An English catalogue of drugs / [Richard Reece].

  • Reece, Richard, 1775-1831
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An English catalogue of drugs / [Richard Reece]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/96 (page 38)
    AN XXXVlfl. ACCOUNT OF USEFUL FAMILY PREPARATIONS, (chiefly taken from dr. Reece’s medical guide.) PREPARED ARECA CHARCOAL. The properties of charcoal, as a Dentrifice, were noticed in the first edition of this work, under the title of Car¬ bonic Powder ; since which it has been very generally em¬ ployed for the purpose of cleaning the teeth. Well-calcined charcoal, reduced to a fine powder, is, no doubt, a very innocent and excellent tooth-powder. It gives the enamel a fine, healthy, white appearance, de¬ stroys the offensive effluvia arising from carious teeth, and will not only prevent caries of the enamel, but even ar¬ rest its progress after it has taken place ; and it is worthy of remark, that people who have been great sufferers by tooth-ache, have not experienced the least relapse after the regular use of this powder. It is likewise very effi¬ cacious in destroying unpleasant tastes in the mouth, and for cleaning the tongue in cases of putrid fever, sore- throat, and indigestion. The charcoal, prepared from the Areca nut, has been held in high estimation among the Indians ; and Dr. Lind, late of Bengal, states, that by its use he has preserved all his teeth perfectly sound; although now arrived to the age of eighty : and several very respectable gentlemen who have resided many years in the East Indies, have assured me that it is esteemed a great preserver of the teeth, and a certain preventive against the tooth-ache. The charcoal of the Areca nut (generally termed Betel nut in this country) certainly af¬ fords a more solid powder than that of wood, and there¬ fore, for the purpose of cleaning the teeth, is more effi¬ cacious. It also possesses an alkalescency, which renders the matter that adheres to the teeth more readily removed by the brush;—a property from which the common char¬ coal is entirely exempt. On the very respectable authority of Dr. Lind, I was induced to give the Areca charcoal a trial; and, from long experience I have no hesitation in recommending its adoption in preference to that of wood.