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.

    454/554 (page 442)
    D iseases of the Kar, Nose, Throat, etc.—For free use over large surfaces, especially where the parts to be affected are covered for the most part by thin mucous membrane, the weaker preparations of chloride of zinc, namely, from two to five grains to the ounce, are alone used. A lotion for Otorrhcea is instilled in the strength of two grains to the ounce. In Empyema of the Maxillary Sinus a strength of one grain in an ounce of water suffices. For the nasal chamber this may be slightly increased, though weak solutions should be first used and the parts accustomed gradually to the effects of stronger ones. As a gargle the proportions of one grain to the ounce is not often exceeded. In treating surfaces which are lymphoid in character, and which exhibit the effects of chronic inflammation or have undergone fibroid degenera- tion, solutions of chloride of zinc to be astringent, or even excitant, must be stronger than those above enumerated. Thus, in Syphilitic Pharyngitis, a pigment of twenty grains to the ounce is recommended. In non-specific Chronic Pharyngitis the solution should be somewhat weaker, namely, about fifteen grains to the ounce. An application with a cotton carrier of twenty to forty grains to the ounce, may be used to the separate rounded masses of induration about the orifices of glands in Chronic Follicular Pharyngitis. Sluggish Abscesses of the roof of the mouth and gums are successfully treated by solutions of forty grains to the ounce. If a cartilaginous or fibrous structure be inflamed, a yet stronger preparation is well borne. Hence, strengths of from thirty to sixty grains to the ounce may be applied over small areas of an Ulcerated Triangular Septal Cartilage, or to the vocal cords or epiglottis in Chronic Laryngitis. The haemostatic and disinfectant properties of chloride of zinc are but little used in the respiratory tract. J. W. White ( Dental Materia Medica ) speaks of twenty grains to the ounce being haemostatic to the gums. The caustic effects are rarely sought for on mucous surfaces. Erichsen (''System of Surgery, Am. ed.. Vol. ii, 386) refers to its employment in the destruction of Nasal Polypus. A twenty per cent, solution is used by Wilhelmy {Deuisch. med. Wochenschr., February 4, 1892) in Diphtheria. Pieces of absorbent cotton, held in an appropriate holder, are saturated with the pigment and rubbed in the affected surfaces. The treatment is remarkably efficient, though severe pain ensues. Florin (Za Pratique Med.,Ni, No. 21 ; abst., Ther. Gaz., 1892, 483) advises, indeed, that a saturated solution be applied in this disease. The claim is made that the salt attacks ulcerated surfaces only. Four drachms each of chloride of zinc and the powdered yellow Peruvian bark are mixed with honey to make a thick paste, and applied by a brush with freedom to the parts. The false membrane is removed and a dense non-absorptive albu- minate of zinc is formed in the deeper tissues.