Am.  Jour.  Pharm,  \ 
Mar.,  1878.  J 
Hydrobromic  Acid. 
121 
tered  and  probably  effective.  Such  a  dose  is  equal  to  12*5  grains  of 
potassium  bromide. 
Besides  the  administration  of  single  doses  for  temporary  sedative  effect, 
it  will,  however,  doubtless  come  into  occasional  use  for  a  more  pro- 
longed and  permanent  effect  as  a  partial  substitute  or  alternate  for  the 
bromides  to  correct  or  prevent  alkaline  saturation.  The  doses  for  such 
continuous  uses  do  not  seem  to  have  been  ascertained,  for  no  instance 
of  bromism  from  its  use  has  been  published  so  far  as  this  writer  has 
seen.  Therefore,  as  bromism  must  be  the  test  of  effective  quantity 
the  doses  must  be  considered  as  unsettled.  If  the  bromine,  as  present 
in  this  acid,  should  prove  capable  of  producing  bromism  in  much  smaller 
quantity  than  that  present  in  the  bromides,  as  seems  to  be  foreshadowed 
in  its  use  up  to  this  time,  then  an  important  advantage  will  have  been 
gained,  and  the  doses  of  the  acid  will  be  correspondingly  smaller.  At 
present  it  appears  that  for  continuous  use  as  a  substitute  for  the  bro- 
mides, to  be  continued  through  several  weeks  or  until  the  bromides  can 
be  resumed,  doses  of  20  to  30  grains  might  be  sufficient.  It  may  also 
be  found  that  by  adding  smaller  quantities  of  the  acid  to  reduced  doses 
of  the  bromides  the  alkaline  saturation  might  be  postponed  or  avoided. 
For  example,  where  an  epileptic  may  be  taking  25  grains  of  potassium 
bromide  three  or  four  times  a  day,  it  may,  and  probably  will,  be  found 
that  the  dose  of  bromide  can  be  reduced  to  20  grains  or  less  by  adding 
one,  two  or  three  grains  of  this  acid  to  the  smaller  dose.  Such  uses 
as  this  for  the  acid  are  well  worth  careful  trial,  and  in  such  quantities 
it  can  be  easily  administered. 
The  acid  will  also  undoubtedly  prove  very  useful  for  making  solu- 
tions of  various  bromides  extemporaneously.  For  example,  lithium 
bromide  should,  by  its  composition,  be  very  useful  in  medicine,  as  the 
salt  contains  nearly  90  per  cent,  of  bromine,  or  more  bromine  and  less 
base  than  any  other  neutral  salt  possible.  This  is  easily  made,  simply 
by  saturating  the  acid  with  lithium  carbonate,  and  adjusting  the  volume 
of  the  solution  to  the  dose  required. 
Many  formulas  have  been  published  for  making  this  acid  for  medi- 
cinal uses,  but  all  so  faulty  and  inaccurate  or  so  difficult  as  to  be  imprac- 
ticable for  ordinary  use  where  any  moderate  degree  of  precision  in 
medication  is  required. 
That  of  Forthergill  was  among  the  earliest,  and  has  been  by  far  the 
most  used.    It  is  given   in  his  "  Handbook  of  Treatment,"  Amer. 
