CARBOLIC ACID 311 



Treatment. — Emetics are usually valueless on account of 

 the ansesthetic condition of the mucous membrane of the 

 stomach. We use, therefore, the stomach pump or tube, 

 and, as antidotes, Epsom or Glauber's salts, forming in- 

 soluble and harmless sulphocarbolates in the digestive 

 tract and blood ; and these are indicated in every stage of 

 the poisoning. For collapse, heart and respiratory failure, 

 digitalis, strychnine, atropine, ether, brandy* subcutane- 

 ously, are to be employed, together with heat externally. 

 Mucilaginous drinks are also useful. 



Administration.— G'Arho\\G acid is commonly given in- 

 ternally, diluted several hundred times with water. 



Uses External. — A solution of carbolic acid (1-20) is 

 frequently used in surgery to disinfect the unbroken skin, 

 while a weaker solution (1-40) is more suitable as an 

 antiseptic upon raw surfaces and mucous membranes. Cor- 

 rosive sublimate is a cheaper and more powerful disinfectant 

 and antiseptic, and is therefore more often employed to 

 render the operative field aseptic and to sterilize the hands 

 of the operator. Pare carbolic acid is occasionally used as 

 a caustic to destroy small growths, as warts, and the lining 

 membrane of fistulae of ihe poll, withers, or lateral car- 

 tilages; to swab out a septic uterus, and as a local 

 anaesthetic upon the skin. A drop of pure acid, or a line 

 drawn with a brush along a proposed path of incision, may 

 render a hypodermic puncture or superficial incision pain- 

 less. Injection of ten to thirty drops of a two per cent, 

 solution into the substance of boils, glandular swellings, 

 erysipelatous inflammatory patches, poisoned wounds, joints 

 affected with chronic synovitis, and inflamed bursas, will 

 often assist recovery and may abort the lesion. 



In acute inflammation, the injections are made twice 

 daily; in chronic conditions, once every other day; and if 

 there is a large extent of surface involved, several injections 

 are done at one time. 



* Strong alcoholic liquors given by the mouth possess considerable 

 value as chemical and physiological antidotes to carbolic acid. 



