NOTE  ON  CARBOLIC  ACID,  ETC. 
361 
tion  known  at  the  present  day;  and  so  far  as  the  intense  pain 
and  its  depressing  effects,  during  the  early  stages  of  these  acci- 
dents, is  concerned,  it  leaves  little  to  be  desired.  This  standard 
solution,  or  the  officinal  solution  of  creasote,  applied  of  a  strength 
varying  somewhat  with  the  degree  of  the  injury  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  surface  burned,  by  means  of  light  cloths  frequently 
wetted,  very  promptly  relieves  the  pain.  Upon  delicate,  sensi- 
tive surfaces  the  solution  should  be  diluted  with  an  equal  volume 
of  water ;  but  upon  ordinary  and  exposed  surfaces  it  may  be 
used  with  little  or  no  dilution,  It  is  a  perfectly  local  ansesthetic, 
and  whenever  the  pain  and  its  causes  are  perfectly  local,  and 
partake  of  this  character  belonging  to  burns,  it  may  be  used 
with  prompt  good  elFect. 
In  erysipelatous  inflammations,  and  under  other  circumstances 
of  exalted  sensibility,  care  is  needed  not  to  use  solutions  too 
strong,  since  such  produce  pain  of  the  same  character  as  that 
sought  to  be  relieved.  There  is  a  very  curious  point  in  the  Yelk- 
tions  of  this  substance  to  pain  which  the  writer  has  never  seen 
noticed,  and  whiph  is  worthy  of  note  and  investigation.  If  a 
part  of  the  hand  or  foot  be  burned  and  painful,  the  pain  is  much 
relieved  by  putting  the  part  in  an  elevated  position,  as  is  well 
known.  If  to  a  burnt  surface  the  solution  of  creasote  be  ap- 
plied too  strong,  the  pain  appears  to  be  but  imperfectly  relieved, 
and  if  the  part  be  then  elevated  the  pain  and  tingling  is  much 
increased.  This  is  the  bare  fact,  confirmed  by  repeated  observa- 
tions, and  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  circumstance  pre- 
viously mentioned,  that  the  burning  and  irritation  caused  by  the 
application  of  the  strong  creasote  to  the  skin  is  increased  by 
holding  the  part  in  an  elevated  position,  it  seems  to  indicate 
that  the  pain  of  burns,  and  of  erysipelas,  etc.,  may  be  supplanted 
and  replaced  by  the  pain  of  the  creasote,  when  this  is  applied 
too  strong  or  too  freely  ;  and  that  the  test  is,  that  while  the 
original  pain  is  relieved  by  draining  the  blood  out  of  the  part, 
the  superinduced  paiii,  or  the  pain  of  irritation  from  excessive 
use  of  the  creasote,  is  aggravated  by  this  procedure. 
Another  prominent  use  of  great  importance  is  its  power  to 
prevent  and  arrest  suppuration  or  the  formation  of  pus.  Many 
of  the  recently  published  results  of  its  use  for  this  purpose  are 
