436 MEDICINES. 



useful application for sprains and bruises. Equal parts of boiling 

 water and cold vinegar will form a good fomentation. Extract 

 of lead, or bay salt, may be added with some advantage. As an 

 internal remedy, vinegar is rarely given, nor has it, except in 

 large doses, any considerable medicinal power. The veterinarian 

 and the horse-owner should manufacture their own vinegar. 

 That which they buy frequently contains sulphuric acid and pun- 

 gent spices, and irritates the inflamed part to which it is applied. 

 AciDUM Arseniosum, Arsenic Acid. — Were it not that some 

 practitioners continue to use it as a tonic, in doses of from ten to 

 twenty grains daily, and others employ it to core out old ulcers, 

 we should not include it in our list, for we have little faith in it. 

 There are better and safer tonics, and far better and safer caus- 

 tics, 



ACIDUM MURIATICUM, OR HYDROCHLORIC AciD : SpiRIT OF 



Salt. — This acid is formed by distilling corrosive sublimate with 

 antimony. The butter-like matter which is produced (whence 

 the common name, BiUyr of Antimony), has a strong afiinity 

 for water, which it attracts from the atmosphere, and thus be- 

 comes converted into a fluid. The less water it is suflered to 

 attract- to itself the more powerful it remains, and therefore it 

 should be kept in stoppered bottles. The proof of its goodness is 

 its weight. It is decidedly the best liquid caustic we have. It 

 is most manageable, and its efiect can most readily be ascertained. 

 As soon as it touches any muscular or living part, a change of 

 color is perceived, and the eflect of the caustic can be i'airly 

 judged of by the degree of change. For corns, canker, indispo- 

 sition in the sole to secrete good horn, wounds in the foot not 

 attended by healthy action, and for every case where the super- 

 ficial application of a caustic is needed, this acid is unrivalled. 



AciDUM NiTRicuM *. NiTRic AciD, Aquafortis. — Tliis is a 

 valuable external application. It is both a caustic and an anti- 

 septic. It destroys fungous excrescences. A pledget of tar should 

 be dipped in the acid, and then firmly pressed on the cankerous 

 surface. Every part with which the acid has come into contact 

 will be deadened and slough ofi^, and healthy -granulations will 

 spring up. 



AciDUM Hi'DROciANicuM : Prussic Acid. — This, in a concen- 

 trated state, is truly a deadly poison ; a few drops of it will kill 

 a large animal. In a diluted form, it is a powerfiil sedative. In 

 doses of six drops, largely diluted, it abates both pulmonary and 

 gastric irritation. It may be worth trying in the form of injec- 

 tions in cases of tetanus. It may also be given by the mouth 

 in the same disease. Nothing ^'s more likely to tranquillize the 

 general excitement of the nei^ous system. The author of this 

 work v/as the firs', person who applied the hydrocyanic acid for 



