120 MATER i A MEDIC A AND THERAPEUTICS. 



e. Sulphuris lodidum. Iodide of Sulphur, SI. 



Source. Made by fusing Sublimed Sulphur with 

 Iodine. 



Characters. Greyish-black crystalline pieces. Solu- 

 bility, 1 in 60 of glycerine ; insoluble in water. 



Preparation. 

 Unguentum Sulphuris lodidi. 1 in 15|-. 



Sublimed Sulphur is also contained in Emplastrum 

 Hydrargyri, and Emplastrum Ammoniaci cum Hydrar- 



ACTION AND USES. 

 1. IMMEDIATE LOCAL ACTIOX AND USES. 



Externally applied, sulphur has probably no local action of 

 itself, but is partially converted, by contact with the acid pro- 

 ducts of the skin, into sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphides, 

 which are energetic substances. Whether, therefore, rubbed 

 on as ointment, worn in flannel, distributed over the surface by 

 fumigation, or given as a natural or artificial bath of " sulphur 

 waters," it is not sulphur, but its hydrogen compound, which 

 possesses local therapeutical properties. 



Sulphuretted hydrogen, when brought in contact with the 

 skin in any of the forms just mentioned, is a vascular stimulant 

 and nervous sedative. It is probably on this account that sulphur 

 has long been regarded as useful in relieving the pains of 

 chronic rheumatism ; and as an alterative in certain kinds of 

 skin disease such as acne, in which the ointment of the Potassa 

 Sulphurata is especially valuable. The solution of the gas is 

 also absorbed by the skin, and is extolled (in the form of baths) 

 in lead and mercury poisoning, syphilis, and chronic enlarge- 

 ments of joints. The rationale of these effects will be dis- 

 cussed under the head of its specific action. 



Sulphur and sulphurated potash destroy the Acarus scab'iei, 

 and are used in the treatment of itch. 



Internally, sulphur has been locally applied to the throat in 

 diphtheria, but with disappointing results. 



In the stomach it remains unaltered, and passes as such 

 into the intestines, where it acts as a purgative, possibly by 

 increasing peristalsis, more probably by stimulating the 

 glandular structures. Medicinal doses of milk of sulphur, the 

 Confectio, or the German Pulvis Glycyrrhizae Compositus, are 

 simple laxatives, producing an easy soft stool with little or 

 no pain. Sulphur waters, drunk freely at Harrogate, Moffat, 



