180 ANTACIDS, DIURETICS, AND DETERGENTS 



gutta-percha tissue. Cases of itching which are not relieved 

 by alkaline lotions should be dressed with a dilute acid, and 

 such alternation is sometimes successful, when neither the 

 alkaline nor acid treatment alone succeeds. The bicarbon- 

 ate proves a serviceable injection in leucorrhoea in all 

 patients. In Cape Colony a ley made from wood ashes 

 has been used successfully as a remedy for sheep scab, either 

 alone or mixed with sulphur. 



DOSES, etc. Of either carbonate, horses and cattle take 

 3ij- to J- ; sheep and pigs, 3ss. to 3J- ; dogs, grs. v. to 

 grs. xxx., repeated several times a day, liberally diluted 

 with water. For improving gastric secretion they are given 

 about an hour before eating ; but in most dyspeptic cases 

 acids are more permanently effectual. 



POT ASS A SULPHURATA. Sulphurated Potash. Potassium 

 Sulphide. A mixture of salts of potassium, of which 

 the chief are sulphides. (B.P.) 



One part of sulphur and two of potassium carbonate are 

 mixed and heated until fusion occurs, poured on a stone 

 slab and cooled. There is produced a liver-brown, bitter, 

 acrid, alkaline substance which is odourless when dry, but 

 when moistened smells of hydrogen sulphide. It readily 

 dissolves in water, forming a yellow solution. 



ACTIONS AND USES. It conjoins the action of a sulphide 

 and a potassium salt. Large doses are irritant and narcotic. 

 Medicinal doses are laxative, and, like other sulphides, 

 stimulate the secretions of the skin and respiratory mucous 

 membrane, and are alterative. Externally, it is occasion- 

 ally applied as a substitute for sulphur in the treatment 

 of chronic skin diseases, and as a rubefacient, resolvent, and 

 antiparasitic. 



Toxic EFFECTS. Two ounces are stated to have destroyed 

 a horse (Bouchardat) ; six drachms and a half, introduced 

 into the stomach of a dog, and retained by ligature on the 

 oesophagus, occasioned death with tetanic symptoms in seven 

 minutes ; a drachm and a half in small fragments, intro- 

 duced into the subcutaneous areolar tissue of dogs, caused 

 extensive inflammation, coma, and death in thirteen hours 



