A treatise on therapeutics : comprising materia medica and toxicology with especial reference to the application of the physiological action of drugs to clinical medicine / by H. C. Wood.

  • Wood, H. C., Jr. (Horatio C.), 1841-1920.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on therapeutics : comprising materia medica and toxicology with especial reference to the application of the physiological action of drugs to clinical medicine / by H. C. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    103/740 (page 99)
    as a corrosive poison. Death from collapse has resulted in two hours and a half (case in Medical Times and Gazette, vol. i., 1863), but usually the course of sulphuric acid poisoning is much more protracted, the fatal result having been delayed in some cases for several months. The usual symptoms are pain in the mouth, throat, and epigastrium, violent vomiting, often of tarry matters, with symptoms of collapse, such as cold extremities, feeble pulse, suppressed voice, and clammy skin. The mind is generally clear to the last. Profuse, and sometimes bloody, salivation is commonly present. The parotids sometunes swell as early as the fourth day, and IMaukopff {Syd. Soc. Year-Book, 1863) has seen suppurative parotitis apparently induced by closure of the duct of Steno, retention of secretion, and consequent irritation of the gland. The later symptoms are those of ulceration of the oesophagus and stomach, and need not be dwelt upon here. The laiynx is often profoundly affected. There is a very marked increase in the amount of sulphates in the urine, which may be albuminous and contain gi-anular casts. Desquamative nephritis may be developed several days after the subsidence of the first symptoms. Thus, in one of the cases reported by Maukopff, urine which had ceased to be albuminous on the third day became so again on the twen- tieth, with a simultaneous development of casts containing blood-corpuscles; after death tubular nephritis was found. Another symptom noted by Mau- kopff was intercostal neuralgia. After death, greater or less destruction of the oesophagus and stomach, or of the air-passages, is found. The black color of the slough is a diagnostic sign which an exammation of the mouth will sometimes render available before death. The most important part of the treatment of sulphuric acid poisoning consists in the immediate and free exhibition of the antidotes, which should be given in milk or in water. The best antidotes are chalk, magnesia, white- wash, and soap. Christison condemns the use of the alkaline carbonates because they are themselves irritating. As, however, in these cases time is' a naatter of vital importance, if the alkaline carbonates be the only antidotes at hand they should be used unhesitatingly. AD.MiNisxRATiox.-Sulphurie acid should of course be given properly diluted, and with the requisite precautions to prevent its injuring the teeth It IS best administered in the form either of the dilute (Acidum Suluhuri. cum Ddutum--5ii to Oj, U.S.; sp.gr. 1.082; dose, ten to thirty drops) or of the aromatic sulphuric acid (Acidum Sulphurieum Aromaticum-- 3111 to 5xix U. S.). The last preparation is a dark reddish-brown liquid containing alcohol and aromatics. Its dose is from ten to twenty drops. ' AOIDUM MUEIATIOUM-MTJEIATIO AOID. U.S. (HCl) o tue specmc gravity of 1.160, and containing rather more than 33.9 per