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.

    65/554 (page 53)
    Diseases of the Skin.—A solution of 50 grains phosphoric acid to the ounce of distilled water has been used by Grossich in the treatment of Ulcers. The ulcer is covered with lint dipped into this solution, and the dressing is renewed three or four times a day. The treatment is said to be peculiarly successful in Scrofulous Ulcers. Grossich also injects a hypodermic syringeful of the same solution into Tuberculous Glands of the neck, which, he says, become reduced in size within 24 hours. A diluted solution of phosphoric acid has been recommended in the treatment of Eczema of the Lips. It should be employed with great caution. Its effect is the same as that of other stimulants; in strong solution it is caustic, or nearly so. ACIDUM PYROGALLICUM. Pyrogallic Acid. Pyrogallol. An acid obtained by the decomposition of gallic or tannic acid by heat. It is in white, shiny scales, inodorous, very bitter, soluble in two and one-fourth parts of water, and readily dissolved by alcohol and ether. (U. S. D.) Pyrogallic acid is caustic and parasiticide. It, however, cannot be employed with impunity over large surfaces, as absorption may take place with poisonous effect. General Surgery.—Pyrogallic acid is not unlike chrysarobin in its action. It seems to have a good effect in promoting Cicatrization and Contraction of Ulcers. If the area is large, only a small portion should be treated at a time. M. Vidal has announced that pyrogallic acid is an excellent application to Chancroids, especially if there is a tendency to phagedenic action. It may be applied in alcoholic solution, or in ointment made with cosmoline, in strengths varying from ten per cent, to an equal part. The solution may be applied by saturating a pledget of absorbent cotton. Diseases of the Skin.—Pyrogallic acid was originally introduced by Jarisch ( Wien Med. Wochensch., 44 and 45, 1878) as a substitute for chry- sarobin in the treatment of Psoriasis. An ointment of 100 grains to the ounce will sometimes produce, it is said, a deep caustic effect; we fre- quently, however, use 60 grains to the ounce without the slightest untoward result. In the strength of a drachm to the ounce it stains the skin a dirty brown color and gives it a leathery appearance. The epi- dermis exfoliates in a week or two. It can be applied without pain to excoriated spots and causes no inflammation of the surrounding skin. Its action upon the lesions of psoriasis is less rapid than that of chrysarobin, but it is quite as efficient. It whitens the diseased patches and leaves a brownish or blackish stain round them. Pyrogallic acid is employed in powder or in strong ointment (^j-ijad