A manual of pharmacy / By William Thomas Brande.

  • Brande, William Thomas, 1788-1866.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of pharmacy / By William Thomas Brande. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    grain, alarming symptoms not unfrequently succee(3, such as head-ach, vertigo, imperfect vision, and dilated pupil; these consequences oblige us immediately to desist from its use. Upon the whole, there appears to be so much doubt of any decided benefit having been obtained by the internal use of belladonna, whilst its occasional mischievous influence is so sudden and unmanageable, that there must be much difference of opinion as to the propriety of its administration. As an external application, belladonna may be more safely employed, but even then it requires attention and management, A plaster composed of equal parts of extract of belladonna and com- mon plaster, or an ointment consisting of equal weights of lard and of the powder of the recently dried leaves, is often of effectual service in the relief of local pains arising from chronic disease or rheumatism. The ointment, rubbed upon the perinseum, alleviates chordee; and the powdered leaves, sprinkled upon the part, or an infusion of them employed as fomentation, have proved effective in allaying the pain of unhealthy sores. Half a drachm of the dried leaves to half a pint of water furnish an infusion which, when dropped into the eye, causes a dilatation of the pupil that endures for many hours; a circumstance of which oculists sometimes avail them- selves, as facihtating the operation for the depression of cata- ract; and which, by admitting the rays of light more exten- sively upon the retina, enables persons suffering from incipient cataract to enjoy a considerable temporary improvement of vision. It sometimes happens that ignorant persons and children are poisoned by inadvertently eating the berries of nightshade; and where this is the case, it is generally fatal, for the effect upon the stomach is such as often to render it insensible to emetics. Sulphate of zinc or of copper should however be tried; brisk purges should be administered ; and it is said that vinegar, and vegetable acids generally, are useful auxiliaries in promoting the cure. The virulent activity of belladonna appears to depend upon the presence of a salifiable principle, to which its discoverer, M. Brandes, has given the name of atropia, and which forms distinct salts with the acids. It may be obtained by boiling the leaves in a very dilute sulphuric acid, filtering the decoc- tion, and supersaturating it with potassa, which occasions a crystalline precipitate of impure atropia. It may be rendered pure and white by repeatedly dissolving it in dilute sulphuric acid, and precipitating by potassa. I once, says M, Brandes, tasted a small quantity of sulphate of atropia ; the taste was not bitter, but merely saline j but there soon followed violent