Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan.
- John Neligan
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![MEDICINES, THEIR USES AND MODE OF ADMINISTRATION. CHAPTER I. ANTACIDS. (Alkalines—Antilithics—Lithontriptics.) Antacids are medicines which correct acidity of the stomach and digestive organs, by combining chemically with the free acid existing there, and neutralizing it. Their action is manifestly only temporary and palliative, as they do not correct that peculiar state of the digest- ive organs which favors the formation of acid ; their protracted use, indeed, produces a precisely similar disease of the alimentary canal; and few individuals can bear the continued use of free or carbonated alkalies, a state of general anemia usually attended with oxalic acid deposits in the urine being caused by it. Antacids should, therefore, be prescribed in combination with vegetable tonics; and in no case should their administration be long persisted in without occasional in- terruptions. One or two circumstances, relating to the particular re- medy of this class which ought to be employed, require to be noticed : —Where the acid exists in the stomach in the gaseous state, ammonia and its carbonate should be preferred, as, in consequence of their vo- latility, a gaseous acid, which would elude the action of the fixed alkalies, will be neutralized by them. If the acidity be present in the lower bowels, as in the ccecum or colon, magnesia or lime ought to be ad- ministered, as being less likely than the other antacids to be neutral- ized or absorbed before they reach that portion of the intestinal canal. Where the acid exists in the urinary organs, the alkalies will be found best adapted, as they have a tendency to act more directly on the kidneys; and where it is lit hie acid that predominates in the urine, the preparations of potash should be preferred to those of soda, as the salt formed by the combination of the former with the acid in question is much more soluble than that formed with the latter. Ammonije caustice aqua, D. Ammonie liquor, L. [U. S.] Am- monite aqua, E. Water of caustic Ammonia; Aqueous solution of Ammonia. Preparation-—[U. S. Muriate of Ammonia, in fine powder, lime, each, Ibj.; distilled water, Oj.; water, f§ix. Break the lime in pieces, and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0023.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
