200 INORGANIC AGENTS 



Cracks are covered by pasting paper over them, which may afterwards 

 be washed off. The premises should be kept sealed 12 hours. Five 

 pounds of flowers of sulphur should be used for each 1,000 cubic feet of 

 air space. Flowers of sulphur to the depth of two inches is put in pans 

 12 to 18 inches wide at the bottom, and with sides four or more inches 

 high Alcohol is poured over the sulphur to insure its combustion, which 

 is started by throwing a lighted match upon the alcohol. The pans should 

 float in two inches of water in larger pans to avoid fire and to supply 

 moisture by evaporation of the water. 



In employing sulphur as a disinfectant, animals must of course be 

 removed from the premises. The burning of one pound of sulphur in 

 1,000 cubic feet of space will produce one per cent, of SOj gas in the 

 atmosphere. For killing insects and animals moisture is not desirable so 

 that the pans containing sulphur may be placed directly upon sand or 

 bricks. 



Sulphurous anhydride has been employed for its local antiseptic and 

 stimulant action, in inflammatory diseases of the upper air passages in 

 horses. For this purpose it is burned in such quantities that the vapor 

 is capable of being inspired because largely diluted with air. With such 

 dilution the antiseptic action is lost, and there is danger of producing 

 considerable irritation, and the procedure is of doubtful value. The same 

 treatment has been pursued in verminous bronchitis of lambs and calves, 

 caused by the Strongylus filaria and S. micrurus. Chloroform inhalation 

 is more efficient. 



PoTASSA SuLPHUttATA. Sulphurated Potassa. (IJ[. S. & B. P.) 



Synonym. — Sulphuret of potassium, liver of sulphur, E.; foie de soufre, Fr.; 

 schwef eUeber, G. ; kalium sulphuratum, P. G. 



Derivation. — Powdered and dried potassium carbonate, 200, is mixed with 

 sublimed sulphur, and heated in a crucible. Potassa sulphurata is a mixture of 

 potassium thiosulphite and trisulphide. 3 K2CO3+8 S = K2S2O3+2 KjSa+S 

 COj. 



Properties. — Irregular pieces of a liver-brown, when freshly made, changing 

 to greenish-yellow and finally to gray through absorption of moisture, oxygen, 

 and carbon dioxide from the air (containing a mixture of potassium carbonate, 

 hyposulphite and sulphate) . It has a very strong odor of hydrogen sulphide, and 

 a bitter acrid and alkaline taste. Soluble in water, usually leaving a slight resi- 

 due. Alcohol dissolves only the sulphides. 



Bose.—H. & C, 3ii-iv, (8-15); D., gr.ii-x, (.12-6). 



Action Internal. — Sulphurated potassa is composed chiefly of potas- 

 sium trisulphide (K2S3) and of potassium thiosulphate (KjSjOg). Its 

 action is that of the sulphides generally. These give off HjS in the bowel, 

 which leads to purging and local irritation. When injected into a vein 

 the sulphides induce two notable phenomena in toxic doses. First, they 

 cause convulsions in mammals — owing to action on the cerebrum — and, in 

 lethal doses, paralysis of the respiratory and vasomotor centres. Second, 

 they produce alteration in the hemoglobin of the red corpuscles with 

 formation of a body like methemoglobin and called sulpho-hemoglobin. In 

 frogs this happens during life but in mammals apparently comes on 

 immediately a^er" death. Externally the sulphides in solution dissolve 

 the horny epidermis and hair, and lead to irritation of the skin after pro- 

 longed action. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



