592 EUCALYPTUS 



acid, catechin, and catechol. It resembles kino, which is 

 less soluble in water. 



ACTIONS AND USES. The oil possesses in marked degree 

 the group characters of volatile oils, well illustrated by 

 turpentine. When freely used in concentrated form it is 

 an in-contact irritant. It is powerfully antiseptic and 

 disinfectant, destroying the lower forms of animal life. 

 Locally applied it first irritates and then impairs sensibility 

 by paralysing sensory nerve terminals. It is readily 

 absorbed, increasing cardiac action, and is hence a stimulant 

 and antispasmodic ; and as it passes out of the body it 

 increases the activity of the excreting channels, chiefly 

 the respiratory mucous membrane and the kidneys. Its 

 antiseptic properties confer some anti-malarial action ; 

 but it cannot, as has been suggested, take the place of the 

 cinchona alkaloids. 



Eucalyptus oil is used as a stimulant and antiseptic gargle, 

 inhalation, and spray to diminish excessive quantity and 

 fcetor of nasal, pharyngeal, and bronchial secretions. It is 

 administered in protracted cases of strangles, influenza, 

 and purpura in horses, septicaemia in all animals, and in 

 distemper in dogs in such cases being usefully combined 

 with quinine, ether, and alcohol. Arloing and Thomas 

 state that solutions containing one xfrath P ar ^ destroy the 

 virus of black-quarter. As an antiseptic it is three times as 

 powerful as carbolic acid, for which it is sometimes sub- 

 stituted in surgical cases. Eucalyptus gauze is unbleached 

 cotton impregnated with one part oil of eucalyptus, three 

 of dammar resin, and three of paraffin wax. Eucalyptus 

 wool contains 5 per cent, of the oil. In foetid uterine 

 discharges, eucalyptol injections or pessaries are useful. 

 The gum is astringent, and styptic. As a desiccant, 

 mixed with starch and zinc oxide, it is used for superficial 

 wounds. Occasionally red gum is prescribed for diarrhoea 

 in dogs. 



DOSES, etc., of the oil. Horses and cattle take f3i. to 

 f3iv. ; dogs, n\ii. to fl\x., in diluted spirits, mucilage, or 

 milk. For parasitic skin affections and other external 

 purposes it is dissolved in oil or cacao butter, and is often 

 usefully conjoined with iodoform. Eulyptol, consisting of 





