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.

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    left in position for twenty-four hours. In the absence of ice, the cold produced by dissolving muriate of ammonia with nitrate of potash may sometimes be taken advantage of. When two solutions containing respectively five parts of muriate of ammonia and five parts of nitrate of potash, in sixteen parts of water, are mixed, the temperature of the combined solutions will fall from 50° to 10° F. This is placed in a bladder and may be applied to Hernial Tumors and used to promote their reduction. According to Qxn (^Brit. Med. Jour., January 18, 1868) placing the affected foot in a foot bath containing eight ounces of the drug affords relief to the pain of Senile Gangrene when opium fails. Diseases of the Ear, Throat, etc.—Chloride of ammonium is a mild solvent and increases the normal secretion. It closely resembles the action of sodium carbonate in most affections of the respiratory passages, but the indications for its use are more precise. Since the recommendation of Von Troeltsch, the nascent fumes of the salt have a reputation in the treatment of Chronic Aural Catarrh. The vapor is carried into the Eustachian tube by the catheter. Various forms of apparatus exist by means of which the vapors of carbonate of ammo- nium and hydrochloric acid are brought into contact. The resultant white fumes are thrown into the catheter by means of a Richardson bulb. Mr. F. E. Morgan, of Philadelphia, has recently offered a compact and portable apparatus of the kind. The value of this treatment for the reduction of submucous thickenings has undergone some fluctuations. In the treatment of the ear a solution of two to five grains to the ounce may be used instead of the nascent vapors. For acute perfora- tion of the tympanic membrane English writers speak of the efficiency of a solution of the same strength instilled into the meatus. Its chief advo- cate in pharyngeal conditions in this country has been J. Solis-Cohen. Many agree with C. Seller that the good effects of the agent are transient. T. F. Rumbold {_St. Louis Archives, 1873) ses a solution of five or ten grains to the ounce as a gargle in Chronic Pharyngitis characterized by dilatation of the superficial veins, as occasionally observed in the aged. He observes that it cannot be used for a long time, since the continued impression aggravates the complaint. B. Robinson (Trans. Amer. Laryn. Ass'n, 1887, p. 156) commends the use of ammonium chloride tablet triturates (one every fifteen minutes) in the Chronic Laryngitis of professional singers. Some of the good effects of the treatment are probably topical. A spray of a solution of one to twenty grains to the ounce is an old preparation for the treatment of Fetid CoRYZA, but it is greatly inferior to many other agents now in use. Four grains to the ounce have been employed in inhalation though dependent on diminished secretion of trachea and bronchi. The unpleasant saltish taste of the ammonium chloride renders it an unsuitable drug for con-