422 CRESOL AND CREOLIK 



embrocations. For intratracheal injection in parasitic 

 bronchitis Tl\5 to H\10 creosote are dissolved in H\60 to 

 IT\100 of a mixture of equal parts of alcohol and water ; 

 and in equine pneumonia, five drachms of a solution of 

 one part creosote and forty to fifty parts each of alcohol 

 and water, may be used. 



Guaiacol (methyl-pyrocatechin), CH 7 O 2 , a colourless, re- 

 fractive liquid, with a characteristic odour, is obtained by 

 distillation from beech creosote, or from guaiacum resin. 

 It is closely allied in antiseptic properties and general 

 actions to creosote, for which it may be substituted. Com- 

 mercial guaiacol is an oily liquid containing about 90 per 

 cent, of pure guaiacol, which is crystalline. It is soluble 

 in eighty-five parts of water, and freely in alcohol, acetone, 

 ether, oils, and glycerin. It is more germicide than phenol, 

 and much less toxic. Applied to the skin in fever it 

 markedly lowers temperature, but as an antipyretic it has 

 been little used. As a local anaesthetic its action is slow, 

 but more durable than that of cocaine. It anaesthetises 

 both inflamed and healthy tissues. A one per cent, solu- 

 tion in castor oil is used as an anaesthetic instillation for 

 the eye ; and fifteen grains pure guaiacol dissolved in four 

 or five drachms of sterilised neutral oil or glycerin form an 

 anaesthetic injection which is useful in minor surgery, half 

 a drachm to two drachms being injected into the area 

 of operation. Guaiacol has been prescribed in phthisis 

 and pneumonia of man, and in most cases the temperature 

 was considerably reduced. It may be administered in 

 the same doses as creosote. The carbonate (Duotal), a 

 neutral crystalline powder, is sometimes prescribed in 

 bronchitis and rheumatism, and as an intestinal antiseptic. 

 It passes unchanged through the stomach into the bowel, 

 where it is split up (Coblentz). 



CRESOL-CREOLIN 



Cresol is a coal-tar product of complex composition, con- 

 taining naphthalene, xylenol, phloral, leucoline, anthracene, 

 paracresol, pyridine, with sodium carbonate, sulphate and 

 chloride, and traces of carbolic acid. 



