BROMINE 185 



odorless, and having a saline taste. From air the salt attracts moisture without 

 deliquescing. Soluble in 1.1 parts of water, and in 16 parts of alcohol. 

 Dose. — Same as potassium bromide. 



Action of the Bromides. 



External. — None. 



Internal. — Digestive Tract. — The bromides, when ingested in con- 

 c»:ntrated form, may induce nausea and vomiting through irritation of the 

 stomach produced by withdrawal of water from the gastric mucosa. This 

 "salt action" is common to other salines. In a large, single dose, the 

 bromides cause in horses muscular weakness, dulness and staggering gait, 

 and slow respiration. The urine is increased in quantity and sexual 

 desire diminished. Bromism may be produced in man, or the lower ani- 

 mals, by the continuous administration of the bromides. This condition 

 is characterized by general weakness and unsteady gait, mental dulness, 

 indigestion, fetid breath, cutaneous anesthesia, loss of sexual power, and 

 occasionally an acneform eruption. Death has never been caused in man 

 by the bromides. 



Nervous System. — The bromides are essentially depressant to nerve 

 tissue. Therapeutically, this depressing action is seen particularly in 

 relation to the motor centres of the middle region of the cerebral cortex; 

 to the intellectual areas in the anterior cerebral region (in man) ; and to 

 lessening reflex action. The whole nervous system is depressed (except 

 the medulla), but the motor tract in the brain and the sensory nerves are 

 the first to succumb to the influence of the bromides. Intellection is 

 clouded, and dulness and mental apathy are observed in man after large 

 amounts. Reflex action is diminished owing to interference with the 

 passage of impulses from the sensory to motor cells of the cord, and, 

 later, to depression of the sensory nerves. Finally, with the continuous 

 administration of large doses the motor area of the spinal cord, the motor 

 nerves and muscles fall under the depressing action of these agents. 



Circulation. — Potassium bromide is a powerful depressant to the 

 heart in toxic doses. Medicinal doses injected into a vein induce weak- 

 ness of the heart, but therapeutic amounts, given by the mouth, exert no 

 appreciable effect upon the circulation. The depressing action of potas- 

 sium bromide upon the heart is due wholly to the potassium ion; the 

 bromine ion is not a heart depressant. There is practically no difference 

 in tlie action of therapeutic doses of potassium, sodium, strontium, or am- 

 monium bromides. Ischemia of the pia is seen under the influence of 

 bromides. This is the result of depression of the cerebrum and sleep, and 

 not the cause of sleep. The old idea that the beneficial action of the 

 bromides, in relieving nervous excitability and in causing sleep, was due 

 to the production of vasomotor spasm and cerebral anemia, is now ex- 

 ploded. 



Temperature. — The temperature falls, following the action of toxic 

 amounts of the bromides, owing to lessened muscular movements. 



Sexual Organs. — The bromides diminish sexual desire and power. In 

 so doin^ they either depress the spinal centres or lessen peripheral sensi- 

 bility of the genito-urinary tract. 



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