152 
GLYCERIN. 
tiori,  and  modifying  the  vital  condition  of  the  parts.  Applied  to 
suppurating  surfaces  which  are  painful  and  produce  an  ichorous 
pus,  glycerine-dressings  change  the  abnormal  condition  by  ar- 
resting the  degenerating  process,  through  its  antiseptic  and  as- 
tringent properties.  Applied  to  enlarged  glands,  and  injected 
into  'abscesses,  it  meets  every  indication,  either  alone  or  with 
iodine,  etc.,  dissolved  in  it.  I  have  injected  it  into  syphilitic 
buboes,  bringing  about  a  healthy  state  of  their  walls,  and  healing 
of  their  interior.  I  have  used  it  as  an  application  to  the  os  uteri 
in  ulcerations,  indurations,  and  chronic  inflammations  of  that 
organ,  conjoined  with  iodine,  or  iod.  potass.,  or  morphise  acet., 
or  tannin,  just  as  appearances  seemed  to  require,  with  most  ex- 
cellent effects.  Applied  to  large  cervical  glands  in  scrofulous 
children,  with  iodine,  it  dissipates  them  far  more  speedily  than 
when  the  iodine  is  otherwise  applied.  Malignant  ulcerations, 
touched  with  the  following  caustic  are  better  remedied  than  when 
otherwise  treated. 
R.  Iodine, 
Iod.  potass.,       aa  gss. 
Glycerine,  f-ovnj-  M. 
When  diluted  with  a  larger  portion  of  glycerine,  and  applied 
to  carbuncles,  buboes,  and  furuncles,  in  their  formative  stages, 
it  will  dissipate  them  altogether  or  modify  them.  Painted  over 
abscesses  of  different  types,  it  either  causes  the  absorption  of 
their  contents,  or  checks  in  a  measure  their  progress.  Injected 
into  the  rectum  in  diarrhoea  and  dysentery,  diluted  with  starch, 
it  soothes  the  irritated  mucous  membrane  in  a  remarkable  man- 
ner, and  will  often  alone  bring  about  a  cure. 
But  it  is  its  internal  usefulness  in  the  treatment  of  children's 
diseases  of  low,  cachectic,  strumous,  asthenic  conditions,  that 
glycerine  displays  its  great  superiority.  I  have  repeatedly  wit- 
nessed its  capacity  to  fatten  children.  Thus :  1st.  An  infant 
six  months  old,  recovering  from  a  severe  diarrhoea,  kept  quite 
emaciated  and  pale.  Glycerine  was  ordered  for  it,  and  in  a  few 
days  a  change  was  remarked  in  its  appearance  for  the  better, 
and  in  four  weeks  it  weighed  eight  pounds  heavier.  2.  A  child, 
sixteen  months  old,  had  its  head  covered  with  one  continuous 
scab — porrigo.    This  was  a  family  complaint,  and  resisted  all 
