no MATER i A MEDIC A AND THERAPEUTICS. 



chlorinated soda, may be applied to foul ulcers, dissection and ' 

 poisoned wounds, diphtheritic surfaces ; or used in contagious 

 ophthalmia, ozoena, and other foul discharges from surfaces or 

 cavities. Of much more extensive application is the disinfec- 

 tant action of chlorinated lime and its preparations, apart from 

 the body : to purify rooms, wash infected clothes, flush drains, 

 and throw upon the stools of typhoid fever and cholera before 

 they are disposed of. 



Internally, chlorine exerts the same local action upon the 

 parts with which it comes in contact ; and is employed as a 

 wash or gargle, to disinfect and stimulate foul ulcers of the 

 mouth, tongue, and throat, especially in diphtheria. 



In the stomach chlorine in dilute solutions becomes con- 

 verted into hydrochloric acid and chlorides, and loses all 

 further effect upon the body as the uncombined element. 



Inhaled as the vapour, chlorine causes local irritation of the 

 respiratory passages, with distressing pain in the throat and 

 chest, spasm, cough, lachrymation, sneezing, and headache. It 

 cannot be recommended in this form or for this purpose. 



2. ACTION IN THE BLOOD, SPECIFIC ACTION, AND REMOTE 

 LOCAL ACTION. 



It is doubtful whether chlorine enters the circulation or 

 reaches the tissues, uncombined ; more probably it is entirely con- 

 verted into chlorides. From the analogy of its powerfully dis- 

 infectant and bleaching properties apart from the body, it has 

 been given, as an " alterative and stimulant," in typhus, 

 typhoid fever, small-pox, and other "putrescent " diseases, as 

 well as in chronic dysentery, and liver disease of a malarial 

 origin. There is little evidence in favour of continuing its use 

 in these cases. 



IODTJM. IODINE. I. 127. 



Under this head will be discussed both Iodine and 

 Iodide of Potassium, the form in which the element 

 is generally administered internally. Reference will 

 also be made to the other officinal iodides. 



lodum. Iodine. I. 



Source. A non-metallic element, obtained principally from 

 Kelp, the ashes of sea- weed. 



Characters. Laminar crystals of a dark colour and lustre, 

 and peculiar odour. Solubility, 1 in 7,000 of water, 1 in 12 of 

 rectified spirit, 1 in 4 of ether, sparingly in glycerine, freely 



