Treatise on the diseases of the eye : including the anatomy of the organ / by Carl Stellwag (von Carion) ; translated from the fourth German edition and edited by D.B. St. John Roosa, Charles S. Bull, and Charles E. Hackley.
- Karl Stellwag von Carion
- Date:
- 1873
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Treatise on the diseases of the eye : including the anatomy of the organ / by Carl Stellwag (von Carion) ; translated from the fourth German edition and edited by D.B. St. John Roosa, Charles S. Bull, and Charles E. Hackley. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
71/954 (page 41)
![grains, oxidt of zinc, three grains, iodide of potassium, two to four grains, and pure iodine, one-eighth of a grain to the drachm of the vehicle, respectively, are also used, but do not answer as well The amorphous yellow oxide of mercury, called Moxyde de mercur hydrate 1>y the French, is obtained by precipitation from a solution of the bichloride made by means of caustic potash. Ir is essentially nothing more than the officinal red precipitate, but it has the advantage over this, that it is much more finely divided, it mixes more intimately, thoroughly, and evenly with the vehicle, and thus allows a more exact measurement of its effect. If the ordinary red pre- cipitate be cart fully triturated as the pharmacopoeia directs, it is not inferior to the amorphous yellow oxide, and does not have a red color, but is a bright orange-yellow. The extremely irregular effects which the formerly so much esteemed red precipitate produced in ophthalmic practice, arc to be entirely ascribed to the careless preparation of the agent. Ointments of one part of the yellow amorphous oxide of mercury to eight parts of fat, as they have recently been recommended ( Pagen&U cht r), act too severely, and require subsequent cleansing of the conjunctival sac. The amorphous yellow oxide has one unpleasant property, and that is, it readily decomposes when exposed to the light; therefore it should be carefully protected and frequently renewed. The ointment should be thoroughly rubbed up, so that one part does not act more powerfully than the other. Recently, instead of the fat, a mixture of one part of starch with five parts of glycerine has been used. By soaking the former in gly- cerine heated up to 70° R. [about 190° F.], the mixture attains the consistency of fat. It does not become rancid like fat, however, which then does harm and decomposes the preparation. Most of the agents used in eye-salves are readily soluble in glycerine. Besides, the gly- cerine itself deliquesces in the tears, and the medicaments enveloped in it are more easily dis- tributed throughout the whole conjunctival sac, and thus are more certainly taken up, than when applied in the ointments made with fat, which the moist conjunctiva, as it were, throws off. Therefore, glycerine ointments containing the same amount of the active substance have almost double the effect of the others. The glycerine used should be chemically pure, per- fectly colorless, and as clear as water (Oraefe). Closely allied to the ointments are the fats, popularly known as eye-salves—eel's oil, ser- pent's fat, bear's fat, etc. These cannot be had fresh every day, are therefore generally rancid, and act as irritants through the free fat acids. A great number of substances are used as astringent eye-lotions. The most use- ful are: sulphate of zinc, sulphate of copper, sulphate of cadmium, alum, nitrate of silver, corrosive chloride of mercury, acetate of lead, tincture of opium, and tannin. To this list may be added the lapis dkinus, which, as is well known, consists of sulph. cup., nitri puri, alum crud., ad g j. ; camphor®, 3 ss. Besides, common salt (Rau), and sesquichloride of iron (FoIIht), are used. It is usual to write for a grain of sulphate of zinc, sulphate of copper, sulphate of cadmium, crude alum. lap. divin., to the ounce of water, and half a grain of nitrate of silver, a quarter of a grain of the corrosive chloride of mercury, four grains of acetate of lead, two to four grains of salt, or the sesquichloride of iron, ten grains of tannin to the same quantity, and of tincture opium, half a drachm to the ounce. The solutions in this list are equally efficacious, and it is all the same, in this respect, whether we use one or the other. Recent experiments on rabbits (Pro&oroff) confirm this opinion. These show that the agents used in the form of collyria, all act irritating! y on the conjunctiva, and cause, according to the strength of the solution, either a hyperemia, or an abundant nuclear formation, or, finally, the development of pus-corpuscles; furthermore, that the time during which the formation of pus lasts before giving place to the nuclear formation, and passing over through a simple hyperaemia to a normal condition, also depends on the strength of the solution ; and that, when the most different of these agents are used, in the same strength, the same effect is produced. The acetate of lead and corrosive chloride of mercury are least to be recommended, on](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21002319_0071.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
