180 INORGANIC AGENTS 



Heat breaks up Ca H4 (PO,)! into Ca (Po3)2 (calcium metapliospiiate)-)-2 

 H,0. 



Then: 2 Ca (PO,)2+2 SiO^+lO C=:P4+2 Ca Si O3+IO C O. 



Properties. — A translucent, nearly colorless solid, of a waxy lustre, having 

 at ordinary temperature about the consistency of beeswax. By long keeping, the 

 surface becomes red and occasionally black. It has a distinctive but disagreeable 

 odor and taste, but should not be tasted except in a state of great dilution. When 

 exposed to the air it emits white fumes which are luminous in the dark, and have 

 an odor somewhat resembling garlic. On long exposure to the air, it takes fire 

 spontaneously. Sp. gr. about 1.830 at 10° C. It melts at about 44° C. Almost 

 insoluble in water, to which it imparts its characteristic disagreeable odor and 

 taste. Sparingly soluble in fixed oils, soluble in 400 mils of dehydrated alcohol, 

 17 mils of chloroform, 102 mils of absolute ether, 31.5 mils of benzene, and in 0.9 

 mil of carbon disulphide. Besides the official form there are several other allo- 

 tropic forms of phosphorus, including the red, or amorphous, the black, and the 

 crystallized metallic phosphorus. 



Red phosphorus is non-poisonous, owing to its insolubility preventing its 

 absorption in the digestive tract. 



Dose.—n., gr.i-ii, (.06-.12) ; C, gr.ii-iii, (.12-.18) ; Sh. & Sw., gr.1/100-1/20, 

 (.0006-.003); D., gr.1/100-1/20, (.0006-.003). 



PEEPAHATIOJfS. 



Oleum Phosphoratum. Phosphorated Oil. (B. P.) 

 Phosphorus, 1 Gm.; expressed oil of almond and ether, of each a sufficient 

 quantity to make 100 Gm. (U. S. P. 1890.) 



Properties. — A clear, yellowish liquid, having the odor of phosphorus and 

 ether. The ether in this preparation evaporates in time and the strength is pro- 

 portionately, and perhaps dangerously, increased. 

 Dose.— H., 3ii-iii, (8-12); D., TTli-v, (.06-.3). 



Pilulae Phosphori. (U. S. P.) 



Each pill contains gr.1/100 of phosphorus. 



Pilulae Phosphori. (B. P.) 



2 per cent, phosphorus. 



Dose. — D., pills, i-ii. 



Action of Phosphorus 



Internal. — The sole physiological action of phosphorus which would 

 suggest^ and in some manner explain^ its therapeutic use is that on bones. 

 Phosphorus, when given in small doses to growing animals, apparently 

 stimulates^ the bone-making cells (osteoblasts) and the growth of denser 

 bone, both from cartilage and periosteum. In older animals the lamellae 

 of spongy tissue are made thicker and, in fowl, the narrow cavity may 

 be wholly obliterated by the deposition of hard bone through the ingestion 

 of phosphorus. If calcium salts be withheld from the food the activity 

 of the osteoblasts continues but the new bone is soft and of the nature of 

 bones in rickets. The precise mode of action of phosphorus on normal 

 and diseased bones (rickets and osteomalacia) has yet to be determined. 



There appears to be clinical evidence that phosphorus is a nerve 

 stimulant and, in man, it is said that large doses cause mental exhilara- 

 tion, and increased capacity for work, and excite sexual desire. Experi- 

 ments with phosphorus on animals show no special action of the drug on 

 the nervous system. Phosphorus is absorbed largely in an unchanged 

 condition in solution in fatty matter in the bowels and as vapor. Some 

 of the phosphorus is probably converted in the bowels and blood into 

 phosphuretted hydrogen (PHg) and further oxidized into phosphoric 



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