210 STIMULANT, ANTISEPTIC, AND DISINFECTANT 



TOXIC EFFECTS. Hertwig gave horses and cattle one ounce 

 to two pounds ; sheep and goats one to eight drachms ; and 

 dogs half a drachm to four drachms. The smaller quantities 

 produced scarcely any effect ; the larger, besides local 

 irritation, caused acceleration of the pulse, difficult breath- 

 ing, increased warmth in the mouth, weeping eyes, abundant 

 secretion of urine, having a curious odour of chlorine or 

 prussic acid, and a white sediment, frequent copious alvine 

 discharges, and in dogs, vomiting. In horses the effects 

 usually began in twenty or thirty minutes, and lasted two 

 to five hours. Considerable doses, given repeatedly, did not 

 impair appetite, but caused thirst and gradual emaciation. 



MEDICINAL USES. Youatt recommended bleaching powder 

 for hoven in cattle, and tympanites in horses, in doses vary- 

 ing from two to four drachms, and ascribed its supposed 

 good effects to its decomposing the gases evolved in the 

 alimentary canal. But repeated careful trials made at the 

 Edinburgh Veterinary College indicate that it is of little, if 

 any, service in the majority of cases of hoven or tympanites, 

 whether in cattle or horses. It is an antidote in poisoning 

 by hydrogen sulphide and ammonium hydrosulphide ; and, 

 with a respirator filled with bleaching powder, Roberts 

 explored in safety the sewers of the Bastille, which had not 

 been opened for thirty-seven years, and were full of hydrogen 

 sulphide and other noxious gases. 



Externally, it is irritant and antiseptic, and is used as a 

 stimulant and deodorant for unhealthy wounds, for removing 

 the f oetor of foul discharges, and for destroying the fungus of 

 ringworm, the parasites of mange, and for grease. Diluted 

 solutions have been recommended for checking conjunctival 

 ophthalmia, and other circumscribed and superficial in- 

 flammations ; but are not so effectual as lead or zinc lotion. 

 Although it does not arrest the action of enzymes, or prevent 

 the reproduction of developed bacteria or their spores as 

 promptly and effectually as corrosive sublimate, it is superior 

 as an antiseptic to sulphurous acid, bromine, iodine, salicylic 

 acid, and the permanganates (Wernitz and Koch). Its 

 active gaseous products, moreover, readily attack and break 

 up the products of putrefaction, and it hence proves an 

 effectual deodoriser. 



