160 
APPLICATIONS  OF  CARBOLIC  ACID. 
Chester  Royal  Infirmary  by  several  of  its  distinguished  physicians 
and  surgeons.  Thus,  Dr.  Henry  Browne  has  given  it  in  solution 
in  water  in  cases  of  chronic  diarrhoea  with  very  satisfactory  re- 
sults. Dr.  Roberts  has  applied  it  with  very  great  success  in  the 
dose  of  one  drop,  in  cases  of  vomiting,  even  after  creosote  had  • 
failed ;  he  has  also  found  it  beneficial  in  cases  of  vomiting  from 
dyspepsia,  which  disease  is  especially  marked  by  pain  after  food. 
Mr.  J.  A.  Ransome  has  used  it  for  ulcers  and  other  offensive 
discharges.  Mr.  Thomas  Turner,  in  a  note  which  he  has  com- 
municated to  me,  speaks  of  carbolic  acid  in  the  following  terms : — 
t(  It  may  be  advantageously  used  as  a  solution  of  one  part  of 
acid  in  seven  parts  of  water,  in  foetid  ill-conditioned  ulcers.  It 
alters  the  action  of  the  blood-vessels  causing  a  purulent  instead 
of  a  sanious  discharge,  and  destroys  almost  immediately  the 
offensive  smell  of  the  secretion.  The  ulcers  having  a  commu- 
nication with  carious  bone,  or  even  necrosis  (where  the  bone 
is  dead,)  it  has  in  its  diluted  state  a  good  effect  when  injected 
into  the  sinuses  leading  to  the  diseased  bones.  When  there  is 
mere  caries  or  ulceration  of  the  bone  it  effects  the  healing  process, 
and  in  necrosis  it  promotes  the  exfoliation  of  the  dead  portion. 
*  *  In  gangrenous  and  all  offensive  sores  it  removes  all  dis- 
agreeable smell  and  putrescency,  and  may  render  the  discharge 
innocuous  to  the  contiguous  living  and  unaffected  tissues.  In  its 
diluted  state,  therefore,  it  is  a  great  boon  to  patients  laboring 
under  that  class  of  disease." 
Mr.  Heath,  house-surgeon  of  the  infirmary,  has  used  it  with 
two  parts  of  water  as  a  lotion  in  sloughing  wounds,  and  has  found 
that  in  a  short  time  after  its  application,  it  entirely  arrests  the 
sloughing  process,  and  produces  a  healthy  appearance. 
Dr.  Whitehead  has  used  with  advantage  Dr.  Robert  Angus 
Smith's  solution  of  sulphites  and  carbonates  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia. 
In  July,  1859,  M.  Velpeau  drew  the  attention  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences  to  the  value  of  the  mixture  of  coal-tar  and 
sulphate  of  lime  of  MM.  Corne  and  Demeaux  in  the  healing  of 
ulcers  and  other  offensive  wounds,  and  it  may  be  added,  that  this 
mixture  was  used  with  great  advantage  in  the  French  army  after 
the  great  battles  of  Magenta  and  Solferino. 
In  the  following  month  I  forwarded  a  note  to  the  French 
