On the use of the sulphite of potash / by J.F. Nicholls, M.D.

  • Nicholls, John Frederic.
Date:
[cbetween 1800 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of the sulphite of potash / by J.F. Nicholls, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    their effect, and I will now state the result, in the hope that some of those who have greater opportunities will be led to try the sulphite of potash in a large number of cases. I should, how- ever, first mention that I selected the siilphite of potash on ac- count of the known superior activity of the other combinations of the same base. The rationale of its action probably is that decomposition takes place, caused by the acid secretions of the stomach, and that the sulphurous acid set free either destroys the vitality of the germs in the stomach and intestines, or its bene- ficial effect may be caused by its entering into the blood, and preventing the development of the germs, and consequently the disintegration of the albumen in the blood. That this decomposition does take place is fairly proved, not only by the simple experiment of adding a drop or two of dilute nitro-hydrochloric acid to a little of the sulphite of potash dissolved in water, when the sulphurous acid can be immediately strongly smelt; but also by the fact that, sometimes as soon as taken, it causes considerable distension of the stomach, and the eructations smell strongly of sulphurous acid. This distension in a few cases produced vomiting ; I have not found it act on the bowels, but in the few cases I tested I found it caused the urine to become alkaline. The first case in which I prescribed it (on October 10th, 1863), was that of a female servant who, after having felt unwell for several days, appeared, when I saw her, to be suffering from typhoid fever, which I supposed was caused by drinking water contaminated by sewage matter, and by sleeping in a room into which the emana- tions of a cesspool entered. She took the sulphite three times a day in half-drachm doses, and in six days was convalescent. Syphilis Primaria.—On the 3rd of September, 1865, I was con- sulted by a Mr. T., a commercial traveller, who had an xdcer on the dorsum of the penis rather less than a shilling in size, circular, with hardened edges and base, with a multiple bubo in the right groin; he had never been affected before ; had been under the treatment of a druggist for six weeks ; believed he had not had any mercury given him, but iodide of potassium and sarsaparilla, with black-wash to the sore. I ordered him to take twenty-grain doses of sulphite of potash twice a day, which he commenced taking the following morning, and to apply water dressing to the ulcer, and a lotion of hydrochlorate of ammonia to the bubo; on the third day after the sore looked healthier and not so deep ; on the sixth day it was very much smaller in size and level, the hardened edges nearly gone ; on the eighth day it was quite healed, bubo smaller; on the tenth day bubo much reduced in size, and not at all painful, hardening of the cicatrix very trifling. I did not sea him again for a week, when the hardening of the cicatrix was gone, leaving a small depressed scar, and there was not any trace of the bubo ; he continued taking the sulphite of potash for a fortnight after the sore was healed. I have seen him from time to time for more than