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.

    204/554 (page 192)
    Spasm of the Glottis is more quickly overcome by inhalations of the vapor of chloroform than by any other means. The patient breathes th vapor as in the induction of general anesthesia, until the spasm relaxes as a rule four or five inhalations suffice. When it is desirable to order an inhalant containing chloroform, it is advised that chloroform diluted one half with alcohol be added to hot water in the proportion of one-half drachm to two drachms to the pint. The vapor is indicated in Irritative Cough which appears to be in excess of the cause. Such - useless cough is particularly annoying at night. A few drops of chloroform may be poured on the sponge of a Yeo inhaler before retiring, or placed in a half pint of water at 145° F and inhaled. Chloroform also allays the cough of Incipient Phthisis' In Spasmodic Asthma chloroform-inhalations short of anaesthesia are often of value. There is no agent which relieves so large a number of cases. When it does not cure it is of value in affording temoorary respite The more promptly it is given in a paroxysm the better; for, if a spasm has existed for a time, it is apt to recur as soon as the influence of the chloroform has passed off. A few drops at the first indication of an attack may act as a preventive. It should always be administered under medical supervision. A mixture composed of an ounce of tincture of aconite, ten grains of menthol, and one drachm of chloroform, forms a mixture which, when applied freely to the gum tissue about a tooth, permits minor operations to be performed without pain. Leffmann (American System of Dentistry, iii, 699). CHRYSAROBINUM. U. S.; Br. Chrysarobin. Goa Powder. A mixture of proximate principles (commonly misnamed Chrysophanic Acid) exl tracted from Goa Powder, a substance found deposited in the wood of the trunk of Andira ararobar (U. S. P.) It is a pale orange yellow, crystalline powder, perma- ment in the air, odorless and tasteless, almost insoluble in water, only slightly soluble in alcohol, readily soluble in ether and in boiling benzol. In solutions of alkalies it is sola- ble with a yellowish-red or reddish-yellow color, which is changed to red by passing air through the liquid. (U. S. P.) It stains fabrics indelibly. It is the substance from which Chrysophanic Acid is made. Chrysophanic Acid occurs in yellow needles or plates. It is soluble in alcohol, ether, or benzol; alkalies also dissolve it. It is one of the sub- stances to which rhubarb owes its yellow color. The official ointment is too strong for use, and should be diluted with four parts of lard. {Lancet, October 19, 1889.) The action of chrysarobin on the skin is that of a reducing agent. It has a strong affinity for oxygen, which it abstracts from the tissues, and thus becomes converted into chrysophanic acid. General Surgery.—Kassabudski has used chrysarobin with success in the treatment of Hemorrhoids. His method of treatment is as follows: The parts are first washed with a carbolized or creolin lotion, and then