Supplement to the American dispensatory / by John King and John U. LLoyd.

  • John King
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Supplement to the American dispensatory / by John King and John U. LLoyd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    20/230 page 14
    even, occasion death by asphyxia. Auger observes that its prolonged use, in large doses, especially with women, is very apt to occasion nau- sea, vomiting, pyrosis, diarrhea, angina, tinnitus, and even deafness, redness of the face, and slight congestion, and that, with inebriates, it may determine a furious delirium. These results, he adds, may some- times be prevented, or mitigated, by administering it in milk, or in un- leavened bread with a cup of milk. Pye Smith has observed that the urine of a patient who has been taking salicylic acid, gave the charac- teristic saccharine reaction, with the copper test; while Muller and others have found its soda salt to temporarily, or permanently, as the case may be, cause the diabetic sugar to completely disa])pear. M. Gubler observes that, when the kidneys are normal, the use of salicylic acid occasions diuresis, while, on the contrary, the urine is in dimin- ished amount, and even albumen is present, in, more or less, considera- ble quantity, when there is a lesion of these organs. M. Bucquoy cites a case in which abortion, at the sixth month, followed the administra- tion of this acid ; and he also inquires whether the rapid deaths of certain patients, treated with this acid, and especially when the doses were large, may not be due to uremia, occasioned by its use. One or two writers have stated that the osseous system is affected by its use, and I am aware of several instances in which caries of the teeth oc- curred after a treatment with salicylic acid ; but whether due to this acid is a question 3-et to be determined. Many of the serious symp- toms following its employment have been attribuLed to an impure preparation ; yet, as such symptoms have been observed, it behooves the medical practitioner, not only to be certain that he is employing the pure acid, but, likewise, to be careful in its administration, and to closely watch its effects, that he may be the better prepared to promptly remove any undesirable symptoms that mjiy arise therefrom. The irritating action of this acid, U])on the mucous membrane of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, etc., is said to be duo to impurities ; but the pure acid will occasion a dryness of the mucous membrane, fol- lowed by slight burning and increased saliva. By various investigators, it has been claimed that salicylic acid is an antiseptic and germicide ; by others, that it is a disinfectant, a deodor- izer, an astringent, and an antipyretic. Kohler and some others con- sider it an antiseptic and germicide only when locally applied, because, when taken internally, it becomes united with an alkali, loses its anti- septic action, and produces effects similar to those following the inges- tion of sodium salic3^1ate. MM. See, Laborde, and others, state that the good effects following its internal administration are entirely due to its action as an analgesiant, and deny that it has any antiseptic, an- tipyretic, or antiperiodic action, when thus employed. Prideaux speaks highly of its efficacy in small-pox, when in combination with ammonia and soda; his formula is a mixture of carbonate of ammonium, carbon- ate of sodium, each five grains, salicylic acid, t\venty grains, water, one fluidounce ; the dose is one-half or the whole, of this solu^tion, given every four or six hours. It is pleasant to the taste, unirritating to the intestinal canal, and modifies the disease so as to arrest it in its second and third stages, and also to prevent pitting, after recovery, in conse- quence of the absence of pus formation. Braithwaite's Retrospect, January, 1878, p. 188, from Med. Exam. Letzerich states that upon the addition of salicylic acid to the diphtheritic organisms in the urine of children affected with severe diphtheria, and which consisted of bacteria, micro- cocci, and protoplasmic masses, the bacteria were destroyed, and the
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3