MEDICINAL USES 315 



starch iodide, and giving mineral tonics, bitters, and nutri- 

 tive diet. 



MEDICINAL USES. Iodine is prescribed as an alterative and 

 resolvent in enlargement of glands, and of the udder, in 

 chronic rheumatism, especially involving the joints, in 

 hydro thorax and ascites, and in persistent cases of psoriasis. 

 Some American practitioners conjoin iodine with carbolic 

 acid in febrile attacks, especially when depending upon 

 malaria. Dry, congested conditions of the respiratory 

 mucous membrane are sometimes relieved, and secretion 

 of mucus encouraged, by inhalation of steam or warm air, 

 medicated with a little iodine tincture, and by potassium 

 iodide internally. Similar inhalations are also beneficial 

 in checking muco-purulent discharges from the nostrils 

 or sinuses of the head, and in infective sore-throat. 

 In purpura haemorrhagica, Dieckerhoff recommends the 

 intra-tracheal injection of eight to twelve drachms, twice 

 daily, of a solution of one part iodine, five of potassium 

 iodine, and one hundred of water. Injections carefully and 

 slowly made are not followed by coughing. Many British 

 veterinary surgeons testify to the value of this treatment in 

 reducing the swellings of the disease. 



Iodine is pre-eminently useful in diabetes insipidus, 

 or polyuria, affecting horses in which twenty or thirty 

 pints of urine are sometimes passed daily, thirst is in- 

 satiable, and strength and flesh are rapidly lost. Iodine 

 given night and morning seldom fails to arrest this disease 

 in two or three days. How it does so is not satisfactorily 

 explained. Its antiseptic effects may control excessive 

 production of injurious enzymes. But neither quinine nor 

 iron, although possessed of notable antiseptic properties, is 

 as effectual as iodine in this form of diabetes. Neither 

 potassium nor iron iodide is as trustworthy as the crude drug. 

 Dollar has experimented with various more correct chemical 

 combinations, but finds none so reliable as iodine 3 ss -> i ron 

 sulphate 3iJ-> an( i powdered gentian ^iv., made into bolus 

 with treacle, syrup, or meal and water. This is repeated 

 once, in bad cases twice, daily. R/arely are more than six 

 doses required to effect a cure. 



Externally, iodine is used as an antiseptic, stimulant, and 



