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.

    223/554 (page 211)
    COTOIN—COUMARIN—CREASOTUM. COTOIN. Cotoin is an alkaloid obtained from different species of Goto bark, It is sparingly soluble in cold water, more soluble in hot water, insoluble in benzin, very soluble m alco- hol, chloroform benzol, acetone, and bisulphide of carbon. It occurs in large, glistenmg, laminated crystals of a pale yellow color. (U. S. D.) Diseases of the Nose, etc.—The effect of cotoin is described by E. L. Shurly {N. V. Med. Journal, September ii, 1886) as a powerful irritant when applied to the pharyngeal and nasal membranes; he believes that when diluted with either starch or sugar one part to three or four is particularly well-adapted to the treatment of Atrophic Catarrh. COUMARIN. A crystallizable substance obtained from the seed of Dipteryx odorata and Couma- rouna odorata. (Tonka Bean.) It is freely soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, and bisulphide of carbon, and is also soluble in hot water, from which it is deposited on cooling. Coumarin has been proposed for covering the odor of iodoform. CREASOTUM. U. S. Br., Creasote. Creosote. « A product of the distillation of wood tar. (U. S. P.) It is an oily liquid, of a reddish amber color, smoky odor, caustic taste, and neutral reaction. Its physiological action and antiseptic properties are almost identical with those of carbolic acid. The best creasote is known as Beech-wood creasote, and is made from the tar resulting from the distillation of beech-wood.* The older the article the better it is tolerated. Creasote is soluble in about eighty parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.) to a somewhat turbid liquid, and in twelve parts of boiling water. It dissolves in all proportions in absolute alcohol, ether, chloroform, benzin, disulphide of carbon, or acetic acid. (U. S. P.) Solutions should be made in the presence of glycerin. The peculiar odor of creasote can be modified by combining with camphor in propor- tion of twenty grains to the ounce of creasote. The following tests will prove of value : One volume of liquefied carbolic acid con- taining five per cent, of water forms with one volume of glycerin a clear mixture, which is not rendered turbid by the addition of three volumes of water. If one volume of creasote be mixed with one volume of glycerin a nearly clear liquid will result, from which the creasote will be separated by the addition of one or more volumes of water. (U. S. P.) Creasote is caustic, haemostatic, antiseptic, deodorant, antipruritic, analgesic, astringent, yet strongly excitant. *W. C. Glasgow ( Trans, of the American Clitnatological Association, 1891, 263) states that after trying various articles sold under the name of creasote he is convinced that the English beech-wood creasote, prepared by Morsen, is the only one adapted for medicinal purposes.