EUCALYPTOL 497 



Nervous System. — Poisonous quantities depress the 

 brain, medulla and spinal cord. Eeflex activity is lost. 

 Animals stagger, suffer great loss of muscular power and 

 sensation in their limbs, and fall ; the breathing is slow and 

 irregular, the pulse weak, and there are occasional convul- 

 sions. The breathing stops before the cardiac pulsations. 



Elimination. — Oil of eucalyptus is excreted by the skin, 

 kidneys, and mucous membrane of the bronchial tubes and 

 bowels, and therefore stimulates and disinfects these parts 

 during its elimination. Hence the drug is a diarphoretic, 

 diuretic, and genito-urinary stimulant, stimulating expector- 

 ant, and carminative. 



Administration. — The oil, or eucalyptol, are administered 

 in emulsion with gum ; dissolved in alcohol ; or in capsules. 



USES OF EUCALYPTUS, OIL OF EUCALYPTUS AND EUCALYPTOL. 



External — Eucalyptol is probably more generally useful 

 than either eucalyptus or the oil. It is employed as an 

 antiseptic with vaseline (1-8), on sores, wounds, and ulcers, 

 and in lubricating instruments for use in the cavities of the 

 body. It pa.rtially disguises the odor of iodoform, and is 

 frequently combined with the latter in ointment. Eucalyptol 

 is serviceable as a stimulating, antiseptic and deodorant 

 inhalation in catarrhal diseases of the respiratory tract with 

 putrid discharges, and in pulmonary gangrene. The ordinary 

 doses (by the mouth) are placed in hot water for this 

 purpose. Eucalyptol, with sweet oil (1-5), forms an efficient 

 stimulating and anodyne liniment. 



Internal. — In chronic bronchitis, eucalyptol is often 

 valuable in stimulating and disinfecting the bronchial mucous 

 membrane during its elimination. It is also efficacious in 

 chronic pyelitis and cystitis, for the same reason. The oil 

 has been given with asserted success in various bacterial 

 diseases, as septicaemia, canine distemper, influenza, etc., for 

 its antiseptic action. In human medicine, eucalyptus and 

 its derivatives are mainly of worth as substitutes for quinine 

 in malaria, when the latter drug is inadmissible. Eucalyptol 



