492 
CARBOLIC ACID IN SCARLATINA AND TYPHUS. 
The oxalic solution was found to bear dilution with nineteen times its volume of water. 
If we suppose the seeds from which this preparation was made in 1854 to have been of 
equal strength with those gathered in 1866, it will -follow that this preparation, after 
the lapse of thirteen years, still retained about two-thirds of its original efficacy. But 
of course no reliable inferences can be drawn from a mere supposition. 
The only experiment yet made by the writer, in the investigation in progress, to test 
the therapeutic effects of the conium, consisted in his swallowing sixteen minims of 
Squibb’s fluid extract of conium seed, with a view of arriving at some idea of the suit¬ 
able medicinal dose. The quantity mentioned, taken about five hours after breakfast, 
produced marked operative effects in about twenty minutes. The effects manifested 
were a peculiar sensation of heaviness in the eyelids, and, as it seemed, some degree of 
ptosis, and a feeling akin to dizziness, that made it quite unpleasant to retain a sitting 
posture. There appeared to be no disposition to sleep produced. The effects were at 
their height in about an hour, and mainly passed away after the lapse of two hours from 
the time of taking the dose. A moderate meal had been eaten in the interval. 
This experiment would indicate a suitable commencing dose of the fluid extract above 
mentioned to be about five minims. * 
What appears to have been arrived at by the experiment narrated is this :—That the 
immature fruits of conium are far preferable to the leaves ; that they may be dried with¬ 
out serious injury; and that a very active preparation may be made from them. The 
further course of this investigation it is designed to direct towards ascertaining, if pos¬ 
sible, some of the causes producing the want of uniformity and stability desirable in the 
preparation of conium, with a view of obviating them, if it may be, and also toward 
obtaining such experimental knowledge of the physiological and therapeutic effects of 
the article in question as shall lead to additional practical applications of it.— Amer. 
Journ. of Pharmacy, from Trans. N. Y. State Med. Soc., 1867. 
CARBOLIC ACID IN SCARLATINA AND TYPHUS. 
This remedy has been strongly recommended by Mr. P. Le Neve Foster in the ‘ Times’ 
of January 15th, but the dose indicated was such as to call forth a protest both from 
Dr. Fuller and Dr. Lionel Beale. Mr. Foster having directed that the concentrated 
medicinal carbolic acid to be diluted with water in the proportion of one of the acid 
to ten of water, of which solution one teaspoonful should be given every three hours 
for children, and every two hours for adults. Dr. Fuller and Dr. Beale (‘ Times,’ January 
18th) think that such a dose would be injurious, and, in the case of children, probably 
prove fatal; and Dr. Beale thinks that one part of the acid to 200 parts of water is 
strong enough for administration internally, but is of opinion that the salts of carbolic 
acid, such as the sulpho-carbolate of soda recently recommended by Dr. Sansom, are 
safer for internal administration, and probably equally efficient. 
An explanatory letter from Mr. Foster appeared in the ‘ Times ’ of January 19th, in 
which he states, “I used the words ‘concentrated medicinal carbolic acid,’ by which it 
is hardly necessary to say that I did not mean the ‘concentrated acid.’ I referred to 
what is sold by chemists under the title of ‘solution of best medicinal carbolic acid.’ 
This is the solution to be diluted with ten parts of water, and when thus diluted, the 
dose I named was a teaspoonful.” Of course a teaspoonful of such a mixture would be 
a very small dose. 
This letter was followed by a rejoinder from Dr. Fuller, who states, “ I have obtained 
from one of our leading chemists three samples of Messrs. Calvert’s carbolic acid. The 
first is the pure acid in a crystalline form, and labelled ‘ carbolic acid for medicinal use 
the second is a solution consisting of nine parts of pure carbolic acid and one part of 
w-ater, and is labelled ‘ carbolic acid for medicinal use ;’ the third is also a solution, con¬ 
taining one part of pure carbolic acid and twenty-four parts of water, and is labelled 
‘ solution of best medicinal carbolic acid.’ The only recognized officinal solution of 
carbolic acid contains one part of carbolic acid to four of glycerine. I am informed that 
comparatively few chemists keep Calvert’s weakest solution, and that in the country 
especially any person sending to a chemist for a ‘ solution of best medicinal carbolic 
acid,’ would probably be furnished with one of the stronger solutions,—probably with 
the last-named solution, which is contained in the Pharmacopoeia, and contains one part 
