PHENOL 247 



stomach tube. Washing the stomach with 10 per cent, solution qf alco- 

 hol has proven most efficient. This follows because alcohol is a good 

 solvent for phenol, The alcoholic solution of phenol should, therefore, 

 be at once removed from the stomach or its use will aid absorption and 

 poisoning. After washing the stomach with alcohol one should give a 

 strong solution of magnesium or sodium sulphate by the mouth or, when 

 lavage is impracticable, one of these should be given at once. Con- 

 cerning their action and value there could scarcely be more disagreement. 

 Thus it has hitherto been commonly accepted and taught that insoluble 

 sulphocarbolates are formed in the stomach. This is denied by SoUman 

 and most authorities. Thornton affirms, as a result of his experiments, 

 that harmless but soluble phenosulphates result. This, again, is denied 

 by Baumann and others. Cushny declares that the employment of these 

 sulphates in phenol poisoning is useless, while Hare advises their use. 

 As the action of Epsom or Glauber's salt is harmless and their effect 

 may be beneficial, we recommend their administration. For collapse, 

 heart and respiratory failure, — camphorated oil, digitalis, strychnine, 

 atropine, ether, and brandy subcutaneously, are to be employed, together 

 with heat externally. Mucilaginous drinks are also useful. The local 

 caustic action of carbolic acid on the skin or mucous membranes can be 

 prevented by the immediate washing of the parts with slrong alcohol. 

 Of late years alcohol has also been regarded and widely given as a phy- 

 siological and chemical antidote in carbolic poisoning. In experiments, 

 cited by Thornton, on dogs with mixtures of toxic doses of carbolic acid 

 and alcohol, and with the administration of poisonous doses of the acid 

 followed by alcohol, the results go to show that alcohol does not in any 

 way lessen or alter the poisonus effect of carbolic acid except in pre- 

 venting the corrosive action on the stomach. His conclusions are some- 

 what weakened, however, by the fact that doses of alcohol were used 

 which in themselves might be toxic (4 to 9 ounces). It is now known 

 that alcohol acts only as a solvent; not as an antidote. 



Administration. — Carbolic acid is commonly given internally, diluted 

 several hundred times with water. 



Uses External. — ^A solution of carbolic acid (1-20) is frequently 

 used in surgery to disinfect the unbroken skin, while, a weaker solution 

 (1-50) is more suitable as an antiseptic upon raw surfaces and mucous 

 membranes. While corrosive sublimate has enjoyed chief popularity as 

 a surgical antiseptic for many years on account of its cheapness and 

 supposed superior bactericidal properties, recent experiments have shown 

 that the value of corrosive sublimate is much over-estimated. It has been 

 shown that while a 1 to 2000 solution of corrosive sublimate requires over 

 thirty minutes to kill micro-organisms the same bacteria are killed in less 

 than one minute by a 5 per cent, solution of carbolic acid (Post and 

 Nicoll). So, while the antiseptic reputation of phenol has been rehabili- 

 tated, yet its closely related chemical substitutes, cresol, creolin and lysol, 

 have largely replaced phenol on account of their being less toxic and more 

 actively germicidal, strength for strength. Pure carbolic acid is occa- 

 sionally used as a caustic to destroy small growths, as warts, and the 



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