404        Therapeutics  and  Chemistry  of  Oxypinenes.  {K^i^vv\Hf' 
ble  epidemic  was  that  of  spotted  fever,  which  broke  out  in  1865,  be- 
fore the  operations  of  the  stills  were  recommenced.  Previous  to  the 
establishment  of  the  distilleries  in  our  midst  malarial  fevers  were  very 
rife,  but  since  that  time  they  prevail  to  much  less  extent. 
"  Another  fact  bearing  a  relation  to  the  above  statement  is  that 
during  the  Civil  War,  when  quinine  was  scarce,  the  Surgeon-Gen- 
eral of  the  Confederate  States  ordered  experiments  to  be  instituted 
at  several  of  the  large  military  forts  to  prove  whether  or  not  oil  of 
turpentine  applied  to  the  body  by  means  of  a  broad  band  saturated 
with  it  and  worn  around  the  abdomen  had  any  effect  in  cutting  short 
the  paroxysms  of  ague.  Its  effects  were  described  as  '  marvelous  ' 
and  endorsed  by  many  observers." 
In  "  The  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of  the  Re- 
bellion," Washington,  1879,  issued  by  the  United  States  War  Depart- 
ment, it  is  stated :  "  During  our  Civil  War  the  oil  of  turpentine  was 
pretty  extensively  employed  in  the  treatment  of  flukes." 
In  speaking  of  the  treatment  of  remittents  this  book  says  :  "  Tur- 
pentine emanations  were  frequently  used  in  the  diarrhoea  accompany- 
ing these  cases,"  and  in  the  chapter  on  continued  fevers  it  is  stated : 
"  Turpentine  was  extensively  used." 
In  the  splendid  work,  "  Treatise  on  Therapeutics,"  New  York, 
1880,  vol.  3,  by  Troasseau  and  Bindome,  the  treatment  with  the  oxy- 
pinenes are  recommended  for  the  following  complaints :  rheumatism, 
vesical  catarrh,  diabetes,  diarrhoea,  neuralgia,  hemorrhages,  iritis, 
amenorrhcea,  and  for  all  disinfectant  purposes. 
L.  S.  Pilcher,  in  his  book  "  The  Treatment  of  Wounds,"  New 
York,  1883,  recommends  the  "  washing  of  wounds  with  turpentine 
preparations  immediately  before  the  first  incision,"  when  preparing 
the  skin  for  an  operation. 
In  Billrath's  work  on  "  Surgical  Pathology,"  1871,  p.  31,  the  use 
of  turpentine  is  strongly  recommended  for  the  treatment  of  wounds, 
because  it  is  "  capable  of  exciting  a  peculiarly  energetic  contraction 
of  the  divided  capillaries." 
H.  C.  Wood,  in  his  celebrated  treatise  on  "  Therapeutics :  Its 
Principles  and  Practice,"  New  York,  1883,  states  that  certain  prep- 
arations of  turpentine  containing  ozone  or  antozone  have  been 
recommended  in  medicine. 
Dr.  W.  Gilman  Thompson,  in  the  Medical  Record,  March  3,  1894, 
says :  "  The  very  great  value  of  peroxide  of  hydrogen  and  other 
