m'w 





Vol. e. 



Saxi Jose, Cal., May, 1S75. 



No. 5. 



CARBOIiIC ACID. 



Its Nature and Uses. 



By JOHN D. SCOTT, M. D. 



^ 



iS'tt'ds. Aghicultueist: In 1832 Keichinback 

 Jfi, discovered iu beech tar a peculiar sub- 

 Ay^ stance -which, from the jiroperty which 

 jjti/ it possessed of preserving meat, he 

 called creosote, from two Greek words meaning 

 meat-preserver. Two years afterwards Riinge 

 discovered a similar substance in coal tar, to 

 which he gave the name of Carbolic Acid, a 

 contraction of carbou-oil-acid. It was con- 

 tended for some time that these two sub- 

 stances were identical, but upon careful 

 chemical analysis they were found to be dis- 

 tinct articles, although possessing some analo- 

 gous properties. "It differs from creosote 

 by being decidedly acid, in being precipitated 

 by acetate of lead, and not being acted upon 

 by ammonia and air, but changed by even 

 dilute nitric acid into a red-brown substance; 

 it also precipitates gelatine; all which proper- 

 ties are wanting in creosote." Owing, how- 

 ever to this close resemblance, creosote is 

 often largely adulterated with carbolic acid. 



In the shops it occurs in two forms, solid 

 and liquid. When perfectly pure it is found 

 in white masses, or crystals, or in a white 

 liquid heavier than water, but as ordinarily 

 kept the crystals and liquid are of a more or 

 less brownish-red color, owing to imiiurities. 

 It combines with Ume and other bases, when 

 the products are known as carbolates, some 

 of which are very valuable and largely used in 

 the arts. 



It is very volatile, hence its gi-eat value as 

 a disinfectant. It is also powerfully antisep- 

 tic. A green hide immersed for 21 hours iu 

 an aqueous solution of the acid of the strength 

 of 10 or 15 per cent, will be preserved upon 

 drying for years from putrefaction. It in- 

 stantly deprives stinking fish or meat of its 

 offensive odor, and arrests further decompo- 

 sition by arresting the putrefactive fermenta- 

 tion. It is therefoje one of the most valuable 

 agents iu the process of embalming bodies, 

 and in preserving the skins of birds, animals 

 and reptiles from further change in our cabi- 

 nets and museums. 



It was largely used in our late unpleasant- 

 ness by surgeons on both sides of the Poto- 

 mac in gun-shot wounds, diseases of the 

 bones and foul suppurating abscesses with 

 the most gratifying results. It not only acted 

 as deodorizer, but stopped at once the putre- 

 factive fermentation, thus striking at once at 

 the root of the evil. The explanation of its 

 salutary results may be found in the fact that 

 their morbid processes are not only originated 

 but kept up by exceeding minute, but poison- 



ous, organisms to which carbolic acid is in- 

 stant death. By injecting solutions of 5 to 

 10 per cent, of the acid to the water they are 

 destroyed by the million, and by keeping the 

 parts well bathed with the lotion, or covered 

 with cloths wrung out of it, their recurrence 

 is prevented. 



Taken iu medicinal doses, say one to two 

 grains or drops to the ounce of sweetened 

 water, and being absorbed into the system, it 

 seems to exert a specific effect upon the kid- 

 nays and bronchial tubes, thus constituting a 

 most valuable diuretic and expectorant. 

 Hence the flooding of the market with car- 

 bolic troches. 



But its most important use has been 

 thought to be iu the destruction of those veg- 

 etable spores and morbific animalcules which 

 have of late been proven to be the prolific 

 source of many epidemic and contagious dis- 

 esases among 



MEN AND DOMESTIC ANIMAiS. 



It has been shown that it acts with 

 distructive agency upon these germs out of 

 the body, and it has been reasonably concluded 

 that it would act with equal effect upon them 

 iu the body. With this view it has been ad- 

 ministered internally, but not sufficiently long 

 and extensively to demonstrate its absolute 

 merits. 



A few drops of a weak solution are sufficient 

 to prevent the mould on ink and other vege- 

 table solutions. In the concentrated form, it 

 is said to have been used to destroy the pois- 

 onous effects of dissection wounds. It has 

 been recommended in vomiting, diarrhcea, dys- 

 pepsia and flatulence. Whenever putrefac- 

 tion or even common fermentation is suspect- 

 ed in the stomach, carbolic acid by its anti- 

 fermentive and anti-septic properties would 

 be of undoubted efficacy. 



From the properties of carbolic acid already 

 known and acknowledged it was confidently 

 expected that it would act equally well as a 

 worm medicine; and in the few tri.ils that 

 have been as yet made with it, it has not dis- 

 appointed that expectation. Against the 

 lumbricoids or large red worms it has been 

 found efficient, and used in the form of weak 

 injection we might reasonably hope to find it 

 equally serviceable against the pin worm so 

 distressing both to grown persons and child- 

 ren. 



Owing to its detergent and antiseptic pro- 

 perties it makes an excellent dentriflce cleans- 

 ing the teeth and the interspaces between 

 them and sweetening the breath. 



In scarlet fever, diptheria, erysipelas and 

 other ihseases dependent upon a morbid con- 

 dition of the blood, it may be used not only 

 hygienieally but internally with the reason- 

 able expectation of exerting an antiseptic 

 action on that imjjortant fluid. Upon old, 

 indolent and foul ulcers, either in the form of 

 a weak lotion or ointment, it acts with great 

 energy by not only cleansing them but by 



stimulating them to renewed and healthy 

 action. 



In the crystals or concentrated liquid form 

 it acts as a poworful caustic, turning the parts 

 white to which it is applied and removing the 

 cuticle, which, before separation, turns to a 

 dark, brownish color. The application pro- 

 duces severe pain, which lasts for an hour or 

 more, and the acid in this form should bo 

 used with extreme caution. It is by its pow- 

 erful caustic effect in killing the nerve that it 

 instantly relieves the toothache; but it should 

 never be used in this way by unskillful hands, 

 as it will produce painful eschars in the 

 mouth wherever it touches. Of course, such 

 a powerful disorganizer, when taken into the 

 system, would produce the most liolent and 

 fatal effects. A solution of lime in water, 

 which converts the acid into carbolate of lime, 

 would be, put up, the readiest and most ef- 

 fectual antidote. 



In itch it acts as a specific, destroj-ing the 

 insect whose presence and ravages constitute 

 the cbsease. It is equally ser%iceable in many 

 other skin diseases, particularly those of the 

 head and scalp. In these cases it is used as a 

 wash, ointment, or bath. In diseases of the 

 ear with purulent and offensive discharges it 

 has been found particularly beneficial. In 

 scalds and burns, in the proportion of 10 to 

 \'> drops to the ounce of water it has been 

 highly recommended. It is said to allay the 

 pain instantly and dispose the parts to heal 

 kiudl}' and without subsequent contraction. 



It may be given internally in the dose of 1 

 or 2 grains, or drops, as the case may be, in 

 one ounce of sweetened water. As a caustic, 

 it is used as obtained from the shops, care 

 being taken to limit its appUcatinn to the dis- 

 eased parts. As a lotion to the skin, it may 

 be dissolved in the proportion of 1 part of the 

 acid to 100 or 200 of water. As an applica- 

 tion to the throat in scarlet fever, dii)theria, 

 bronchitis, catarrh, etc., as spray in an atom- 

 izer, it may be used in the projjortion of one 

 grain or drop to the ounce of water, gradually 

 increasing the strength to -i or 5 as thought 

 advisable. As a gargle in such cases, take 20 

 grains or drops of the acid, half a drachm of 

 vinegar, 2 ounces of the tincture of myrrh, and 

 C oz of water. This is said to fail but seldom 

 in diptheria. As an ointment for cancers, 

 ulcers, etc., 5 grains or drops may be rubbed 

 up with an ounce of lard, unsalted butter, 

 suet or simple cerate, and applied on cloths. 

 As its prophylactic and disinfectant proper- 

 ties are not among the least of its virtues, it 

 may be dissolved in the proportion of an 

 ounce of the acid to one gallon of water and 

 hung round the sick room in cloths saturated 

 with the solution, introduced into the dejec- 

 tions, and sponged from time to time over the 

 bodies of the sick. It is thought to have ex- 

 erted vei-y beneficial effects, used in this way, 

 in private and hospital practice, in arresting 

 the spread and mitigating the severity of ery- 

 sipelas, diptheria, puerperal, scarlet, yellow 

 and tyjihoid fevers. During the prevalence 

 of such epidemics, no house or hospital with 

 a single case of any of these dangerous dis- 

 eases should be without an abundant suijply 

 of this valuable disinfectant. In times of 

 epidemics and jiestilences our street sprink- 

 lers might be converted into powerful sanitary 

 agencies by the addition of a few ounces of 

 the acid to each ban-el of water. 



It was thought to have exerted a highly 

 useful effect in checking the spread and mod- 

 erating the severity of the late 



(^Continued on page 117, this issue.) 



