244 Coindet on the Adminislmtion of 



a-half, white wax two drachms, fused together, and united by 

 trituration with 36 grains of hydriodate of potash, or of soda. 

 The size of a hazel-nut of this ointment to be rubbed in every 

 morning and evening, on the goitre, gland, swelled joint, chronic 

 tumour, &c. Various effects result from this practice. One 

 of these is a local irritation, or chapping of the skin, an incon- 

 venience to be avoided. If there be a chronic phlegmasia in 

 the scrofula of the neck, or in any of these strumous swellings, 

 characterized by hardness, lancinating pains, we must stop the 

 above treatment till, by leeches, emollient cataplasms, ipeca- 

 cuan, and saline purgatives, we have paved the way for the 

 success of the iodic frictions. But it happens pretty frequently 

 that, in their turn, these frictions produce a sort of phlegmasia 

 in the same swellings, that is, after a certain number of appli- 

 cations the ointment developes an excitement of the lymphatics, 

 characterized by hardness, pain, and extreme sensibility of the 

 scrofulous glands. We then must immediately suspend all fric- 

 tion, and pursue the antiphlogistic plan, sometimes very actively. 

 Whether it be that the nature of the inflammation has been mo- 

 dified, or that the absorption alone has been powerfully aug- 

 mented, the fact is, that the pains give way, and, after a few 

 days, we are surprised to find that the obstructed glands are 

 softened, smaller, and that the cure has been accelerated by 

 that accidental disorder. 



It happens also, but much more rarely, that when the iodine 

 has been prescribed inwardly, there arises a constitutional ac- 

 tion (agreeably to what I have stated in one of my Memoirs,) 

 which we must regard, as an iodic super-saturation of the system. 

 Tlie patient becomes pale, he takes a complexion peculiar to 

 the effects of the iodine, he turns lean, first of all where the 

 frictions are applied, especially if that be the neck, and then 

 the emaciation extends over the whole body, if the frictions be 

 continued. The pulse becomes occasionally frequent, but at 

 the same time the goitres, or scrofulous glands, dissolve during 

 this action with great rapidity, so that in some cases the cure 

 excites astonishment. Yet, by these means, we make the pa- 

 tient suffer unnecessary inconvenience and risk, injuring the 



