THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [February 4,1871. 
sulphur process again repeated. The room was kept 
closed in this condition for two days, when the body 
was removed. 
As destroyers of atmospherical germs of contagion, 
sulphurous acid and chlorine are perhaps the best 
agents ; but, in consequence of their irritating effects, 
their application is much restricted in the sick-chamber. 
THE SALTS OF CERIUM AND OF LITHIA.* 
The salts of cerium were first introduced as remedial 
agents by the late Sir J. Y. Simpson, f and the oxalate 
was admitted into the second edition of the British Phar¬ 
macopoeia. Sir J. Y. Simpson considered them to pos¬ 
sess sedative and tonic properties, which make them use¬ 
ful substitutes for bismuth, hydrocyanic acid and nitrate 
of silver. He used them with marked advantage in 
“chronic intestinal eruption,” in irritable dyspepsia, 
attended with gastrodynia, pyrosis, and chronic vomiting, 
and in the vomiting of pregnancy. In epilepsy and 
other allied convulsive diseases in which the nitrate of 
silver has been frequently employed, the salts of cerium 
possess the advantage over the nitrate of silver, that 
they may be persevered with without any fear of dis¬ 
colouring the skin. The oxalate has obtained a great 
reputation as a remedy in obstinate vomiting, especially 
in the vomiting of pregnancy. 
The remedy possesses the great advantages of small¬ 
ness of dose (gr. iij-v) and freedom from taste and 
smell. 
Lithia and its salts were also introduced into the 
British Pharmacopoeia of 1864. More than thirty years 
ago, Mr. Ure and some other authorities called attention 
to the remarkable solvent powers which the carbonate of 
lithia possessed over uric acid calculi—powers which 
much exceed those possessed by the other alkaline car¬ 
bonates,—and suggested the injection of solutions of the 
carbonate of lithia into the bladder, with the object of 
dissolving calculi formed wholly or in part of uric acid. 
But it was Dr. Garrod who introduced the lithia salts 
into medical practice. Extending the experiments of 
Mr. Ure, etc., he found that the carbonate of lithia could 
completely remove gouty deposits of urate of soda from 
cartilages incrusted by them, while carbonate of potash 
acted less strongly on them, and carbonate of soda left 
them unaltered. This encouraged him to make trial of 
the lithia salts clinically, and with highly satisfactory 
results. He found them of great value for keeping uric 
acid in solution during its passage through the urinary 
organs, and for preventing its deposition in the struc¬ 
tures of the body; it seems, also, that they may be of 
service in removing gouty concretions when formed. 
The carbonate is a much more powerful diuretic than 
the salts of potash or soda, and may be given with great 
advantage, as a prophylactic, in chronic gout, calculus, 
etc. Its dose is from three to six grains, and is best 
given in a state of free dilution. The value of the lithia 
salts, especially the carbonate, has been widely recog¬ 
nized. The lithia springs of Baden Baden J have gained 
a considerable reputation, and Professor Roscoe has 
found lithium in the thermal waters of Bath. Dr. Gar- 
rod has stated that he has known a few, but a very few, 
instances “ in which the long-continued use of the drug 
has appeared to cause symptoms referable to the nervous 
system, as shaking or trembling of one hand, which has 
disappeared on the omission of the remedy.” § 
* Abstracted from a series of papers on the “ Progress of 
Therapeutics,” published in the Medical Times and Gazette. 
f Monthly Journal of Medicine, December, 1854; “Ob¬ 
stetric Memoirs,” etc., p. 313, 1855; and Medical Times 
and Gazette, vol. ii. p. 280, 1859. 
X Dr. Althaus, ‘ On the Lithia Springs of Baden Baden,’ 
Medical Times and Gazette, vol. ii. 1861. 
§ ‘Essentials of Materia Medica,’ third edition, p. 105, 
1868. 
THE USE OF PREPARATIONS OF CARBOLIC ACID 
IN SMALL-POX EPIDEMICS. 
Although carbolic acid is not a preservative enabling 
us to dispense with vaccination, it is nevertheless a dis¬ 
infecting agent which it is advisable to employ as a pro¬ 
phylactic. In a hygienic point of view it is thought 
worth while to call attention to two new preparations, 
or rather two different forms of the same preparation, 
which are due to MM. Dubarth and Rolle. 
The best method of employing carbolic acid as a dis¬ 
infectant, according to M. Dubarth, is to mix it with a 
coarse powder, which being saturated with it so divides 
the acid as to present the largest possible surface for 
evaporation. For this purpose powdered brick affords 
an excellent vehicle, at once convenient and easy in its 
use. 
The following is the manner in which he prepares this 
mixture, to which he has given the name of “ Dubarth’s 
Disinfectant.” 
Powdered Brick .... 5 kil. 
Carbolic Acid. 250 gr. 
Dissolve the acid in a sufficient quantity of alcohol and 
then mix. A thin layer of this powder spread upon a 
plate, frequently stirred and slightly damped, produces 
at the ordinary temperature a much larger quantity of 
antimiasmatic vapours than would be given off by any 
solution of carbolic acid. It is superior to the solutions 
of permanganate of potash, its effects being more con¬ 
stant and more certain. 
The following is the method proposed by M. Rolle for 
making carbolicizcd cigarettes :— 
Powdered Plaster.100 
Carbolic Acid.20 
Dissolve the carbolic acid with a sufficient quantity of 
alcohol, and sprinkle with this solution the granulated 
plaster. Stir with a spatula in order to secure an equal 
distribution of the active substance, then introduce the 
granules into the hollow portion of a quill, of which the 
ends are closed with a little wadding, as is done in the 
case of camphor cigarettes. 
As an agent in the treatment of confirmed small-pox, 
carbolic acid has been largely experimented with since 
the first trials by M. Chauflard, with results proportionate 
to the gravity of the evil. Professor Godefroy, of Rennes, 
has had three cases of small-pox, in which he has ob¬ 
tained such satisfactory results by the use of it, that he 
has published the particulars in the Revue cle Therapeu- 
tique Medico- Chirurgicale. 
The first was the case of an unvaccinated adult, suffer¬ 
ing from semiconfluent small-pox. The prescription 
ordered was— 
Mixture of Acacia (Potion gommeuse, 
Fr. Codex).125 grammes. 
Crystallized Carbolic Acid .... 1 „ 
Two tablespoonfuls to be taken every two hours. 
The following lotion was to be applied every hour to 
the face and hands :— 
Crystallized Carbolic Acid . 5 grammes. 
Distilled Water . . . .500 ,, 
There was no suppuration. 
The second case was that of a confluent variolic erup¬ 
tion. The same treatment was adopted. There was no 
suppuration. 
The third case was an infant of eighteen months. The 
eruption was moderate. Without ceasing to suck, this 
child took a teaspoonful of a solution of 30 centigrammes. 
The hands were bathed with a lotion made according to 
the formula previously given. It recovered. 
It is well to remark that these three cases were too 
slight to decide in favour of the efficacy of carbolic acid; 
but they at least prove that the acid can be administered 
without inconvenience.— Echo Medical et Pharmaccutique 
Relge . 
