Volume 1

Elements of materia medica and therapeutics : including the recent discoveries and analyses of medicines / by Anthony Todd Thomson.

  • Thomson, Anthony Todd, 1778-1849.
Date:
1832-1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of materia medica and therapeutics : including the recent discoveries and analyses of medicines / by Anthony Todd Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    725/774 (page 705)
    SULPHURIC ACID. on which we can rely in the confluent smallpox, when the pustules are filled with a bloody sanies and the urine is coloured by broken-down particles of blood. In a general point of view, we may safely consider it proper to be admi- nistered in all those fevers accompanied with extreme de- bility, and what has been termed a putrid tendency in the habit. In cases of immoderate perspiration—as, for instance, in the hectic of phthisis pulmonalis—it is the appropriate re- medy ; and, in combination with aromaties, it removes many of the urgent symptoms of dyspepsia; and is altogether a Tonic of the highest value when judiciously employed. In administering it, however, even in the diluted state, some anomalous effects occur which should be retained in remem- brance. Thus, when given to women who are suckling, it acts powerfully on the system of the infant, causing gripings, and frequently convulsions, although it has never been de- tected in the milk of the mother:—a fact illustrated by the following quotation from a case, extracted from a German Journal, which appeared in the Medical Gazette of May the 10th, 1828. A woman poisoned herself with concentrated Sulphuric Acid. The last efforts of Nature were exerted to give birth to a child, in whom, upon examination, Sul- phuric Acid was detected in the cavity of the pleura and the peritoneum, and also in the heart and bladder. Its pre- sence was also ascertained in the liquor amnii. Sulphuric acid, in its diluted state, consists of a fluid ounce and a half of the strong acid and four fluid ounces and a half of distilled water; thence, each fluid drachm contains ten minims of the strong acid. It is given, in combination with vegetable infusions and decoctions, in doses of from eight to thirty minims to produce its tonic influence. It cannot be combined in prescriptions with muriate of lime, lime water, barytic water, or the solution of acetate of lead, or muriate of baryta; insoluble compounds being produced by these combinations. If the strong acid be taken into the stomach, it operates as a corrosive poison ; producing violent pains of the stomach and chest, and a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, at the same time that an icy coldness is felt all over the body. z z