 587
pine. 600
poppy . 456
Scotch fir 600
rapeseed 651
Oil of savin 584
tar : 602
thyme . 629
turpentine 590
Valerian 589
vitriol . 324
wine. 361
Ointments, how made, etc. 705
Ointment, blistering . 667
cantharides 667
carbolic 408
citrine . 304
iodide of sulphur 316
iodine . ‘ ‘ 316
mercury 288, 304
red iodide : 302
resin 601
savin . 619
silver nitrate 249
simple . 601
sulphur 320
zinc oxide 237
Digitized by Microsoft®
792 INDEX OF
Oleates ‘ 236-289, “06
Oleate of lead
Oleo-resins 578, 591, as
Oleic acid 340
Oleum etherum 361
anisi 582
anthemidis 588
crotonis 442
ergote . 613
juniperi 586
lini ‘ 649
menthe piperitze 587
morrhuze 669
olive 647
picis 602
ricini 439
sabine . 618
terebinthine 590
tiglii 442
Gidbwaun or frankincense 591
Olive oleum 647
Olives . 647
Olive oil 647
Opium . 456
alkaloids 459
ammoniated tincture . 476
Opium antidotes 469
camphorated tincture . 477
compared with belladonna 480
Egyptian 457
enemas 475
English 458
European 458
extract 477
Indian . 457
liniment 477
poisoning by 465
preparations of 476
purity and strength of 458
Smyrna 457
test for 459
tinctures of 76
Turkey 457
Ordeal bean of Calabar 502
Organic animal extracts 690
Orphol : 224
Orthoform 518
Ossein 674
Oxalic acid 340
Oxide of antimony 263
calcium 203
iron 259
lead 231
magnesia . 210
mercury 291, 292
zine A 236
Oxygen 159
Oxymel 339
Oxymorphine . 459
Oxytocics or ecbolics
Ozone .
126, 612, 617
160
MEDICINES
PAGE
Pain relievers (see ee) 66
Palma Christi ; 439
Papaverine 459
Papaver somniferum . 456
rheas . 456
Paraffin oils 425
Paraldehyde . 65, 380
Paralysants, 60, 61, 63, 64, 67, 71,
76, 79, 91, 340, 351, 384, 386, 419,
422, 484, 510, 515, 523, 542, 547.
Paramorphine ‘ 461
Parasiticides (see also Insecticides
and Vermicides), 48, 112, 192, 208,
248, 280, 301, 304, 309, 315, 316,
319, 327, 338, 389, 392, 406, 411,
414, 417, 441, "547, 550, 628, 634.
Pareira 3 535
Parturients 126
Pastes 224
Pearl ashes 172
barley 644
Pennyroyal 587
Pentane 46
Peppers . 574
Pepper, Cayenne 575
cubebs . 575
Peppermint 587
oil 587
spirit 588
water 588
Pepsin 680
Percolation 71
Periodate ‘ 418
Permanganate of potash 184
Peroxide of hystegen: 627
iron 259
Peru balsam . 643
Peruvian bark 551
Petanelle 660
Petrolatum 425
Petroleum benzin 389, 424
vaseline 5 425
Petroleums 423, 424
Pharmacology 1
Pharmacy 687
Phenic, or carbolic, acid 397
Phenacetin 393
Phenol 397
-acetamide : 383
-salicylate 67, 391
Phenazone (antipyrine) . 80, 381
Phenyl hydrate 397
Phlebotomy . 139
Phosphate of iron 255, 501
lime. ‘ 207
Phosphoric acid 334
Phosphorus 304
Physic masses 434
Physiological actions of medicines 12
rest. 131
Physiology of vomiting 97
Digitized by Microsoft®
INDEX OF MEDICINES
PAGE
Physostigmatis semina 502
Physostigmine sane 502
Picrotoxin . 67, 495
Picric acid 332 |
Pigs acted on by medicines much in
the same way as men and dogs,
22, 104, 197, 266, = 468.
Pill, blue 291
how made 291
Pilocarpine nitrate 519
Pimento or allspice 575
Pimpinella anisum 582
Pines . 591
Pinus Sylvestris 591
Piper album . 574
Chili 575
cubeba . 575
longum 574
nigrum 574
Piperazin 394
Piperidine 574
Piperine 574
Pitch . 603
Pix Burgundica 592
liquida . ‘ 603
Plasters, adhesive 221, 232, 683, 706
anodyne 487
blistering 552, 572, 669
glue : 674
lead or sticking ; 231
Plasters, how made, etc. 203, 706
Plumbi acetas ‘ 232
emplastra 231
iodidum 232
oxidum 231
Plumbi carbonas 231
Plumbism 226
Plumbum ‘ 225
Podophyllum . 449
Poisons and antidotes, 140, 142, 144,
146.
Pomegranate root bark 112
Poppy heads . 456
oil 7 456
petals . 456
seed cake 456
Porter 348
Position, restor ative . 131
Potash salts 169
Potashes or pearl ashes 172
Potassii acetas 186
aqua or liquor . 171
fusa or caustica 171
Potassium and its salts 169
acetate 186
bromide 179, 307
carbonates 172
caustic . 17)
chlorate 182
citrate . 186
fusa 171
793
PAGE
Potassium hydrate 171
iodide . 177
nitrate . 179
permanganate . 184
soaps 677
sulphate 176
sulphurata 175
tartrates 186
Potash alum 219
Poultices 707
bran 707
charcoal : 344
linseed 651, 707
mustard : 572
yeast 645
Powder, antimonial ‘ 263
Dover’s 476, 546
Dr. Gregory's 455
James’s 263
Powders, how made, etc. 709
Precautions with anesthetics 369
Precipitated chalk 205
Precipitated sulphur . 317
Prepared chalk 205
Prescribing 687
Prescriptions . 687
Pressure 50
Preventive inoculation 4,6
Proof spirit 346
Protargol 250
Protective vaccines . 34
Protectives 361, 362, 372, 425, 677
Protopine 459
Propane 423
Prussic acid 418
antidotes for 42]
poisoning with 420
Pulvis antimonii 263
Doveri . 476, 546
rhei compositus 455
Pumpkin seed a vermifuge 114
Pure air ‘ 129
Purgatives (see Catharties and
Laxatives) . 100
Purpura heemorrhagica 179, 184
Pustulants 51, 265, 443
Pyridine 396, 631
Pyoktanin : 391
Pyrocatechin . ‘ 390
Pyrogallic acid 390, 640
Pyroligneous acid : 337
QUANTITIES of medicines 147
Qualities of medicines 688
Quassia 567
Quassin 567
Quercin 566
Quercus cortex 566
Quicklime 203
Quicksilver . 285
Quinine hydrochloride 553
Digitized by Microsoft®
794 INDEX OF
PAGE
Quinine 552
sulphate 553
hydrochloride 553
valerianate 590
Quini-chloral . 558
Quinidine 553
RAPESEED oil . 651
Rectified spirit 346
Red cinchona bark 551
Red ointment 302
Refrigerants, 93, 158, 161, 169, 200,
340, 356, 357.
Remedies, hygienic 130
Remijia barks 552
Resin or rosin 601
Resins 601, 710
Resinate of copper 245
Resolvents 314, 680
Resorcin 389
Respiration, medicines acting on 83
Rest a restorative 131
Restoratives, 128, 195, 200, 207, 348,
489, 584, 645.
Retine 602
Revulsion or derivation 49
Rhamuus catharticus 438
Frangula 438
Purshianus 438
syrupus 438
Rhatany 636
Rheum 454
Rhceadine 456
Rhubarb 454
compound powder of 455
Rice starch 654
Ricini oleum . 439
Ricinus communis 439
Rosemary 587
Rosin or resin 601
black or fiddler’s 601
yellow . : 601
Rowel or issue ‘ 52
Rubefacients (see also ‘Counter-
irritants), 49, 50, 355.
Rum 347
Ruminants, medicines acting on, 21,
94, 104, 123, 168, 197, 233, 265, 269,
275, 287, 468, 487.
Rye, ergot of . 612
SABADILLA or Cevadilla 547
Sabina or savin 617
Saccharated lime 205
Sacchari fex . 658
Saccharin 390
Saccharoses 657
Saffron, meadow 619
Sago starch 654
Salacetol 391
MEDICINES
PAGE
Sal-ammoniac 161
Salicylates ‘224, 558
Saline purgatives 102
Salol . 42, 391
Sal-prunelle 180
Sal-volatile 163
Salicin 558
Salicylate of iron 562
sodium 559
Salicylic acid 558
Salt, common 195
Epsom 212
Glauber 191
Saltpetre 179
Salt poisoning 197
Sandal-wood oil 124
Sanitas 626
Sanoform 418
Santonica 605
Santonin 606
Sapo durus 677
Saponin 525
Savery’ 8 liquid sinapism 572
Savin . ; 617
Scammony 448
Schmidt’s treatment of parturient
apoplexy, a
Scilla . 534
Scillain 534
Scillitoxin 534
Scoparin 534
Secale cereale . 612
Sedatives or depressants (see
Paralysants), 64, 91, 383, 422, 518,
537, 550.
Semina crotonis 442
ricini 439
Senegal gum 646
Senna leaves . 449
Setons 52
Sham pooing 50
Sheep, actions of medicines on, 21,
94, 104, 123, 197, 269, 275, 287, 352.
cathartics for, 104, 431, 441,
443, 449,
dips. 280, 634
precautions in dipping 283
Sialogogues 92, 183, 520
Sieves 709
Silver and its compounds 246
citrate . 250
colloid . 249
lactate . 250
nitrate . 246
oxide 249
Sinalbin and sinigrin . 569
Sinapisms or mustard applications,
50, 571, 572.
Size-weak glue : F 674
Skin, medicines acting on 115, 175,
194,
Digitized by Microsoft®
INDEX OF MEDICINES 795
PAGE PAGE
Smelling-salts é ‘ 167 | Spirit of wine . ‘ 346
Smoothing-iron ; : 50 | Spirit, proof . ; 346
Soaps . 677 rectified : 346
Castile . ‘ 678 | Spirits or essences. ; 346
glycerin ‘ 678 | Spiritus etheris a 361
hard or soda 677 ztheris nitrosi s 362
medicinal 4 678 compositus . - 361
Soap liniment ; 679 Mindereri ' : 167
soft or potash . : 678 rectificatus < 346
Socaloin : ; ‘ 435 | Spongiopiline . 5 158
Socins’ paste . ‘ 240 | Sprays : . 247, 339, 627
Soda salts. ‘ 187 | Spurred rye . j ‘ 612
Soda water . 188 | Squill . é : 534
Sodium and its compounds ‘ 187 | Squire’s chemical food 255
bicarbonate . 188 | Staphisagrine 3 607
biborate F 190 | Starch . : 654
bromide 308 iodide of : 311, 655
carbolate 7 408 | Stavesacre seeds ‘ 607
carbonates ‘ 188 | Steam a disinfectant 45
chlorata z 201 | Steam kettle . , 84
chloride ‘ : 195. | Steaming horse’s head 158
ethylate solution ; 187 | Steel, tincture of : 260
hydroxide or caustic soda 188 Sternutatories ‘ 84
hyposulphite . : 192 | St. Ignatius bean ; 495
iodide . 2 177 | Stibium (antimony) . 262
liquid, Labarraque s 201 | Stimulants, 64, 350, 364, 473; 389,
nitrate . ‘ 198 | 390, 393, 404, 411, 489, 495, 575,
Sodium nitrite ; : 386 | 577, 579, 582, 583, 586, 593, 596,
phosphate 191 624, 642, 662, 678, 681.
soap. ‘ 677 bronchial ‘ . 85, 164
sulphate 4 3 191 cardiac. . 88, 484, 489
sulphite 192 cerebral 5 63, 77, 358
thiosulphate , 192 diffusible, 63, 167, 349, 358,
Soft soap ; : ; 678 360.
Solutio arsenicalis ‘ 284 gastric, 95, 189, 272, 331, 507,
chlori . : 309 548, 565, 573, 605, 624, 680,
plumbi diacetatis 232 681,
Solutions : : é 702 glandular, 92, 177, 358, 520,
Solutol 415 | 565, 573, 604.
Solveol ‘ ‘i ‘ 415, intestinal, 216, 502, 519, 604.
Soporifics : 64 liver, 109, 191, 300, 333, 429,
Southernwood ‘ é 605 449, 450, 455, 545.
Sozoiodol 3 ‘ 418 motor 59, 80, 217, 505, 520
Spanish flies : ‘ 661 nervine, 63, 78, 79, 349, 495,
Spasm . A . 60, 68 501.
Sparteine , 534 respiratory . 83, 167, 489
Spatule ‘ 3 706 skin and mucous surfaces, 117,
Spearmint 585 319.
Species of patient differently affected urino-genital . 120, 125
by drugs. 18 vascular ; 88, 90, 167
Spermaceti—cetaceum : 682 | Stomachics (sce also Carminatives),
Sphacelinic acid ‘ 613 106, 195, 199, 455, 555, 564, 565,
Spinal depressants. . 76, 307 566, 568, 570, 575, 577, 578, 584,
stimulants 78, 495, 501 585, 587, 588, 589, 596.
Spinal hot-bag 2 & 701 Stopping for horses’ feet ‘ 603
ice-bag . : s 701 | Stramonium . ‘ 480
Spirit of ammonia. ; 162 | Strongyli ‘ : p 115
chloroform 373 | Strophanthin . 532
ether . 361 | Strophanthus Kombé. ‘ 532
salt i 330] Strychnine . ‘ 495
turpentine : s 590 arsenite ; : 502
Digitized by Microsoft®
796 INDEX OF
PAGE
Strychnine poisoning . 496
Styptic colloid 640
Styptics (see also Astringents and
Hemostatics), 51, 57, 220, 233,
261, 326, 397, 412, 601, 639, 640.
Styrax i 643
Subcutaneous injections (see Hypo-
dermic) ‘ 151
Succi . 699
Sucrose 657
Sudorifics 116
Suet 672
Sugar . 657
Sugar, cane 657
grape 658
liquorice 653
of fruits 658
of lead . 232
of milk—lactose 658
Sulphate of alumina and potash 219
copper . 243
iron 256
magnesia 212
potash 176
quinine. 553
soda 191
zinc 237
Sulphates : 176
Sulphite of soda 192
Sulphur 316
anhydride 327
flowers of 317
iodide . 316
liniments of 320
liver of . 175
milk of . 317
ointments of 820
precipitated 317
roll or stick 317
sublimed 317
vivum . 317
Sulphide of antimony 263
potassium 175
Sulpho-carbolic acid 408
carbolates 408
phenic acid 408
Sulphonal 65, 379
Bulphuretied bydrogen 318
Sulphuric acid 324
ether 357
Sulphurous acid 327
Sumbul or musk root. ‘ 589
Sunlight . 42, 130
Suppositories . 698
Surgeon’s lint. ; ; 649
Surroundings modify actions
of medicines 24
Susceptibilities, special 19
Sweat glands, action on 116
Sweet spirit of nitre 362
Synergists 687
MEDICINES
PAGE
Syringes, enema A : 698
Syrups, 255, 378, 455, 501, 534, 659,
710, 711.
Syrup simple . 659, 711
iodide of iron . ‘ 259
Easton’s 255, 501
Squire’s 255
Syrupus chloral 378
rhamni. 438
rhei 455
Tabxes of weights and measures, 714
Tablets F é 152
Tannalbin 640
Tannigen 640
Tannin or tannic acid 637
Tannoform 387
Tansy . 606
Tapeworms 113
Tapioca starch 655
Tar < 5 425
Barbados 424
coal 425
oil of 602
ointment 603
Rangoon 424
Taraxacum 568
Tartar, cream of 186
emetic . 264
Tartaric acid . 339
Tartarised antimony . 264
experiments with 267
Tartrate of potash 186
Teniacides 112
Tea. 488
Temperature modifying ac-
tions of medicines . 22
high, destroys micro-
organisms 45
of stables 130
Tenaline 605
Terebene 3 594
Terebinthine . 590, 591
oleum 594
Terpene 600
Terpinol ‘ 600
Tetanus antitoxine . 6
Thallin . 42, 395
Thebaine 461
Theine 488
Theobromine . 488
Therapeutic action of ‘medicines 12
Theriaca (treacle) : 658
Thermometers 716
Thioform 224
Thiol . 681
Thirst . 93
Thus (Frankincense) 592
Thyme 629
Thymol 629
Tinctura aconiti 543
Digitized by Microsoft®
INDEX OF MEDICINES
PAGE
Tinctura aloes 434
arnice . 582
Belladonnze 487
benzoini composita 642
calumbze 565
cannabis indice 493
cantharidis 667
cascarille 566
catechu 636
chiratee i 565
chloroformi et mor-
phine composita 373
cinchone . 557
colchici 622
digitalis 532
ergote ammoniata 617
ferri perchloridi 260
gentianze 565
iodi . ‘ 316
», decolorata 316
», oleosa 316
myrrh 574
nucis vomice . 502
opii 476
i ammoniata 476
Zingiberis 578
Tinctures, how made, etc. 711
Tobacco 630
alkaloids 631
enemas. 634
Tolu balsam 643
Tolerance of medicine 23
Tonics, 132, 133, 238, 245, 248, 255,
256, 259, 260, 272, 278, 325, 330,
433, 438, 499, 555, 564, 670.
Tonics, blood, 23, 133, 252, 255, 256,
259.
gastric, 95, 132, 334, 336, 495,
501, 504, 507, 548, 555, 565,
573, 624, 680, 681.
heart and vascular, 89, 90, 479,
495, 529, 533, 534.
nerve . 79, 1383
Tow . ; 649
Tragacanth 645
Treacle 658
Trichine 115
Tropacocaine . 518
Tropeines 478
Tuberculin 685
Tumenol 682
Turkey opium 457
Turkish baths ‘i 691
Turpentines 590, 591, 592
Turpentine, oil of . 594
Tuson’s disinfectants . 258
Unauenta, 407, 424, 425, 488, 512,
517, 601, 628, 640, 683, 705.
Unguentum cantharidis
cupri acetatis .
665
246
797
PAGE
Unguentum galle cum opio . 640
hydrargyri . 288
hydrar-iodidi rubri 302
uitratis. 304
iodi 316
resine . : 601
simplex 601, 683
sulphuris : 320
veratrine 548
zinci oxidi 237
Upas antiar 2
Urari or curara 523
Urethane 380
Urinary deposits ‘ 122
disinfectants, 391, 392, 394,
535, 536.
sedatives 124, 485, 514, 625
tonics . 124, 500, 664
Urine, secretion of ; 119
Uva ursi 537, 636
VACCINES 4, 33, 34
Valerian i 58 8
Valerianic acid 589
Van Swieten’s solution 301
Vapour bath . 691
Vapours or inhalations 712
Vascular depressants. 91, 453, 538
stimulants 88, 484, 526, 585
tonics, 90, 479, 495, 529, 533,
534.
Vaseline 425
Vehicle 688
Veins, injection into . 150
Venesection 138, 140
Venice turpentine 590, 591
Ventilation 130
Veratrine 547
Veratrum album 549
viride 549
Verdigris 245
Verdigris liniment 246
Vermicides and vermifuges, 112, 113,
244, 256, 296, 392, 393, 424, 432,
453, 568, 579, 5938, 597, 604, 606,
608, 609, 611, 612, 619, 629, 630,
634.
Vermin-killers 501
Vesicants (see Counter-irritants), 50,
288, 662.
Veterinary Pharmacy 687
Vienna paste . 172
Vinegar ; 337
of cantharides . 339
of colchicum 622
of opium 476
Virginian tobacco 631
Vitriol, blue 243
green 256
oil of 324
of copper 243
Digitized by Microsoft®
798
Vitriol, white.
Volatile oils
Volckmann’s antiseptic
Vomica, nux .
Vomiting, how produced
checked :
Vulneraries
Wash, black . 291
yellow . 301
Water 2 153
impurities 154
actions and uses 155
dressings 158
hemlock 509
lime 204
mineral. 155
of ammonia 167
tar 603
Watering of horses 156
Wax 683
Weights and measures 4 713
Wet pack 136, 158
Wheat flour - 654
Whisky 347
White arsenic 271
hellebore - ‘ 549
lotion . 235, 239, 240
mustard seed - 569 |
pepper 574
vitriol 237
wax 683
INDEX OF
PAGE
237
704
630
493
96
100
574, 581, 641
MEDICINES
Whiting
Wines .
Wintergreen .
Wolfsbane
Wood charcoal
naphtha
or pyroxylic epi
tar _
Wormwood :
Woorara or curara poison
Wounds
XEROFORM
YEAST.
Yellow cinchona bark
resin
wash
wax
Zinc and its compounds
acetate .
bromide
butter of
carbolate
carbonate
chloride
oxide .
sulphate
Zingiber officinale
Zingiberis tinctura
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at the Edinburgh University Press
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WILLIAM R. JENKINS’
VETERINARY BOOKS
1902
(*) Single asterisk designates New Books.
(**) Double asterisk designates Recent Publications.
ANDERSON. ‘Vice in the Horse” and other papers
on Horses and Riding. By HE. L, Anderson. Demy,
SVO; (COUN Ae 64 aias chee ea ereneas a hoaaerae vs 2 00
— “How to Ride and School a Horse.” With a System
of Horse Gymnastics. By Edward L. Anderson.
GOP BV Os recess einer Sou dei aia ne ianee sowne a oees 1 00
ARMSTEAD. “The Artistic Anatomy of the Horse.”
A brief description of the various Anatomical Struc-
tures which may be distinguished during Life through
the Skin, By Hugh W. Armstead, M.D., F.R.C.S.
With illustrations from drawings by the author.
Cloth oblong, 125 K10......... cee eee eee 3 75
BACH. “How to Judge a Horse.” A concise treatise
as to its Qualities and Soundness; Including Bits and
Bitting, Saddles and Saddling, Stable Drainage, Driv-
ing One Horse, a Pair, Four-in-hand, or Tandem, ete.
By Captain F,W. Bach. 12mo, cloth, fully illustrated,
$1 00; paper........... qiatnaiaie seeniqunataeiaes grantudigraberkewiais 50
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2 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins
(“)BANHAM, ‘Anatomical and Physiological Model of
the Horse.” Half life size. Composed of super-
posed plates, colored to nature, showing internal
organs, muscles, skeleton, etc., mounted on strong
boards, with explanatory text. By George A.
Banham, F.R.C.V.S. Size of Model 38x41 in...10 00
— ‘Tables of Veterinary Posology and Therapeutics,” with
weights, measures, etc. By George A. Banham,
F.R.C.V.S. 12mo, cloth..................00005- 1 00
BAUCHER. ‘‘Method of Horsemanship.” Including
the Breaking and Training of Horses............ 1 00
(*)BELL. “The Veterinarian’s Call Book (Perpetual).”
By Roscoe R. Bell, D.V.S., editor of the American
Veterinary Review. Revised for 1902,
A visiting list, that can be commenced at any time
and used until full, containing much useful informa-
tion for the student and the busy practitioner.
Among contents are items concerning: Veterinary
Drugs; Poisons; Solubility of Drugs ; Composition of
Milk, Bile, Blood, Gastric Juice, Urine, Saliva; Respi-
ration; Dentition; Temperature, etc., etc. Bound in
flexible leather, with flap and pocket ........... 1 25
(BRADLEY. ‘‘Qutlines of Veterinary Anatomy.”
By O. Charnock Bradley, Member of the Royal Col-
lege of Veterinary Surgeons; Professor of Anatomy
in the New Veterinary College, Edinburgh.
The author presents the most important facts of
veterinary anatomy in as condensed a form as possible,
consistent with lucidity. 12mo.
Complete in three parts.
Part I.: The Limbs (cloth).................05. 125
Part II.: The Trunk (paper) .............0000. 125
Part Iil.: The Head and Neck (paper).......... 1 25
THE SET COMPLETE ..........cceeeeeeeeee ohare 3 50
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CADIOT. ‘Roaring in Horses.» Its Pathology and
Treatment. This work represents the latest develop-
ment in operative methods for the alleviation
of roaring. Each step is most clearly defined by
excellent full-page illustrations. By P. J. Cadiot,
Professor at the Veterinary School, Alfort. Trans,
Thos, J. Watt Dollar, M.R.C.V.S., ete, Cloth..... 75
— “Exercises in Equine Surgery.” By P. J. Cadiot.
Translated by Prof. A. W. Bitting, M.D.,V.S.; edited
by Prof. A. Liautard, M.D.V.S. 8vo, cloth, illus-
GR ALO ssctecciastctacraema utara kee pase one etc Se 2 50
(*)—** A Treatise on Veterinany Therapeutics of the Domestic
Animals.” By P.J. Cadiot and J. Alvary. Translated
by Prof. A. Liautard, M.D.,V.S. 2 Parts ready.
Part I, Vol. I, 8vo, 93 pages, 45 illustrations,..... 1 00
Part II, Vol., I, 8vo, 96 pageS...........cceeeeee 1 00
(Part ITT, in preparation, to be ready March, 1902.
(*)—** Clinical Veterinary Medicine and Surgery.» By P. J.
Cadiot. Translated, edited, and supplemented with
49 new articles and 34 illustrations by Jno. A. W.
Dollar, M.R.C.V.S. Royal 8vo, 619 pages, 94 black
and white illustrations................. cee eee eee 5 25
See also ‘‘ Dollar.”
(*}\CHAPMAN. ‘Manual of the Pathological Treatment
of Lameness in the Horse,” treated solely by
mechanical means. By George T. Chapman. 8vo,
Cloth; 124 pages. cicaGeelee Sel Gee Messe ae eee eee ss 2 00
CHAUVEAU. ‘The Comparative Anatomy of the
Domesticated Animals.” By A. Chauveau. New
edition, translated, enlarged and entirely revised by
Geo, Fleming, F.R.C.V.S. 8vo, cloth, 585 illus..,6 25
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4 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins
CLARKE. ‘Chart of the Feet and Teeth of Fossil
Horses.”? By W. H. Clarke.................... 0. 25
CLEMENT. ‘Veterinary Post Mortem Examina-
tions.’ By A. W. Clement, V.S. Records of
autopsies, to be of any value, should accurately
represent the appearances of the tissues and organs
so that a diagnosis might be made by the reader were
not the examiners’ conclusions stated. To make the
pathological conditions clear to the reader, some
definite system of dissection is necessary. The
absence in the English language, of any guide in
making autopsies upon the lower animals, induced
Dr. Clement to write this book, trusting that it
would prove of practical value to the profession.
12mo, cloth, ilHustrated........... a advaishatslece's ielada le ois 15
CLEAVELAND. “Pronouncing Medical Lexicon.”
Pocket edition. Cloth............... ec cece cece eens 75
COURTENAY. ‘‘Manual of Veterinary Medicine and
Surgery.” By Edward Courtenay, V.S. Crown, 8vo,
Cox. “Horses: In Accident and Disease.” The
sketches introduced embrace various attitudes which
have been observed, such as in choking; the disorders
and accidents occurring to the stomach and intestines ;
affection of the brain ; and some special forms of lame-
ness, etc. By J. Roalfe Cox, F.R.C.V.S. 8vo, cloth,
fully Wustrated ............ cee cece ween eee «-.01 50
CURTIS. ‘Horses, Cattle, Sheep and Swine.” The
origin, history, improvement, description, characteris-
tics, merits, objections, ete. By Geo. W. Curtis,
M.S.A. Superbly illustrated. Cloth, $2 00; half
sheep, $2.75; half Morocco, ...,...eeeeve vege ee eD G0
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$51-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. 48th St.), New York. 5
("“)DALRYMPLE., “Veterinary Obstetrics.” A compen-
dium for the use of advanced students and Practi-
tioners. By W. H. Dalrymple, M.R,.C.V.S.,
principal of the Department of Veterinary Science in
the Louisiana State University and A. & M. College;
Veterinarian to the Louisiana State Bureau of
Agriculture, and Agricultural Experiment Stations ;
Member of the United States Veterinary Medical
Associations, etc. 8vo, cloth, illus............. 2 50
DALZIEL. “The Fox Terrier.” Illustrated. (Monographs
on British Dogs). By Hugh Dalziel............. 1 00
— “The St. Bernard.” LIllustrated...............eceeee- 1 00
— “The Diseases of Dogs.” Their Pathology, Diagnosis
and Treatment, with a dictionary of Canine Materia
Medica. By Hugh Dalziel. 12mo, cloth............. 80
— “Diseases of Horses.” 12mo, cloth.............00s eee 1 00
— “Breaking and Training Dogs.” Being concise
directions for the proper education of dogs, both
for the field and for companions. Second edi-
tion, revised and enlarged. Part I, by Pathfinder;
Part II, by Hugh Dalziel. 12mo, cloth, illus....2 60
— “The Collie.” Its History, Points, and Breeding. By
Hugh Dalziel. Illustrated, 8vo, cloth..... seeceeed 00
— “The Greyhound.” 8vo, cloth, illus............ seeionants 1 00
DANA, “Tables in Comparative Physiology.” By Prof.
OC. L. Dana, M.D...........0c eee peer erre 25
DANCE. ‘Veterinary Tablet.” Folded in cloth case.
The tablet of A. A. Dance is a synopsis of the diseases
of horses, cattle and dogs, with the causes, symptoms
AN CULES ic bids cae eas eee R ee ew wesie Redes se eieiaeieele 76
DAY, “The Race-horse in Training.” By Wm. Day,
BVO Wee e es cece eeeeeenereeeerereeserenceresesend OQ
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6 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins
(*)DE BRUIN. ‘Bovine Obstetrics.” By M. G. De Bruin,
Instructor of Obstetrics at the State Veterinary
School in Utrecht. Translated by W. E. A. Wyman,
Professor of Veterinary Science at Clemson A. & M.
College, and Veterinarian to the South Carolina
Experiment Station.
8vo, cloth, 382 pages, 77 illustrations............ 5 00
Synopsis of the Essential Features of the Work
1. Authorized translation.
2. The only obstetrical work which is up to date.
3. Written by Europe’s leading authority on the subject.
4, Written by a man who has practiced the art a lifetime.
5. Written by a man who, on account of his eminence as
bovine practitioner and teacher of obstetrics, was selected
ee Prof. Dr. Fréhner and Prof. Dr. Bayer (Berlin and
jenna), to discuss bovine obstetrics, both practically and
scientifically.
6. The only work containing a thorough differential diag-
nosis of ante and post partum diseases.
7. The only work doing justice to modern obstetrical
surgery and therapeutics.
8. Written by a man whose practical suggestions revolu-
tionized_ the teaching of veterinary obstetrics even in the
great schools of Europe.
9. The only work dealing fully with the now no longer
obscure contagious and infectious diseases of calves.
10. Absolutely original and nv compilation.
11. The only work dealing fully with the dificult problem
of teaching obstetrics in the colleges.
12, The only work where the practical part is not over-
shadowed by theory.
. . . A veterinarian, particularly if his location brings him in
contact with obstetrical practice, who makes any pretence toward
being scientific and in possession of modern knowledge upon this
subject, will not be without this excellent work, as it is really a very
valuable treatise. It contains nearly 400 pages, numerous illustrations,
and is put together in Jenkins’ best style. — Prof. Roscoe R. Beil, in the
American Veterinary Review, Dec., 1901.
In translating into English Professor De Bruin’s excellent text-
book on Bovine Obstetrics, Dr. Wyman has laid British and American
veterinary surgeons and students under a debt of gratitude. The
work represents the happy medium between the booklets which are
adapted for cramming purposes by the student, and the ponderous
tomes which, although useful to the teacher, are not exactly suited
to the requirements of the everyday practitioner . . . I1 contains
seventy-seven excellent illustrations . . . Both translator and pu-
pblisher have done their work in a way that deserves praise, and we
can strongly recommend the work to veterinary students and practi-
tioners.— The Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics,
December, 1901.
See also ** Wyman,”
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()DOLLAR. “A Surgical Operating Table for the
Horse.”? By Jno. A. W. Dollar, M.R.O.V.S..... 0 90
(*)— ‘*Clinical Veterinary Medicine and Surgery.” By P. J.
Cadiot. Translated, edited, and supplemented with
49 new articles and 34 illustrations by Jno. A. W.
Dollar, M.R.C.V.S. . Royal 8vo, 619 pages, 94 black
and white illustrations.................ceeeeeeee 5 25
_: + «, This work, containing as it does the ripe exper-
ience of the author, who may be considered one of the
foremost surgeons and clinicians of the day, contains a
vast amount of exact scientific information of the utmost
value to the busy workaday practitioner, while for the
student of either human or comparative medicine, no
better book could be placed in their hands, that will give
them a clear insight into the many intricate problems
with which they are daily confronted. . . .—American
Veterinary Review, New York, August, 1901.
(*)— “A Hand-book of Horse-Shoeing,” with introductory
chapters on the anatomy and physiology of the
horse’s foot. By Jno. A. W. Dollar, M.R.C.V.S.,
translator and editor of Méller’s ‘ Veterinary Sur-
gery,” ‘“‘An Atlas of Veterinary Surgical Operations,”
ete.; with the collaboration of Albert Wheatley,
F.R.C.V.S. 8vo, cloth, 433 pp., 406 illustrations . .4.75
DUN. “Veterinary Medicines.” By Finlay Dun, V.S. New
revised and enlarged English edition. 8vo, cloth.3 75
DWYER. “Seats and Saddles.” Bits and Bitting,
Draught and Harness and the Prevention and Cure of
Restiveness in Horses, By Francis Dwyer. Illus-
trated. 1vol., 12mo, cloth, gilt................. 1 50
FLEMING. “Veterinary Obstetrics.” Including the
Accidents and Diseases incident tv Pregnancy, Parturi-
tion, and the early Age in Domesticated Animals.
By Geo. Fleming, F.R.C.V.S. With 212 illustrations,
New edition revised, 226 illustrations, 758 pagesg...6 26
773 pages, 8vo, cloth (old edition)......++...+....3 50
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8. Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins
FLEMING. ‘Operative Veterinary Surgery.’’ Part I, by
Dr, Geo. Fleming, M.R.C.V.S. This valuable work,
the most practical treatise yet issued on the
subject in the English language, is devoted to the
common operations of Veterinary Surgery; and the
concise descriptions and directions of the text are illus-
trated with numerous wood engravings. 8vo,cloth.2 75
(Second volume in preparation, to be ready March, 1902).
— “Tuberculosis.” From a Sanitary and Pathological Point
of View. By Geo. Fleming, F.R.C.V.S. .......... 26
— “The Contagious Diseases of Animals.” Their influence on
the wealth and health of nations. 12mo, paper....25
— “Human and Animal Variole.” A Study in Comparative
Pathology. “Papers sctsiswsiee saievievaeeeagadsueciner 25
— “Animal Plagues.” Their History, Nature, and
Prevention, By George Fleming, F, R. C. V.S., ete.
First Series. 8vo, cloth, $6.00; Second Series.
8v0; Clothi.csniwnsiersssvsieeesdes CORRE AWRDS 5 3 00
— ‘Roaring in Horses.” By Dr. George Fleming,
F.R.C.V.S. A treatise on this peculiar disorder
of the Horse, indicating its method of treatment
and curability. 8vo, cloth, with col. plates ...... 1 60
FLEMING-NEUMANN. “Parasites and Parasitic
Diseases of the Domesticated Animals.”