CARBOLIC ACID. 
103 
M.D., on the internal administration of carbolic acid, that in 
doses of less than one or two drachms it is a powerful poison 
to the largest sized dog. I have witnessed the same myself. 
This powerful toxic action which the acid possesses when given 
to the dog appears to have no such effect upon the horse, even 
when given in much larger quantities. There is great diffi¬ 
culty in arriving at immediate and correct conclusions in such 
cases, for while our medical agents may be given to some 
subjects with impunity, they may prove positively poisonous to 
others. Many facts may be cited to prove this ; and I infer 
from what I have seen that such appears the case with the 
internal administration of carbolic acid in the dog and horse. 
I have given an ounce dose twice and three times a day to 
the horse, and have failed to observe any symptoms from its 
action; so what would be the maximum dose for the horse I 
cannot say, particularly if the horse, like the dog, became 
fortified against the action of acid after the first dose or 
so. By administering carbolic acid to dogs, say in a drachm 
dose, it will be observed to possess a narcotic action, and 
produces somewhat the same symptoms as poisoning by 
hydrocyanic acid. Carbolic acid in a toxical dose to the dog 
causes a marked derangement in the breathing attributable 
to the stimulating effect of the acid on the spinal cord. This 
increased sensibility as marked by convulsions is of short 
duration, and is quickly suppressed when the convulsive 
stage has exhausted the nervous force. There are two modes 
of administering carbolic acid with the view of disinfecting 
the tissues, viz.— 
1. By inhalation; 2, by internal administration. There 
is great dubitation as to the best means of carrying out this 
line of treatment. I presume giving the acid in large and 
repeated doses is the correct idea, for it is to be recollected 
that in the administration of the acid to dogs, the tendency 
of the drug is to become rapidly excreted. The urine gives 
evidence of this although the dog dies in a few seconds only 
after taking the fatal dose. I hold that a large dose frequently 
repeated is the correct method of trying the value of the 
antiseptic treatment of disease. If such be the case, then I 
have tried the antiseptic treatment of farcy and glanders 
with negative results, so far as carbolic acid is concerned. I 
have not tried sulphurous acid or the alkaline sulphites. I 
have little reliance in the inhalations of carbolic acid; if 
any good is to be produced by its antiseptic qualities it 
will be by its administration internally, for in the best of 
regulated infirmaries cases of glanders and infectious diseases 
do occasionally arise, although the air may be rendered con- 
