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.

    152/554 (page 140)
    fgvss. M. It is necessary to remember that this preparation will occa sionally clog the urethra, and excite uneasy sensation in the part until urme is voided. Subnitrate of bismuth forms the basis of an urethral suppository in the treatment of Gleet, and of a vaginal tampon in the treatment of Leucorrhcea. Houghton and King bear testimony to the great value of enemata, in which the drug enters, in Tropical Dvsen- tery; half a drachm of bismuth subnitrate and half a drachm of pow- dered acacia should be mixed in two fluidounces of water and injected once or twice daily, according to the severity of the case, the mass to be retained. The severe tenesmus and tormina are relieved in a short time. Trousseau employs one part of the salt with three parts of gly- cerin as an application to Fissure of the Anus. The pigment here acts as a foreign body, keeping the sides of the fissure apart and allowing healing to take place from the bottom. Diseases of the Skin.—Subnitrate of bismuth should not be em- ployed in connection with any sulphur preparation, as this results in staining the skin. In fact, such discoloration occasionally takes place on the face and elsewhere, about the sebaceous follicles, from some reaction between their contents and the drug. The finely powdered subnitrate of bismuth is employed as a dusting powder, usually alone, but sometimes combined with other powders of similar action, or with simple starch. In Intertrigo or Chafing it is particularly useful; also in some forms of Erythema, when a powder can conveniently be applied, and in Chapped Hands or Nipples. When there is any discharge from the skin, powdered bismuth subnitrate should rarely be used, as it, like most powders under such circumstances, is apt to cake. Lotions containing bismuth subnitrate are very useful in Erythema, in erythematous Eczema, in inflammatory Acne, and similar conditions. The following lotion, when the sedative and astringent effect of the bis- muth subnitrate is supplemented by the anti-pruritic effect of the prussic acid, is a valuable remedy: R. Bismuthi subnitratis, sj-ij; acidi hydro- cyanici, dil., f^j; aquae aurantii flor., ad. fgiv. M. In ointment with vaseline or cold cream, in the proportion of half a ' drachm to a drachm of the bismuth subnitrate to the ounce of ointment, this forms an excellent application in Eczema, Impetigo, and other in- flammatory skin-diseases, accompanied by weeping or suppuration. Its antiseptic properties here find application in preventing infection. Diseases of the Nose, Throat, etc.—Subnitrate of bismuth may be selected as an agent to give bulk to powders containing iodoform, with the light, flake-like scales of which it easily mixes and -enables the substance to be retained upon the surfaces on which there is excess of secretion. One of the favorite uses of the drug is to snuff it up the nos-