A treatise on therapeutics : comprising materia medica and toxicology with especial reference to the application of the physiological action of drugs to clinical medicine / by H. C. Wood.

  • Horatio Curtis Wood Jr.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on therapeutics : comprising materia medica and toxicology with especial reference to the application of the physiological action of drugs to clinical medicine / by H. C. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/740 (page 25)
    DRUGS. DIYISION L-SYSTEMIC REMEDIES. Subdivision I—General Eemedies. CLASS I.-ASTEmGE]^TS. Astringents are those drugs which cause contraction of living tissues. That they do not act, as has been supposed, either by coagulating albumen or by calling into action the muscular function, is demonstrated by the transi- torinesa of their effects, and by the fact that they influence tissues containing no muscular fibre. Every living soft tissue appears to possess a normal degree of condensation, which may be departed from on either hand ; when this hap- pens, the part is said to be relaxed in the one case, in the other to have its tonicity increased, or to be astringed. The action of astringents is always a local one,—i.e., produced not through the intervention of the nervous sys- tem, but by direct contact with the part affected, A pure astringent should be capable of doing nothing beyond inducing contraction ; but in reality there is scarcely such a drug. All astringents are, when applied too freely, irritants; indeed, it is doubtful whether their therapeutical property of astringency is not due to the exercise of a mild form of irritation. ^ Our knowledge of the action of astringents upon blood-vessels is still very limited. The only published experiments are those of M. Eosenstein (Ross- hacKs Pharmalcolog. Uatersuchungen, Bd. ii. p. 80). He placed solutions of nitrate of silver, of acetate of lead, of sesquichloride of iron, and of tan- nic, gallic, and pyro-gallic acids upon the exposed mesenteric vessels of a curarized frog. The first three solutions contracted arterioles, venules and capillaries, nitrate of silver being much the most powerful and the iron salt the weakest; the effect on the capillaries was the most permanent. The aculs instead of contracting enlarged the vessels. This dilatation was not reflex, as it occurred after destruction of all of the nerve-centres. It was probably due to the irritant action of the acid. The indications for the use of an astringent are very evident. In the first rank among such indications is the existence of relaxation. Local relaxation is almost always the result of previous over-excitement, .thus, a throat is relaxed after over-use, or after inflammation. Astringents are more efficient as local than as general remedies, but in cases of inflammation care must bo taken to use them in such way that they shaU not act as irritants. Applied too .soon or too vigorously, they may do harm. These remarks are scarcely applicable to somo of the minoml astrin