34 MATER i A MEDIC A AND THERAPEUTICS. 



Aciduin Pyrogallicum PYROGALLIC ACID. 

 Pyrogallol. C 6 H 3 (OH) 3 . (Not Officinal.) A body 

 obtained from gallic or tannic acid by carefully 

 heating. 



Characters. Very small shining colourless crystals, be- 

 coming black on exposure ; odourless, insipid ; not acid to test- 

 paper ; readily soluble in water. 



Dose. to 1| gr. 



ACTION AND USES. 



Pyrogallic acid has a powerful affinity for oxygen, and is 

 thus antiseptic and disinfectant (in 1 to 2^ per cent, solutions). 

 It stains the skin and hair dark without injuring their struc- 

 ture. It also acts as a powerful but somewhat painful local 

 stimulant, which will destroy excessive cutaneous growths, and 

 may be used (60 gr. to one ounce of lard) in psoriasis, but 

 only when the patches of disease are small, in lupus, and in 

 epithelial cancer. 



Whether applied freely to the skin, or given internally in 

 large doses, pyrogallic acid has a destructive influence on the 

 blood, which assumes a brown " fluid " appearance and readily 

 coagulates, the corpuscles being the elements affected. Vomit- 

 ing, purging, bloody urine, great nervous and general depres- 

 sion, are the results of this blood change, which may prove 

 fatal; hence the caution given in the last paragraph. The 

 drug has been used in haemoptysis. 



HORACES. 



Ficus FIG. The dried fruit of Ficus Carica. 

 Imported from Smyrna. 



Composition. Figs contain chiefly sugar and mucilaginws 

 substances. 



Figs are contained in Conf ectio Sennae. 



ACTION AND USES. 



The dried fig is a very pleasant demulcent and nutritive 

 substance with laxative properties, and may be ordered as an 

 article of diet in habitual constipation. It is sometimes used 

 locally as a poultice to gum-boils. 



