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.

    145/554 (page 133)
    BENZINUM—BENZOIN. The supraorbital pain of Iritis and Cyclitis is relieved by the appli- cation of belladonna ointment to the brow, and this may be particularly useful in cases in which the alkaloids are not well borne by the conjunc- tiva. A convenient mode of applying belladonna externally is to give the extract the proper consistency by means of water or glycerin, spread it on the skin and cover it with tissue paper. BENZINUM. Benzin. Benzine. Petroleum Ether. A purified distillate from American petroleum, consisting of hydrocarbons, chiefly of the marsh-gas series, having a specific gravity of from 0.670 to 0.675, and boiling at 50° to 60° C. It is a transparent, colorless, diffusive liquid, of strong characteristic odor, slightly resembUng that of petroleum, but much less disagreeable. It is insoluble in water, soluble in about six parts of alcohol, and readily so in ether, chloroform, benzol and fixed and volatile oils. It is highly inflammable, and its vapor, when mixed with air and ignited, explodes violently. Benzin, when evaporated on the hands, should leave no odor. (U. S. P.) The odor of benzin is penetrating and unpleasant. This substance should not be confounded with the article known as benzol or benzene, which is a derivative of coal-tar. Benzin is refrigerant and rubefacient. General Surgery.—Benzin evaporates so rapidly that local tem- perature can easily be reduced, by a spray, to below the freezing point. The spray produced by a hand atomizer will diminish sensibility and secure local anaesthesia so well that this method may be used as a substi- tute for etherization in small surgical operations. In doing this care must be exercised, as the freezing process may be carried too far and produce frostbite, or even sloughing. The action of benzin, applied with fric- tion, resembles that of turpentine. Benzin is sometimes applied on flannel, or with friction, for the relief of Rheumatic and Neuralgic Pains. On account of its low cost benzin is commonly used in the Paquelin thermo-cautery, although the lighter hydrocarbons, as gasolin and rhig- olin, will answer a similar purpose. BENZOIN. A balsamic resin obtained from Styrax Benzoin.'''' (U. S. P.) Benzoin is soluble in five parts of moderately warm alcohol, and also in solution of potassa. (U. S. P ) It is precipitated from its solution in alcohol by water. It imparts to boiling water a notable proportion of benzoic acid. (U. S. D.) Benzoin preserves fats from oxidation, and is for this purpose a constituent of many ointments. It is employed in pharmacy in preparing Benzoinated Lard (two parts of benzoin digested in one hundred parts of hot lard) : Tincture of Benzoin (one part of benzoin to five parts of alcohol); and Compound Tincture of Benzoin (containing benzoin, aloes, storax, and