70 
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  PHARMACY. 
to  be  applicable  to  the  treatment  of  the  same  diseases.  It  is  an 
elegant  and  most  convenient  preparation.  In  typhoid  fever  it  will 
be  found  far  superior  to  the  ipecac  pill  as  a  diaphoretic,  especially 
when  the  tongue  is  dry  and  the  thirst  urgent.  It  may  be  used  also 
in  typhus  fever,  or  indeed  in  any  febrile  affections  during  the  sub- 
acute stage.  This  valuable  preparation  acts  both  as  a  diaphoretic 
and  diuretic  in  these  cases,  as  well  as  an  expectorant. 
The  ethereous  tincture  of  digitalis*  is  a  far  better  preparation 
than  the  alcoholic,  on  account  of  its  greater  activity;  and  this  it 
derives  chiefly  from  the  ethereous  menstruum.  In  doses  from  3ss. 
to.  z)">  ln  some  diuretic  infusion,  taken  three  times  daily,  it  will  be 
found  well  adapted  to  all  such  cases  as  require  the  foxglove. 
The  ethereous  tincture  of  nux  vomicaf  is  especially  indicated  in 
the  treatment  of  seminal  debility,  or  to  speak  more  properly,  de- 
bility of  the  generative  organs.  In  this,  the  gravest  of  human  ills, 
after  such  preliminary  treatment  as  may  be  demanded  for  the  cor- 
rection of  constipation,  and  prostatic  tenderness,  this  tincture  will 
be  found  a  most  excellent  means  of  restoring  the  erections.  It  is 
also  valuable  in  exciting  appetite  for  food,  and  in  the  invigoration 
of  the  digestive  organs.  This  preparation  is  well  adapted  likewise 
to  the  treatment  of  paraplegia,  especially  when  the  bladder  and 
rectum  are  implicated,  as  well  as  such  other  form  of  paralysis  as 
demand  the  nux  vomica  or  its  alkaloid.  It  may  be  given  in  doses 
from  5ss.  to  3iss.  three  times  daily,  before  or  after  meals,  in  some 
bitter  infusion.  The  cold  infusion  of  wild  cherry  bark  I  have 
generally  preferred  as  the  vehicle  for  it. 
The  ethereous  solutions  or  tinctures  are  more  readily  prepared, 
requiring  to  be  digested  for  a  less  time  than  the  alcoholic,  and  keep 
without  the  least  deterioration.  They  are  also  adapted  to  these 
conditions  of  the  constitution  in  which  alcoholic  menstrua  would 
be  objectionable. 
Hydrargyrum  cum  creta.  This  valuable  preparation  of  mercury 
is  usually  formed  by  triturating  ^  iij.  mercury  with  §v.  of  prepared 
chalk,  until  the  globules  are  extinguished.  This  is  a  tedious  pro- 
cess and  the  resulting  powilar  is  not  of  uniform  strength,  nor  is  the 
*R.  Digital,  purp.  fal.,  ^iss. ;  spirit,  aeth.  nitric,  Oij.  Digest  for  10 
days,  and  filter. 
t  R.  Nucis.  vomicae  pulv.,  spirit,  aeth.  nitric,  Oij.  Digest  10  days 
and  filter. 
