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.

    468/554 (page 456)
    Of twenty apparently hopeless cases in which this method of treatment was employed, seventeen recovered. {Brit. Med. Journ., August 27, 1870.) In similar cases, where Sir Joseph Fayrer adopted this method of treatment for bites of venomous snakes in India, it proved a failure. Sir Joseph Fayrer also found by experiment that mixing ammonia with snake venom, before injecting it into an animal, in no way delayed the fatal result. Therefore, ammonia cannot be regarded as a specific for the bites of venomous snakes, but its intravenous injection may be employed in conjunction with other measures. Aqua ammonise forms the active ingredient of many liniments. As equal parts of aqua ammonias, tinct. opium, and sweet oil. The following is used largely at the University Hospital: R. Tr. aconit. rad., fgss; chloroformi, fgij; aq. ammonise, f^ss; ol. olivse, fgv. Diseases of the Throat, etc.—Water of ammonia (sp. gr. 960) added to an equal quantity of water is recommended by M. Mackenzie as a stimulating inl^lant. Ammonia enters largely in the Hagerbrand Anti-catarrhal Remedy ; or the following may be substituted: Equal parts of water of ammonia, magnesia, and water are mixed to make an ounce. A teaspoonful. is added to a pint of water at 80° F. To be used as an inhalant in Chronic Laryngitis. MEDICATED BATHS.* Diseases of the Skin.—The following diseases are those in which baths may be employed at times with advantage: Erythema, Urti- caria, Eczema, Pemphigus, Lichen Ruber, Prurigo, Psoriasis, Pityri- asis Rubra, Dermatitis, Ichthyosis, Scleroderma, and the neuroses of the skin, particularly Pruritus. Parasiticides act favorably in the form of baths in Tinea Tricophytina and in Tinea Versicolor, also in Scabies. When used in Pediculosis Vestimentorum baths are chiefly useful as antipruritic. The following formulae for the more commonly employed baths may be given here. The temperature of these baths should not, it is under- stood, vary much above or below 90° F., and since to obtain their full effect baths must often be prolonged to half an hour, or even an hour, the temperature should be kept up by successive additions of hot water, and the room in which the patient takes his bath should be kept at an even warmth. Evening is the best time in general for taking medicated baths, and the patient should be warned against going into the bath soon after a hearty meal. * For Baths, see p. 98.