198 
CHLORIDE OF ZINC AS AN ESCHAROTIC. 
form definite chemical products ; hence its escharotic effect 
may be arrested by free dilution with water. It produces 
considerable pain, of some hours* duration, and if applied 
freely, a firm, leathery slough separates-in a few days. It 
is free from the dangers of arsenic and some other caustics, 
as it is not absorbed, probably on account of its chemical 
action on the solid and fluid parts. Its influence in arresting 
or modifying morbid action is far greater than that of any 
other chemical agent. In hospital gangrene, it has repeatedly 
succeeded in arresting the disease after the acids had failed. 
In these cases it should be accurately inserted under the edges 
of the undermined skin, by means of a spatula, so as to 
destroy such parts as are compromised by disease. If these 
conditions be secured, a second application will seldom be 
required. 
In certain forms of tertiary syphilitic ulceration, attended 
with great pain and irritability, it produces the happiest 
results. It answers well, too, for the enucleation of a chancre, 
and in the serpiginous ulcers of the face. At the London 
Hospital, it is largely used to alter the conditions of foul and 
indolent sores in all parts, and rarely fails to ensure a healthy 
disposition. In some instances of epithelial infiltration of 
the skin around the orbit, its application has produced a good 
effect. 
The above-named conditions are but a few of those for 
which the remedy is adapted. It would be foreign to the 
purpose of this paper to pursue the matter further ; but, in 
a word, it may be said that chloride of zinc will answer almost 
every purpose for which escharoties are employed. 
It is to be observed, that its employment has sometimes 
been attended with more effect than was desired, and in¬ 
stances have occurred in which it disappointed the anticipa¬ 
tions of those who applied it; but surely this could be said 
of every remedy in the Materia Medica, for the efficient ad¬ 
ministration of every agent requires special attention and ex¬ 
perience in all the conditions necessary to its effectual and 
intended use. 
In making these observations on the value and use of 
chloride of zinc, it has been the writer’s aim to record the 
general results of his individual experience of its application, 
and to state what he believes to be the most convenient and 
effective mode of employing the remedy. He is assured, 
from the extensive use of chloride of zinc in hospital and 
private practice, over a period of many years, that a few trials 
will lead others to the same conclusions which he has formed of 
its great superiority over all other potential cauteries.— Lancet. 
