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.

    413/554 (page 401)
    SODA—SODII BENZOAS. order to thoroughly redden the skin. On the removal of the plaster the parts should be sponged off with tepid water and the chest wrapped in raw cotton. A mustard bath, in the strength of a drachm to the gallon, when properly used, is of service, especially in children, upon the reces- sion of the Rash in Measles or Scarlet Fever. The familiar mustard foot-bath IS of service in aiding the breaking up a Cold, or in relieving a Congestive Headache, although the application of a mustard plaster to the nape of the neck, as a rule, will be more effectual. In Obstinate Vomiting one can derive benefit from the application of a mustard plaster to the epigastrium. The mustard hip-bath is of service in arrested Catamenia, and may be used to redden the thighs and but- tocks a few days before and during the missing period. The patient should remain from a half hour to an hour, twice daily, in the bath. In Ulcerating Uterine Carcinoma benefit has been derived by using a vaginal douche of hot water (see Aqua, p. 96) to which a little mustard has been added, of sufficient strength to produce a slight sense of tingling. SODA. Sodii Hydras. Caustic Soda. Sodium hydrate is prepared by boiling together slacked lime and solution of sodium carbonate. The resulting solution is separated from the sediment, evaporated, and cast into sticks. It is often known in the shops as stick-soda. The purified compound is prepared by dissolving the commercial caustic ?oda in alcohol, which forms a clear solu- tion of the pure sodium hydrate, while the impurities remain undissolved and subside. The solution is evaporated in a silver dish and moulded into sticks. Sodium hydrate is soluble in 1.7 parts of cold water and 0.8 part of boiling water; it is very soluble in alcohol. SODII BENZOAS. Benzoate of Sodium. A white, semi-crystalline, or amorphous powder„efflorescent on exposure to air; odorless, or having a faint odor of benzoin; of a sweetish, astringent taste, free from bitterness, and having a neutral reaction. Soluble in 1.8 parts of water, and in forty-five parts of alcohol at 15° C. (59° F.), in 1.3 parts of boiling water, and in twenty parts of boiling alcohol. (U. S. P.) Benzoate of sodium is antiseptic^n the proportion of twenty grains to the ounce of water. Prosser James (^Lancet, July 4, 1885) states that it possesses anaesthetic and analgesic properties. Diseases of the Nose and Throat.—A solution of ten to twenty grains to the ounce is antiseptic and stimulant. It also makes an agree- able impression on inflamed surfaces of the throat, and overcomes the sense of constriction and dryness which is so commonly complained of in these conditions. Brondel (Gazette des Hopitaux, December 11,1886) recommends highly the use of a powder containing ten per cent, benzoate 26 t