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.

    32/554 (page 20)
    General Surgery.—Acetic acid, properly diluted, is a useful injec- tion in some cases of Chronic Cystitis. The strength should be eight or ten minims to the fiuidounce of water. Thompson recommends, as most useful after the use of nitrate of silver: R. Plumbi acetat., 3ij; Acid, acetic, dil., 5vj; Acid, carbolic, 3ss; Aq. dest., giv. One drachm of this mixture is to be added to four ounces of water and injected once or twice a day. Engelmann {^Medical Record, November 24, 1888) has used acetic acid in a three to five per cent, solution, as a Disinfectant in Obstetrical Practice in preference to carbolic acid or corrosive sublimate, regarding it as more diffusible than the latter and less injurious to instruments, and equally with it as free from danger to the patient. The skin of the hand is rendered particularly soft and pliable. T. H. Harvey has prepared a7i acetized cotton of five, twelve-and-a-half, and twenty per cent, strength, to be used as a haemostatic in place of the usually prepared styptic cotton. This cotton should be kept moist in air-tight bottles. Diseases of the Skin.—Acetic acid is employed in the treatment of skin diseases in three forms : Glacial Acetic Acid, Diluted Acetic Acid (U. S, P.), and Vinegar. Acetic acid of the U. S. P. is employed in the treatment, of several diseases of the skin. In Psoriasis it is valuable in removing the scales and in preparing the ground for future treatment. In Condylomata it has been used by hypodermic injection, but no data have been published, so far as we know, to establish its value in the cure of these growths. Unna uses the following prescription for Condyloma of the external genitals:—B. Acidi salicylici, Sss; Acidi acelici, fSj. This mixture is to be applied twice daily by means of a small brush or a tuft of cotton on an applicator. The pain it causes is slight, and Unna prefers it to any other treatment. Diluted acetic acid, in the form of distilled vinegar, goes to make up a wash highly recommended in Alopecia Prematura. What part the drug plays cannot be explained, unless it be to act as a solvent to the pityriasic exfoliation which commonly accompanies this affection. One formula, the long and successful use of which has established its value, is the following: R. Tinct. cantharidis, f5vj; Tinct. nucis. vomic, fSss ; Aceti destillat., fgiss; Glycerini, fjij; Aquae, ad fSvj. In the form of vinegar, the diluted acetic acid has been very highly recommended in Dermatitis from sunburn. Another employment of vinegar, or diluted acetic acid, which we have found valuable, is in the destruction of nits in Pediculosis of the scalp and pubis. After the living animals have been destroyed, the nits or ova remaining cling to the hairs, and if not destroyed will hatch out in a few days. Diluted acetic acid destroys them.