164 VETEEINAET MATERIA JfBDICA. 



tions of the drugs from which it is derived, and is at 

 once the best and safest manner of administering car- 

 bolic acid internally. 



Campho-Phenique, a saturated solution of cam- 

 phor in liquefied carbolic acid, is a most excellent 

 antiseptic, especially adapted to local use. It is 

 markedly anaesthetic and anodyne, and can be ap- 

 plied pure or diluted with oil or glycerin to the most 

 painful and sensitive wound or burn. 



Physiological Action. — Carbolic acid is the 

 best known and most commonly used disinfectant and 

 antiseptic, although not the most active. It is an 

 antiferment, a deodorizer, and prevents the decomposi- 

 tion of albuminous fluids by bacteria. Applied locally 

 it is a styptic, ansesthetic, and superficially escharotic, 

 coagulating the albumin of the part ; it is powerfully 

 poisonous to the tissues, and when applied directly to 

 muscle or nerve paralyzes these at once without pre- 

 vious stimulation. When given undiluted and in 

 large doses carbolic acid causes violent gastro-enter- 

 itis with vomiting and purging, followed by collapse, 

 delirium, and often convulsions and death. After 

 absorption it acts by selection upon the medulla, es- 

 pecially upon the respiratory and vasomotor centres 

 therein, which it first briefly stimulates and then 

 completely paralyzes. It stimulates cardiac inhibi- 

 tion, first slowing the heart, then depressing, and 

 finally paralyzing it. Respiration, at first increased, 

 is soon depressed, the pupils become contracted, the 

 brain and spinal cord are directly affected ; stupor, 

 coma, suspended reflexes, impaired motility and sen- 



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