COPPER SULPHATE 245 



Toxic EFFECTS. Hertwig records that large doses (above 

 twelve drachms for horses and cattle, one drachm for sheep 

 or swine, and half a drachm for dogs) cause indigestion and 

 impaired appetite ; in carnivora, vomiting and diarrhoea ; 

 the evacuations are tinged green or blue, and mixed with 

 blood ; and fatal inflammation of the stomach and intestines 

 usually follows. Drouard found that 60 grains retained in 

 the stomach of a dog killed it in half an hour, but left little 

 appearance of inflammation. Mitscherlich found that two 

 drachms speedily killed dogs, leaving ' blueness of the villous 

 coat of the stomach, mingled with brownness, the apparent 

 effect of chemical action.' A drachm applied to a wound 

 caused in dogs rapid prostration, and death in four hours. 

 Injected into the jugular vein, it speedily reduces and 

 arrests the action of the heart, 15 grains proving fatal in 

 twelve seconds (Christison). In poisoning by copper salts, 

 the appropriate antidotes are white of egg and milk, which 

 form insoluble innocuous albuminates ; iron filings, which 

 attract and fix the copper ; or potassium ferrocyanide, 

 which produces a comparatively insoluble and harmless 

 salt. 



MEDICINAL USES. Copper sulphate is given to dogs and 

 cats as a promptly-acting effectual emetic, useful in narcotic 

 poisoning. It acts chiefly on the stomach. With phos- 

 phorus it forms a stable, inert compound, the copper from 

 a salt being deposited in the metallic form on the particles 

 of phosphorus, so that copper sulphate is a valuable antidote 

 in phosphorus poisoning. It is prescribed for all animals in 

 atony of the stomach and excessive catarrhal discharges from 

 the alimentary canal. In chronic diarrhoea and dysentery 

 it is prescribed with opium. Given in bolus, administered 

 fasting, and repeated daily for a week, it is a useful general 

 vermifuge for the horse. As a nerve tonic it has been pre- 

 scribed for weakly dogs affected with epilepsy and chorea, 

 but the results have not been reassuring. 



Externally, it is applied as a stimulant, astringent, and 

 disinfectant. In ophthalmia, as an antiseptic stimulant ; 

 as a spray and gargle for ulcerated sore-throat ; as an anti- 

 septic stimulant and caustic for sluggish wounds, discharging 

 and parasitic skin diseases, exuberant granulations, grease, 



