Pharmacologia: comprehending the art of prescribing upon fixed and scientific principles : together with the history of medicinal substances (Volume 2).

  • Paris, John Ayrton, 1785-1856.
Date:
1823-24
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacologia: comprehending the art of prescribing upon fixed and scientific principles : together with the history of medicinal substances (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    but if boiling lour drachms ; it is insoluble in alcohol. Incom- patible Substances. Alkalies and alkaline salts, after neu- tralizing the excess of acid, precipitate the alumine. It is also decomposed by carbonate and muriate of ammonia, carbo- nate of magnesia, and tartrate of potass, by lime-roatcr, super- acetate of lead, and the salts of mercury, as well as by many vegetable and animal substances, especially galls and kino. It is on this account very injudicious to combine alum with any vegetable astringent with a view to increase its virtues : thus the Pulvis Sulphatis Alumina compositus^ of the Edin- burgh college, is less powerful than any of the ingredients of which it is composed ; and the addition of alum to the decoc- tion of bark, undoubtedly diminishes its efficacy- as an astrin- gent injection. Medical Uses. Alum is internally a power- ful astringent, in haemorrhages and inordinate fluxes, and is externally useful for repellent and astringent lotions and col- lyria. Van-Helmont was the first person who employed alum in uterine hemorrhage, and the success of the practice very considerably enhanced his reputation. Boerhaave^s astringent powder for the ague consisted of Alum and Nutmeg with the addition of Armenian bole. Dose, gr. x. In large doses it is liable to excite nausea, and to act upon the bowels. Nutmeg or some aromatic should therefore be joined with it. Forms of Exhibition. In solution, or in substance made into pills with extract; {Form : 53, 56,) it is sometimes given with ad- vantage in the form of whey (Alum-whey—Scrum Aluminosum) made by boiling 3ij with a pint of milk, and then straining, the ■ dose of which is a wine glass full; (Form : 54.) By briskly agitating a drachm of alum with the white of an egg, a coagu- lum is formed (Alum curd, Albumen Aluminosum) which is serviceable in some species of ophthalmia, when applied between two pieces of thin linen rag. As alum is not decom- posed by sulphate of lime, hard water may be safely used for its solution. Alum has the effect of retarding, and in some instances of preventing, the acetous fermentation in vegetables; thus when added to commonpasie it prevents its becoming sour; animal substances, as glue, are preserved by it in a similar manner. It has also the property of. clearing turbid. water, wine, and spirituous liquors, for which purpose it is extensively employed. Officinal Preparations. Liquor Alum: co. L. Pulv : Alum : co. E*. Alumen Exsiccatum, L. Ustum. D. Dried Alum. By the action of heat alum undergoes watery fusion, yields its water of crystallization, and loses more than one-third of its weight; if the heat be too intense, or long continued, it is deprived of Vol. II.