A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen.

Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    186/554 (page 174)
    held between two sheets of silvered wire gauze. The object is to destroy morbific particles in the atmosphere and to protect the lungs from their presence. Beyond entering into the composition of dentifrices charcoal is little used locally about the mucous membranes of the head J W White asserts that it has haemostatic properties. Charcoal is of slight service as a deodorant in Foul Breath. Diseases of the Eye.-The Japanese hand warmer is an admirable piece of apparatus for keeping up a high degree of dry heat in threatened Sloughing Keratitis, etc. It is light in weight and can be readily borne when placed on the eye on a thin layer of cotton or a pad of folded lint. CATECHU. An extract prepared from the wood oi Acacia catechu. (U. S. P ) It should be noted that the Ph. Br. calls catechu an extract from Uncaria gam- birr which IS an entirely different product from that recognized by the United States Pharmacopoeia. There are many varieties of catechu, all of which have, however similar medicinal effects. Their activity depends on the presence of catechutlnnic acid.' Catechu is inodorous, and has an astringent and bitter taste. Alkaline salts are said to diminish, if not destroy, its efficacy. Tincttire of CatecJm contains twelve parts of catechu and eight parts of cinnamon, in one hundred parts of the finished tincture. Catechu is astringent. General Surgery.—In Chapped Nipples the tincture of catechu is an efficient application. The nipple being thoroughly cleansed in warm water, the tincture is applied with a camel's-hair brush or a little cotton. In Leucorrhcea the infusion of catechu is often used as a vaginal wash, once or twice daily, and has been found useful in lessening the quantity of the discharge. Diseases of the Throat.—Catechu may be used in the respiratory- mucous surface wherever the use of an astringent is indicated. In solu- tion it does not form so clear a preparation as does Kino or Krameria. It more frequently enters into the composition of lozenges. Each lozenge contains from one to two grains of pale catechu. In ptyalism and other forms of inflammation of the gums, a piece of catechu allowed to dissolve slowly in the mouth is often of service. Catechu Wool: Cotton-wool, one drachm; glycerin, ten minims; tr. catechu, vel kino, vel rhatany, one ounce. Mix the glycerin with the tinctures, saturate the wool with the hquid, and dry. CAUTERY. By the term cautery is meant a method of treatment by which albumen in living tissues is coagulated, or the tissues themselves destroyed by fire. The actual cautery is used for its counter-irritant, destructive, and heemostatic action, and forms one of the most powerful means which the surgeon possesses. It may be applied