The elements of therapeutics : a clinical guide to the action of medicines / by C. Binz ; tr. from the 5th German ed., and ed., with additions, in conformity with the British and American pharmacopoeias, by Edward I. Sparks.

  • Karl Binz
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The elements of therapeutics : a clinical guide to the action of medicines / by C. Binz ; tr. from the 5th German ed., and ed., with additions, in conformity with the British and American pharmacopoeias, by Edward I. Sparks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    made with from 5 to 6 grammes of leaves, about the same quantity (Anbert). The alkaloid which tea contains appears to be less easily absorbed than that of coffee, owing to the very large quantity of tannic acid present. Eoasted coffee, either in powder or infusion, is an excellent corrective of the taste of many drugs, e.g., quinia. Guarana paste, a body resembling chocolate, must be regarded as a preparation of caffein. It is prepared from the ripe fruit of Paullinia Sorbilis, one of the Brazilian Sapin- daceas. Beside the alkaloid, the paste contains tannin, a fatty oil, gum, &c. &c. Its dose is 0*5—5*0 in powder. [In some cases of sick headache in young women it cer- tainly does good.] Folia Digitalis. Foxglove leaves. The leaves of Digitalis Purpurea, one of the European Scrophulariacefe. The body which has been hitherto described as Digitalin is a mixture. There are four main substances which can be isolated in a pure state from the leaves, and which have poisonous or else physiological properties, viz., Digitonin, Digitalin, Digitalein, and Digi- toxin. They are all ?2(9?i-nitrogenous, and the three first are glucosides (Schmiedeberg.) Action.—If digitalis is gradually introduced into the system in moderate doses, either as an infusion or in sub- stance, three stages are observed :—(1.) The frequency of the pulse diminishes, and the arterial pressure rises ; (2.) Both these are abnormally low; (3.) The frequency of the pulse is abnormally high, the arterial pressure abnormally low. If large doses are given, there is no intermediate second stage. Only the first is available for therapeutic purposes, i.e., that in which the heart's contractions are less frequent but fuller. The digitalis acts by stimulating the j^neumogastric nerve, E