Menthol
What are the health effects of smoking?
There's no way around it; smoking is bad for your health. It harms nearly every organ of the body, some that you would not expect. Cigarette smoking causes nearly one in five deaths in the United States. It can also cause many other cancers and health problems. These include:
- Cancers, including lung and oral cancers
- Lung diseases, such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Damage to and thickening of blood vessels, which causes high blood pressure
- Blood clots and stroke
- Vision problems, such as cataracts and macular degeneration (AMD)
Women who smoke while pregnant have a greater chance of certain pregnancy problems. Their babies are also at higher risk of dying of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Smoking also causes addiction to nicotine, a stimulant drug that is in tobacco. Nicotine addiction makes it much harder for people to quit smoking.
What are the health risks of secondhand smoke?Your smoke is also bad for other people - they breathe in your smoke secondhand and can get many of the same problems as smokers do. This includes heart disease and lung cancer. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher risk of ear infections, colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, and more severe asthma. Mothers who breathe secondhand smoke while pregnant are more likely to have preterm labor and babies with low birth weight.
Are other forms of tobacco also dangerous?Besides cigarettes, there are several other forms of tobacco. Some people smoke tobacco in cigars and water pipes (hookahs). These forms of tobacco also contain harmful chemicals and nicotine. Some cigars contain as much tobacco as an entire pack of cigarettes.
E-cigarettes often look like cigarettes, but they work differently. They are battery-operated smoking devices. Using an e-cigarette is called vaping. Not much is known about the health risks of using them. We do know they contain nicotine, the same addictive substance in tobacco cigarettes. E-cigarettes also expose non-smokers to secondhand aerosols (rather than secondhand smoke), which contain harmful chemicals.
Smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is also bad for your health. Smokeless tobacco can cause certain cancers, including oral cancer. It also increases your risk of getting heart disease, gum disease, and oral lesions.
Why should I quit?Remember, there is no safe level of tobacco use. Smoking even just one cigarette per day over a lifetime can cause smoking-related cancers and premature death. Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of health problems. The earlier you quit, the greater the benefit. Some immediate benefits of quitting include:
- Lower heart rate and blood pressure
- Less carbon monoxide in the blood (carbon monoxide reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen)
- Better circulation
- Less coughing and wheezing
NIH National Cancer Institute
WARNING: All medicines, drugs, plants, chemicals or medicial precedures below are for historical reference only. Many of these treatments are now known to be harmful and possibly fatal. Do not consume any plant, chemical, drug or otherwise without first consulting a licensed physician that practices medine in the appropriate field.
Felter's Materia Medica on Menthol
CAMPHORA
A stearopten (having the nature of a ketone) derived from Cinnamomum Camphora. (Linné), Nees et Ebermeier (Nat. Ord. Lauraceae). China and Japan. Common Names: Camphor, Laurel Camphor, Gum Camphor (it is not a gum). Description.Tough, translucent white lumps or granules, having the pungent taste known as camphoraceous, and an aromatic penetrating odor. It dissolves freely in alcohol, chloroform, ether, and fixed and volatile oils; very slightly in water. Camphor is readily pulverized by triturating it with a few drops of alcohol, chloroform, or ether. Dose (by mouth), 1 to 5 grains; (hypodermatically) 1 to 3 grains. Preparations.1. Spiritus Camphorae (10 per cent), Spirit of Camphor. Dose, 1 to 30 drops. 2. Aqua Camphorae. Camphor Water. Dose, 1 to 4 fluidrachms. 3. Linimentum Camphorae. Camphor Liniment (Camphorated Oil) (Composed Of Camphor, 200 parts; Cottonseed Oil, 800 parts). Dose, 10 to 30 drops. For external use chiefly. 4. Ceratum Camphorae. Camphor Cerate. (Composed of Camphor Liniment, White Wax, White Petrolatum, and Benzoinated Lard.) For external use. Action.Camphor causes a local dilation of the capillaries of the skin, producing warmth, redness, and sometimes itching. Slight anesthesia follows. It causes smarting and hyperaemia of the mucosa, and if applied strong may cause considerable irritation. In this manner it has produced gastric ulceration. In small doses camphor warms the stomach, stimulates secretion, increases peristalsis, and expels flatus. Large doses may induce vomiting. Camphor is readily absorbed, both from application and inhalation. It is largely changed in the body and is eliminated in the urine as campho-glycuronic acid. In moderate doses camphor directly stimulates the heart-muscle, causing slower and stronger contractions and increased arterial pressure, but after large doses the pressure falls. Respiration is slightly stimulated by it, large doses causing slower and deeper breathing. In general it may be said that small doses of camphor stimulate, while large quantities depress, or even paralyze. This is true of all the functions it affects. The action of small doses upon the nervous system is to produce a feeling of slight exhilaration or contentment. Large doses excite the higher cerebral and medullary centers and then paralyze them; poisonous doses occasioning more or less of the following symptoms: esophageal and gastric pain, vomiting, headache, dizziness, mental confusion, drowsiness, delirium, and stupor; feeble, running, or intermittent pulse, cold skin, cold sweat, and muscular weakness followed by rigidity and epileptiform. convulsions, collapse and death. The type of convulsions shows its effects to be chiefly upon the cerebral cortex, though it acts also progressively on the medulla, causing death by respiratory paralysis. Camphor does not affect all persons alike. Some may pass directly into drowsiness, insensibility, and stupor, followed by death. If taken for long periods, even in moderate doses, camphor gives rise to a state of mental confusion. Opium and repeated small doses of alcohol are the best antagonists of the untoward effects of camphor. Therapy.External. Camphor is stimulant, rubefacient, antipruritic, and feebly antiseptic. Owing to its agreeable odor and pleasant stimulating effects it is largely used, as a powder, in lotions, and ointments, or rubbed up with other solids to produce anodyne and antiseptic liquids. In this manner, when triturated with chloral hydrate, menthol, phenol, thymol, and similar bodies, ideal liquid antiseptics are obtained for use upon wounds, neuralgic and other painful areas. Powdered camphor is an ingredient of tooth powders and pastes and dusting powders for skin diseases. Alone or with zinc oxide, talc, or precipitated chalk it may be used upon bed-sores with decided relief. Such combinations are valuable in intertrigo, chronic eczema, urticaria, and zoster. Many snuffs contain powdered camphor, and it is useful to stimulate sluggish ulcers. Sprinkled upon the face it is used to control itching and to prevent pitting in small-pox. The spirit is a household embrocation for the relief of pain and itching, and it is used largely, alone, or in liniments and embrocations, for the relief of pain, stiffness, soreness and swelling, as in myalgia, facial and other neuralgias, and upon rheumatic joints, deep inflammations, chronic indurated glands and other indurations, sprains, contusions, and inflammatory swellings. An ethereal tincture of camphor is said to give relief in erysipelas. Inhaling the spirit, or camphor dropped into hot water, gives relief in nervous headache, and often aborts acute colds, coryza, and influenza, giving respite from the excessive secretion and the accompanying headache. A solution of camphor in liquid petrolatum (usually with menthol) is a popular spray for similar uses, and for laryngitis, pharyngitis, chronic nasal catarrh and hypertrophic rhinitis. The spirit, the liniment, or camphorated oil are favorite applications for tenderness and pain, chilblains, toothache, and acute mastitis: in the latter it tends to suppress the milk. The spirit is in common use as a lotion for headache in nervous individuals with feeble circulation, and tendency to fainting. The oil, by injection, is sometimes effectual in removing seatworms. So-called camphor-ice is a soothing, camphorated petrolatum preparation for labial herpes. Internal. Camphor is used to allay nervous excitement, subdue pain, arrest spasm, and sometimes to induce sleep. It is an important remedy in many disorders of neurotic women and children, being frequently most effective as a nerve sedative, antispasmodic, and carminative in nervous nausea and vomiting, flatulence, hiccough, and tendency to spasms or fainting. It is especially serviceable in palpitation of the heart due to gaseous distention of the stomach, or to nervous irritability. In occipital headache, from mental strain, or overstudy, small doses of 1
A stearopten (having the nature of a ketone) derived from Cinnamomum Camphora. (Linné), Nees et Ebermeier (Nat. Ord. Lauraceae). China and Japan. Common Names: Camphor, Laurel Camphor, Gum Camphor (it is not a gum). Description.Tough, translucent white lumps or granules, having the pungent taste known as camphoraceous, and an aromatic penetrating odor. It dissolves freely in alcohol, chloroform, ether, and fixed and volatile oils; very slightly in water. Camphor is readily pulverized by triturating it with a few drops of alcohol, chloroform, or ether. Dose (by mouth), 1 to 5 grains; (hypodermatically) 1 to 3 grains. Preparations.1. Spiritus Camphorae (10 per cent), Spirit of Camphor. Dose, 1 to 30 drops. 2. Aqua Camphorae. Camphor Water. Dose, 1 to 4 fluidrachms. 3. Linimentum Camphorae. Camphor Liniment (Camphorated Oil) (Composed Of Camphor, 200 parts; Cottonseed Oil, 800 parts). Dose, 10 to 30 drops. For external use chiefly. 4. Ceratum Camphorae. Camphor Cerate. (Composed of Camphor Liniment, White Wax, White Petrolatum, and Benzoinated Lard.) For external use. Action.Camphor causes a local dilation of the capillaries of the skin, producing warmth, redness, and sometimes itching. Slight anesthesia follows. It causes smarting and hyperaemia of the mucosa, and if applied strong may cause considerable irritation. In this manner it has produced gastric ulceration. In small doses camphor warms the stomach, stimulates secretion, increases peristalsis, and expels flatus. Large doses may induce vomiting. Camphor is readily absorbed, both from application and inhalation. It is largely changed in the body and is eliminated in the urine as campho-glycuronic acid. In moderate doses camphor directly stimulates the heart-muscle, causing slower and stronger contractions and increased arterial pressure, but after large doses the pressure falls. Respiration is slightly stimulated by it, large doses causing slower and deeper breathing. In general it may be said that small doses of camphor stimulate, while large quantities depress, or even paralyze. This is true of all the functions it affects. The action of small doses upon the nervous system is to produce a feeling of slight exhilaration or contentment. Large doses excite the higher cerebral and medullary centers and then paralyze them; poisonous doses occasioning more or less of the following symptoms: esophageal and gastric pain, vomiting, headache, dizziness, mental confusion, drowsiness, delirium, and stupor; feeble, running, or intermittent pulse, cold skin, cold sweat, and muscular weakness followed by rigidity and epileptiform. convulsions, collapse and death. The type of convulsions shows its effects to be chiefly upon the cerebral cortex, though it acts also progressively on the medulla, causing death by respiratory paralysis. Camphor does not affect all persons alike. Some may pass directly into drowsiness, insensibility, and stupor, followed by death. If taken for long periods, even in moderate doses, camphor gives rise to a state of mental confusion. Opium and repeated small doses of alcohol are the best antagonists of the untoward effects of camphor. Therapy.External. Camphor is stimulant, rubefacient, antipruritic, and feebly antiseptic. Owing to its agreeable odor and pleasant stimulating effects it is largely used, as a powder, in lotions, and ointments, or rubbed up with other solids to produce anodyne and antiseptic liquids. In this manner, when triturated with chloral hydrate, menthol, phenol, thymol, and similar bodies, ideal liquid antiseptics are obtained for use upon wounds, neuralgic and other painful areas. Powdered camphor is an ingredient of tooth powders and pastes and dusting powders for skin diseases. Alone or with zinc oxide, talc, or precipitated chalk it may be used upon bed-sores with decided relief. Such combinations are valuable in intertrigo, chronic eczema, urticaria, and zoster. Many snuffs contain powdered camphor, and it is useful to stimulate sluggish ulcers. Sprinkled upon the face it is used to control itching and to prevent pitting in small-pox. The spirit is a household embrocation for the relief of pain and itching, and it is used largely, alone, or in liniments and embrocations, for the relief of pain, stiffness, soreness and swelling, as in myalgia, facial and other neuralgias, and upon rheumatic joints, deep inflammations, chronic indurated glands and other indurations, sprains, contusions, and inflammatory swellings. An ethereal tincture of camphor is said to give relief in erysipelas. Inhaling the spirit, or camphor dropped into hot water, gives relief in nervous headache, and often aborts acute colds, coryza, and influenza, giving respite from the excessive secretion and the accompanying headache. A solution of camphor in liquid petrolatum (usually with menthol) is a popular spray for similar uses, and for laryngitis, pharyngitis, chronic nasal catarrh and hypertrophic rhinitis. The spirit, the liniment, or camphorated oil are favorite applications for tenderness and pain, chilblains, toothache, and acute mastitis: in the latter it tends to suppress the milk. The spirit is in common use as a lotion for headache in nervous individuals with feeble circulation, and tendency to fainting. The oil, by injection, is sometimes effectual in removing seatworms. So-called camphor-ice is a soothing, camphorated petrolatum preparation for labial herpes. Internal. Camphor is used to allay nervous excitement, subdue pain, arrest spasm, and sometimes to induce sleep. It is an important remedy in many disorders of neurotic women and children, being frequently most effective as a nerve sedative, antispasmodic, and carminative in nervous nausea and vomiting, flatulence, hiccough, and tendency to spasms or fainting. It is especially serviceable in palpitation of the heart due to gaseous distention of the stomach, or to nervous irritability. In occipital headache, from mental strain, or overstudy, small doses of 1
GLYCERINUM
Glycerin, Glycerol. A liquid composed most largely of a trihydric alcohol (C3H5(OH)3) obtained by the processes of hydrolysis and distillation of fats, both animal and vegetable, or of fixed oils. Description.A thick, syrupy, colorless liquid having a sweet and warming taste and a faint but agreeable odor. It has a great avidity for moisture, becoming appreciably thinner upon long exposure to the atmosphere. It mixes with water or alcohol; and is insoluble in ether, chloroform, and fixed and essential oils. Dose, 1/2 to 2 fluidrachms. Preparation.Suppositoria Glycerini, Suppositories of Glycerin. Action.Glycerin is a powerful hygroscopic. So great is its avidity for water that it will readily abstract moisture from the tissues to which it is applied. It is also slightly irritant to the skin and mucous surfaces, and considerably so to abraded surfaces. The discomfort quickly subsides, however, and it then acts as an antiseptic and protective emollient to the skin. It is a demulcent to mucous tissues. Applied to the rectum it provokes evacuation, both by its irritating and dehydrating effects. Glycerin kills parasites, both cutaneous and intestinal, and allays itching, probably by its protective, antiseptic, and hygroscopic powers. Glycerin is rapidly absorbed by the intestines and is mostly oxidized in the body. By some it is thought to be, in some measure at least, a food, and indirectly a conservator of fats through its effects of increasing the non-nitrogenous reserve of the body. It is also believed to increase energy. Upon the glycogenic function its effects are still in doubt, many contending that it reduces the sugar when in excess in the body. Glycerin is laxative and in very large amounts acts not unlike alcohol, producing a similar intoxication and like gastric effects. It is also said to favor the elimination of uric acid. Therapy.External. The bland and practically unirritating character of pure glycerin, in the presence of a little water, its permanence when exposed to the air (except absorption of moisture), and the completeness with which it shields the parts make it the most largely used external application in a great variety of local disorders. Its protective unctuousness without being greasy, its splendid and extensive solvent powers, its ability to hold in close contact to the tissues powders and other medicines that would dry and fall off if applied with alcohol or water, its antiseptic and emollient properties, and its antipruritic qualities, make it an indispensable vehicle. It is freely miscible with water and most ointment bases, and dissolves or holds in suspension the most commonly used external medicines. It should never be applied full strength, however, except where its dehydrating effects chiefly are desired. Through its great greed for water it readily removes moisture from the tissues, leaving them hardened and more likely to crack. A little water should be added to it for local use, or the parts may be moistened and left wet before its application. Only pure glycerin should be used. Equal parts of glycerin and water, or preferably rose water, form an elegant and emollient cosmetic lotion for chapped hands, lips, and face cracked or sore nipples, excoriated and chafed surfaces, and swollen hemorrhoids. A few grains of borax sometimes add to its efficiency. Compound tincture of benzoin and glycerin is also a pleasant application. For those exposed to winds and storms, and who have their hands much in water, the following is splendidly effective: Rx Glycerin, 2 fluidounces; Carbolic Acid, 10 grains; Tincture of Arnica Flowers, 1/2 fluidounce; Rose Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: Apply after thoroughly washing and rinsing the hands, and while they are still wet. Sometimes lobelia may be used in place of the arnica. Glycerin, added to poultices, renders them soothing and keeps them moist. It forms a good application to boils, carbuncles, small abscesses, and to local edemas, as of the prepuce. Here it may be used pure for its antiseptic and dehydrating effects. Mixed with alcohol (1 part), glycerin (3 parts), it makes a useful and drawing application for boils, and an antiseptic stimulant for foul ulcerations. A mixture of glycerin and water in proportions to suit the case may be used as a toilet wash for the mouth in fevers, to keep the tongue and lips soft and pliable, and to remove sordes and other viscous secretions. It also reduces the thirst occasioned by the dryness of the mouth. Glycerin may be used as a vehicle for lime water for application to small burns, erythema, and slight excoriations; for menthol for the relief of itching in urticaria, chronic eczema, and other pruritic conditions; for boric acid in the mild forms of facial dermatitis; for lactic acid in freckles, sunburn, and other pigmentations; for bismuth, borax, salicylic acid, phenol, boric acid, or sodium or potassium bicarbonate when their long-continued local effects are desired, especially in ulcerations and various skin diseases. A small portion of liquor potassae (1/2 per cent) may be added to it for use upon rough skin and in chronic eczema. Among the skin disorders in which it is especially useful as a vehicle may be mentioned impetigo, lichen, porrigo, psoriasis, pityriasis, herpes, and tinea versicolor (with mercuric chloride) and other parasitic affections. Glycerin (diluted) is one of the best agents to soften hardened and impacted cerumen prior to removing it by gently syringing with warm water. Any irritation caused by the hardened mass or the means of removal may be overcome by the following: Rx Colorless Hydrastis (Lloyd's), 1 fluidrachm; Glycerin, 20 drops; Distillate of Hamamelis, enough to make 1/2 fluidounce. Mix. Sig.: Apply warm to the parts by means of cotton. Glycerin is sometimes useful in otorrhea. A 5 per cent solution of phenol in glycerin upon cotton may be used for insertion into the aural canal after rupture of the membrana tympani wh1
Glycerin, Glycerol. A liquid composed most largely of a trihydric alcohol (C3H5(OH)3) obtained by the processes of hydrolysis and distillation of fats, both animal and vegetable, or of fixed oils. Description.A thick, syrupy, colorless liquid having a sweet and warming taste and a faint but agreeable odor. It has a great avidity for moisture, becoming appreciably thinner upon long exposure to the atmosphere. It mixes with water or alcohol; and is insoluble in ether, chloroform, and fixed and essential oils. Dose, 1/2 to 2 fluidrachms. Preparation.Suppositoria Glycerini, Suppositories of Glycerin. Action.Glycerin is a powerful hygroscopic. So great is its avidity for water that it will readily abstract moisture from the tissues to which it is applied. It is also slightly irritant to the skin and mucous surfaces, and considerably so to abraded surfaces. The discomfort quickly subsides, however, and it then acts as an antiseptic and protective emollient to the skin. It is a demulcent to mucous tissues. Applied to the rectum it provokes evacuation, both by its irritating and dehydrating effects. Glycerin kills parasites, both cutaneous and intestinal, and allays itching, probably by its protective, antiseptic, and hygroscopic powers. Glycerin is rapidly absorbed by the intestines and is mostly oxidized in the body. By some it is thought to be, in some measure at least, a food, and indirectly a conservator of fats through its effects of increasing the non-nitrogenous reserve of the body. It is also believed to increase energy. Upon the glycogenic function its effects are still in doubt, many contending that it reduces the sugar when in excess in the body. Glycerin is laxative and in very large amounts acts not unlike alcohol, producing a similar intoxication and like gastric effects. It is also said to favor the elimination of uric acid. Therapy.External. The bland and practically unirritating character of pure glycerin, in the presence of a little water, its permanence when exposed to the air (except absorption of moisture), and the completeness with which it shields the parts make it the most largely used external application in a great variety of local disorders. Its protective unctuousness without being greasy, its splendid and extensive solvent powers, its ability to hold in close contact to the tissues powders and other medicines that would dry and fall off if applied with alcohol or water, its antiseptic and emollient properties, and its antipruritic qualities, make it an indispensable vehicle. It is freely miscible with water and most ointment bases, and dissolves or holds in suspension the most commonly used external medicines. It should never be applied full strength, however, except where its dehydrating effects chiefly are desired. Through its great greed for water it readily removes moisture from the tissues, leaving them hardened and more likely to crack. A little water should be added to it for local use, or the parts may be moistened and left wet before its application. Only pure glycerin should be used. Equal parts of glycerin and water, or preferably rose water, form an elegant and emollient cosmetic lotion for chapped hands, lips, and face cracked or sore nipples, excoriated and chafed surfaces, and swollen hemorrhoids. A few grains of borax sometimes add to its efficiency. Compound tincture of benzoin and glycerin is also a pleasant application. For those exposed to winds and storms, and who have their hands much in water, the following is splendidly effective: Rx Glycerin, 2 fluidounces; Carbolic Acid, 10 grains; Tincture of Arnica Flowers, 1/2 fluidounce; Rose Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: Apply after thoroughly washing and rinsing the hands, and while they are still wet. Sometimes lobelia may be used in place of the arnica. Glycerin, added to poultices, renders them soothing and keeps them moist. It forms a good application to boils, carbuncles, small abscesses, and to local edemas, as of the prepuce. Here it may be used pure for its antiseptic and dehydrating effects. Mixed with alcohol (1 part), glycerin (3 parts), it makes a useful and drawing application for boils, and an antiseptic stimulant for foul ulcerations. A mixture of glycerin and water in proportions to suit the case may be used as a toilet wash for the mouth in fevers, to keep the tongue and lips soft and pliable, and to remove sordes and other viscous secretions. It also reduces the thirst occasioned by the dryness of the mouth. Glycerin may be used as a vehicle for lime water for application to small burns, erythema, and slight excoriations; for menthol for the relief of itching in urticaria, chronic eczema, and other pruritic conditions; for boric acid in the mild forms of facial dermatitis; for lactic acid in freckles, sunburn, and other pigmentations; for bismuth, borax, salicylic acid, phenol, boric acid, or sodium or potassium bicarbonate when their long-continued local effects are desired, especially in ulcerations and various skin diseases. A small portion of liquor potassae (1/2 per cent) may be added to it for use upon rough skin and in chronic eczema. Among the skin disorders in which it is especially useful as a vehicle may be mentioned impetigo, lichen, porrigo, psoriasis, pityriasis, herpes, and tinea versicolor (with mercuric chloride) and other parasitic affections. Glycerin (diluted) is one of the best agents to soften hardened and impacted cerumen prior to removing it by gently syringing with warm water. Any irritation caused by the hardened mass or the means of removal may be overcome by the following: Rx Colorless Hydrastis (Lloyd's), 1 fluidrachm; Glycerin, 20 drops; Distillate of Hamamelis, enough to make 1/2 fluidounce. Mix. Sig.: Apply warm to the parts by means of cotton. Glycerin is sometimes useful in otorrhea. A 5 per cent solution of phenol in glycerin upon cotton may be used for insertion into the aural canal after rupture of the membrana tympani wh1
HAMAMELIS
The leaves, bark and twigs of Hamamelis virginiana, Linné (Nat. Ord. Hamamelidaceae), collected in the autumn. Common in the United States. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Names.Witch-Hazel, Snapping Hazelnut, Winterbloom. Principal Constituents.A bitter body, tannin, and a volatile oil. Preparations.-1. Aqua Hamamelidis, Hamamelis Water, (Distillate of Hamamelis, Distilled Witch-Hazel, Distilled Extract of Witch-Hazel). Dose, 5 drops to 2 fluidrachms. 2. Specific Medicine Hamamelis. Dose, 5 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.Venous debility, with relaxed and full tissues; pallid mucosa or occasionally deep red from venous engorgement, or deep blue from venous stasis; excessive mucous flow, with venous relaxation; passive hemorrhages; prehemorrhagic states, with venous fullness; varicoses; hemorrhoids with weight and fullness; rectal prolapse; dull aching pain in pelvis, genitalia, or rectum, with perineal relaxation and fullness; relaxed or engorged and painful sore throat; gastro-intestinal irritability, with venous weakness and mucous or muco-bloody passages. Locally to inflamed, ulcerated or wounded skin or mucosa, especially where venous circulation is debilitated; contusions, bruises, and muscular soreness from exertion or exposure. Action and Therapy.External. Witch-hazel bark and its fluid preparations are astringent. The distillate and the specific medicine are sedative and slightly astringent. The latter two form agreeably grateful and soothing applications to the skin and mucous surface in irritated and inflamed conditions and where venous relaxation is present. The specific medicine is an elegant and heavy distillate, carrying a large proportion of the oil, as compared to the ordinary distillate, and is much to be preferred where a bland and soothing yet astringent effect is required. Where more alcoholic stimulation is permitted or desired the ordinary distillate may be used. As a rule, the specific medicine is best for use upon mucous, and the distillate upon the cutaneous surfaces. Witch-hazel distillates are splendid applications for sprains, contusions, wounds and inflamed swellings, and for sunburn, tan, freckles, and dilatation of the capillaries of the skin. They are cooling and relieve smarting and pain. Used alone or combined with an equal quantity of bay rum they form an elegant face wash to remove excess of soap and heal abrasions after shaving. Witch-hazel is one of the most comforting applications for painful hemorrhoids. It may be used ice cold or hot, as preferred. Applied to the tender parts after the parturient toilet, it removes soreness of the tissues from childbirth. Rubbed upon the skin, or applied by means of compresses, it is an efficient lotion for muscular soreness and aching after severe exertion; from cold, exposure, or when due to bruises and strains. Its use should be accompanied with gentle massage. Compresses wetted with witchhazel give marked relief in acute cutaneous inflammations, chafing, and especially in mammitis. Incised wounds, ragged cuts from glass or tin, barbed wire injuries, and crushed fingers are quickly relieved of pain and heal rapidly when the following is applied: Rx Echafolta, 1/2 fluidounce; Asepsin, 15 grains; Specific Medicine Hamamelis and Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Apply upon gauze. A similar preparation, with but two drachms of the echafolta, or the distillate with menthol, makes a good dressing for burns and scalds. Glycerin and hamamelis, equal parts, or equal parts of Specific Medicine Hamamelis and Lloyd's Colorless Hydrastis give excellent results in irritation and inflammation of the aural canal due to inspissated cerumen, or to efforts to remove the latter. Sprayed upon the throat the specific medicine or the distillate, suitably diluted, is a useful and sedative astringent for angry and deep red sorethroats, with relaxation of membranes; or in pharyngitis, faucitis, and tonsillitis, with hyperaemia or congestion. The specific medicine is especially soothing and astringent in congestive nasal catarrh. Few local washes give greater relief in the angina of scarlet fever than those of which witchhazel forms a part. They relieve pain, cleanse the parts, and constringe the relaxed tissues and dilated vessels. It may also be added to local washes for use in diphtheria. Together with colorless hydrastis, or other non-alcoholic hydrastis preparations, with or without a grain of alum or of zinc sulphate, it is a most effective collyrium for acute conjunctivitis, with dilated conjunctival vessels. Especially is it effective in vernal conjunctivitis. The same combinations are exceedingly useful as an injection in gonorrhea, after the acute symptoms have subsided and a catarrhal state has supervened. Internal. Hamamelis has an important tonic effect upon venous debility, acting upon the coats of the veins throughout the body. Unlike some vascular remedies its action is not merely local, but extends throughout the whole venous system. It is therefore a remedy of much value in varicoses, hemorrhoids, and passive hemorrhages. When indicated, the tissues are pallid and relaxed, and in some instances deep red, due to venous engorgement. There is a sense of fullness or thickening and weight and congestion. These are especially prominent in the type of hemorrhoids benefited by hamamelis. It is of some value in oozing of blood from the mucosa, in passive bleeding from the nose, lungs, and stomach, but is a better remedy for the venous relaxation that precedes these hemorrhages and which renders their occurrence easy. It is of less value in hemoptysis than lycopus, and is adapted to such cases as are benefited by geranium and erigeron. Hamamelis is a decidedly useful remedy in congestive conditions with marked tissue debility. It should be given a fair trial in congestion of the ovaries, with dull aching pain and sense of weight and fullness; in chronic congestive conditions of the uterus, with soft and flabby cervi1
The leaves, bark and twigs of Hamamelis virginiana, Linné (Nat. Ord. Hamamelidaceae), collected in the autumn. Common in the United States. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Names.Witch-Hazel, Snapping Hazelnut, Winterbloom. Principal Constituents.A bitter body, tannin, and a volatile oil. Preparations.-1. Aqua Hamamelidis, Hamamelis Water, (Distillate of Hamamelis, Distilled Witch-Hazel, Distilled Extract of Witch-Hazel). Dose, 5 drops to 2 fluidrachms. 2. Specific Medicine Hamamelis. Dose, 5 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.Venous debility, with relaxed and full tissues; pallid mucosa or occasionally deep red from venous engorgement, or deep blue from venous stasis; excessive mucous flow, with venous relaxation; passive hemorrhages; prehemorrhagic states, with venous fullness; varicoses; hemorrhoids with weight and fullness; rectal prolapse; dull aching pain in pelvis, genitalia, or rectum, with perineal relaxation and fullness; relaxed or engorged and painful sore throat; gastro-intestinal irritability, with venous weakness and mucous or muco-bloody passages. Locally to inflamed, ulcerated or wounded skin or mucosa, especially where venous circulation is debilitated; contusions, bruises, and muscular soreness from exertion or exposure. Action and Therapy.External. Witch-hazel bark and its fluid preparations are astringent. The distillate and the specific medicine are sedative and slightly astringent. The latter two form agreeably grateful and soothing applications to the skin and mucous surface in irritated and inflamed conditions and where venous relaxation is present. The specific medicine is an elegant and heavy distillate, carrying a large proportion of the oil, as compared to the ordinary distillate, and is much to be preferred where a bland and soothing yet astringent effect is required. Where more alcoholic stimulation is permitted or desired the ordinary distillate may be used. As a rule, the specific medicine is best for use upon mucous, and the distillate upon the cutaneous surfaces. Witch-hazel distillates are splendid applications for sprains, contusions, wounds and inflamed swellings, and for sunburn, tan, freckles, and dilatation of the capillaries of the skin. They are cooling and relieve smarting and pain. Used alone or combined with an equal quantity of bay rum they form an elegant face wash to remove excess of soap and heal abrasions after shaving. Witch-hazel is one of the most comforting applications for painful hemorrhoids. It may be used ice cold or hot, as preferred. Applied to the tender parts after the parturient toilet, it removes soreness of the tissues from childbirth. Rubbed upon the skin, or applied by means of compresses, it is an efficient lotion for muscular soreness and aching after severe exertion; from cold, exposure, or when due to bruises and strains. Its use should be accompanied with gentle massage. Compresses wetted with witchhazel give marked relief in acute cutaneous inflammations, chafing, and especially in mammitis. Incised wounds, ragged cuts from glass or tin, barbed wire injuries, and crushed fingers are quickly relieved of pain and heal rapidly when the following is applied: Rx Echafolta, 1/2 fluidounce; Asepsin, 15 grains; Specific Medicine Hamamelis and Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Apply upon gauze. A similar preparation, with but two drachms of the echafolta, or the distillate with menthol, makes a good dressing for burns and scalds. Glycerin and hamamelis, equal parts, or equal parts of Specific Medicine Hamamelis and Lloyd's Colorless Hydrastis give excellent results in irritation and inflammation of the aural canal due to inspissated cerumen, or to efforts to remove the latter. Sprayed upon the throat the specific medicine or the distillate, suitably diluted, is a useful and sedative astringent for angry and deep red sorethroats, with relaxation of membranes; or in pharyngitis, faucitis, and tonsillitis, with hyperaemia or congestion. The specific medicine is especially soothing and astringent in congestive nasal catarrh. Few local washes give greater relief in the angina of scarlet fever than those of which witchhazel forms a part. They relieve pain, cleanse the parts, and constringe the relaxed tissues and dilated vessels. It may also be added to local washes for use in diphtheria. Together with colorless hydrastis, or other non-alcoholic hydrastis preparations, with or without a grain of alum or of zinc sulphate, it is a most effective collyrium for acute conjunctivitis, with dilated conjunctival vessels. Especially is it effective in vernal conjunctivitis. The same combinations are exceedingly useful as an injection in gonorrhea, after the acute symptoms have subsided and a catarrhal state has supervened. Internal. Hamamelis has an important tonic effect upon venous debility, acting upon the coats of the veins throughout the body. Unlike some vascular remedies its action is not merely local, but extends throughout the whole venous system. It is therefore a remedy of much value in varicoses, hemorrhoids, and passive hemorrhages. When indicated, the tissues are pallid and relaxed, and in some instances deep red, due to venous engorgement. There is a sense of fullness or thickening and weight and congestion. These are especially prominent in the type of hemorrhoids benefited by hamamelis. It is of some value in oozing of blood from the mucosa, in passive bleeding from the nose, lungs, and stomach, but is a better remedy for the venous relaxation that precedes these hemorrhages and which renders their occurrence easy. It is of less value in hemoptysis than lycopus, and is adapted to such cases as are benefited by geranium and erigeron. Hamamelis is a decidedly useful remedy in congestive conditions with marked tissue debility. It should be given a fair trial in congestion of the ovaries, with dull aching pain and sense of weight and fullness; in chronic congestive conditions of the uterus, with soft and flabby cervi1
MENTHA PIPERITA
The leaves and tops of Mentha piperita, Smith (Mentha X piperita L.) (Nat. Ord. Labiatae). Europe and the United States. Dose, 60 to 120 grains. Common Names: Peppermint. Principal Constituents.A volatile oil (Oleum Mentha, Piperitae) and menthol. (See Menthol.) Preparations.-1. Oleum Menthae Piperitae, Oil of Peppermint. (A clear, colorless oil having the strong odor and taste of peppermint and giving a sensation of cold when air is drawn into the mouth or water is drunk; soluble in alcohol.) Dose, 1 to 10 drops. 2. Aqua Menthae Piperitae, Peppermint Water. Dose, 1 fluidrachm to 1 fluidounce. 3. Spiritus Menthae Piperitae, Spirit of Peppermint (Essence of Peppermint-10 per cent oil). Dose, 5 to 60 drops. Derivative.-Menthol. (See Menthol.) Specific Indications.Gastrodynia, flatulent colic, difficult digestion. Action and Therapy.External. Oil of Peppermint is rubefacient and anodyne. It is used alone or in combination with other oils for the relief of neuralgia and toothache, in both of which it is often very efficient. Its external use has been somewhat superseded by menthol, the camphoraceous body to which oil of peppermint owes most of its virtues. Still it is used largely to relieve local pain, especially that of burns and scalds. Internal. Peppermint infusion is a very grateful agent to allay nausea and vomiting, and to break up a cold. It forms a part of the well-known Neutralizing Cordial. The essence is a common and unexcelled carminative for gastrodynia and the flatulent colic of children, and is used extensively to modify the action and mask the taste of other medicines. Applied by atomization, essence of peppermint and alcohol, equal parts, frequently eases the pain of tonsillitis and gives relief in the cough of acute bronchitis and pneumonia.1
The leaves and tops of Mentha piperita, Smith (Mentha X piperita L.) (Nat. Ord. Labiatae). Europe and the United States. Dose, 60 to 120 grains. Common Names: Peppermint. Principal Constituents.A volatile oil (Oleum Mentha, Piperitae) and menthol. (See Menthol.) Preparations.-1. Oleum Menthae Piperitae, Oil of Peppermint. (A clear, colorless oil having the strong odor and taste of peppermint and giving a sensation of cold when air is drawn into the mouth or water is drunk; soluble in alcohol.) Dose, 1 to 10 drops. 2. Aqua Menthae Piperitae, Peppermint Water. Dose, 1 fluidrachm to 1 fluidounce. 3. Spiritus Menthae Piperitae, Spirit of Peppermint (Essence of Peppermint-10 per cent oil). Dose, 5 to 60 drops. Derivative.-Menthol. (See Menthol.) Specific Indications.Gastrodynia, flatulent colic, difficult digestion. Action and Therapy.External. Oil of Peppermint is rubefacient and anodyne. It is used alone or in combination with other oils for the relief of neuralgia and toothache, in both of which it is often very efficient. Its external use has been somewhat superseded by menthol, the camphoraceous body to which oil of peppermint owes most of its virtues. Still it is used largely to relieve local pain, especially that of burns and scalds. Internal. Peppermint infusion is a very grateful agent to allay nausea and vomiting, and to break up a cold. It forms a part of the well-known Neutralizing Cordial. The essence is a common and unexcelled carminative for gastrodynia and the flatulent colic of children, and is used extensively to modify the action and mask the taste of other medicines. Applied by atomization, essence of peppermint and alcohol, equal parts, frequently eases the pain of tonsillitis and gives relief in the cough of acute bronchitis and pneumonia.1
MENTHOL
Menthol. A secondary alcohol obtained from the oil of Mentha piperita, Linné, or from other oils of mints. It should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, and in a cool place. Description.Colorless needle or prismatic crystals with a strong odor and taste characteristic of peppermint, very soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, and slightly soluble in water. It gives a feeling of warmth when tasted, followed by a sensation of cold when air is inhaled or water is drunk. Dose, 1/8 to 2 grains. Specific Indications.Pruritus; nausea and vomiting. Action and Therapy.External. Menthol is a local antiseptic, anaesthetic and antipruritic. It is used with great success in various disorders attended with itching and pain. It may be used alone or rubbed up with camphor, chloral hydrate, or phenol in combinations desired, and painted upon painful surfaces or employed to obtund the pain in a carious tooth. In alcoholic or oil solution it is an unexcelled application for the itching of hives, pruritus vulvae et ani, eczema, ringworm, or herpes zoster. For pain and cellular inflammations it is very effectual in burns and scalds, insect bites and stings, earache, neuralgia, boils, carbuncles, and the surface pains of sciatica. The pain of local and superficial neuralgias and of arthritis, simple, rheumatic, or gonorrheal, may be relieved by painting upon the affected surface a combination of hydrated chloral, thymol, and menthol. A 20 per cent mentholated petrolatum may be used as a stimulating agent when there is a lack of cerumen in the auditory canal, and for boils in that passage a 20 per cent oil solution is very comforting. A 10 to 20 per cent solution in liquid petrolatum or olive oil gives relief in coryza and hay fever, or may be sprayed into the larynx for the relief of the distressing pain of laryngeal tuberculosis. An albolene spray of menthol is largely employed in inflamed and irritable conditions of the nose and throatozaena, catarrhal sore throat, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and whooping cough. The vapor is useful to allay harassing and irritable bronchial cough. Internal. Minute doses of menthol relieve nausea and vomiting, as of pregnancy and seasickness. It is sometimes of value in hiccough. It should not be used in large doses internally because of the profound nervous disturbances it may occasion.1
Menthol. A secondary alcohol obtained from the oil of Mentha piperita, Linné, or from other oils of mints. It should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, and in a cool place. Description.Colorless needle or prismatic crystals with a strong odor and taste characteristic of peppermint, very soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, and slightly soluble in water. It gives a feeling of warmth when tasted, followed by a sensation of cold when air is inhaled or water is drunk. Dose, 1/8 to 2 grains. Specific Indications.Pruritus; nausea and vomiting. Action and Therapy.External. Menthol is a local antiseptic, anaesthetic and antipruritic. It is used with great success in various disorders attended with itching and pain. It may be used alone or rubbed up with camphor, chloral hydrate, or phenol in combinations desired, and painted upon painful surfaces or employed to obtund the pain in a carious tooth. In alcoholic or oil solution it is an unexcelled application for the itching of hives, pruritus vulvae et ani, eczema, ringworm, or herpes zoster. For pain and cellular inflammations it is very effectual in burns and scalds, insect bites and stings, earache, neuralgia, boils, carbuncles, and the surface pains of sciatica. The pain of local and superficial neuralgias and of arthritis, simple, rheumatic, or gonorrheal, may be relieved by painting upon the affected surface a combination of hydrated chloral, thymol, and menthol. A 20 per cent mentholated petrolatum may be used as a stimulating agent when there is a lack of cerumen in the auditory canal, and for boils in that passage a 20 per cent oil solution is very comforting. A 10 to 20 per cent solution in liquid petrolatum or olive oil gives relief in coryza and hay fever, or may be sprayed into the larynx for the relief of the distressing pain of laryngeal tuberculosis. An albolene spray of menthol is largely employed in inflamed and irritable conditions of the nose and throatozaena, catarrhal sore throat, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and whooping cough. The vapor is useful to allay harassing and irritable bronchial cough. Internal. Minute doses of menthol relieve nausea and vomiting, as of pregnancy and seasickness. It is sometimes of value in hiccough. It should not be used in large doses internally because of the profound nervous disturbances it may occasion.1
OLEUM OLIVAE
Olive Oil, Sweet Oil. A fixed oil obtained from the ripe fruit of Olea europaea, Linné (Nat. Ord. Oleaceae). The olive tree of Asia and southern Europe; cultivated. Description.A pale yellow or light greenish-yellow oil, of slight odor and taste, followed by feebly acrid after-taste. Slightly dissolved by alcohol, but miscible with chloroform and ether. Dose, 2 fluidrachms to 2 fluidounces. Principal Constituents.Olein (72 per cent), palmitin (28 per cent), and arachin. Action.Emollient and demulcent, nutritive and mildly aperient. Applied to the skin it is protective and softening, and when accompanied, by massage is readily absorbed and appropriated by the system. When swallowed it has little effect in the stomach other than that of a lubricant, but is, partly at least, emulsified and saponified upon reaching the intestines. Here it parts with its olein which becomes a part of the general fat of the body, while excessive quantities pass by way of the intestines and the unassimilated absorbed portion, by way of the renal tract. In contact with the conjunctiva olive oil is irritating. Therapy.External. Sterile olive oil is a good lubricant for sounds, bougies, and catheters. To facilitate the passage of a catheter inject through it into the urethra warm olive oil to distend the passage. Masseuers sometimes employ it in their manipulations of the body, but it is less useful than wool fat or cacao butter. It is the safest oil to drop into the auditory canal to kill live insects and facilitate their removal afterward by syringing with warm water. It deprives the insects of oxygen, thus causing their death. Olive oil is sometimes applied to burns and scalds, but is less valuable than lime liniment (Carron Oil). Applied warm it gives relief from the pain of insect stings and bites. It may be used for anointing bruises and excoriations, and is especially useful to prevent excoriations from acrid discharges. It causes too much smarting, however, to use upon the chafed surfaces of infants. Poured over the surface it mitigates the pain and unites to chemically form a soap in cases of external poisoning by caustic alkalies. It is sometimes comforting in sunburn and other acute forms of dermatitis. Dropped warm into the aural canal it frequently relieves earache, but has no advantage over warm water for this purpose. Injected into the rectum it removes ascarides, and sometimes soothes when so used in dysentery and colitis. It is the most commonly employed softening agent for cutaneous crusts, such as those of eczema, seborrhea, favus, and psoriasis. Inunctions of olive oil may be used in malnutrition and wasting diseases, but are far less valuable than cod liver oil for this purpose. It is, however, readily absorbed and thus serves as a food. In the desquamative stage of the eruptive diseases it relieves burning, itching, lowers temperature by quieting the patient, and prevents the dissemination of infective scales. It is particularly useful in scarlet fever. Olive oil is frequently used as the carrier of local anodynes and anaesthetics, as morphine, menthol, camphor, phenol, etc. A warm, olive-oil solution of camphor is a most effective agent in mastitis, both to relieve the tensive pain and to lessen the secretion of milk. It enters largely into the formation of ointments, cerates, liniments, and plasters. Internal. In doses of one to two ounces olive oil may purge, but it is often uncertain and ineffective as a laxative. When one is inclined to dyspepsia it tends to increase the digestive difficulty. It is commonly given to infants as a laxative in constipation, but while it sometimes relieves it more often disturbs by creating a mild dyspepsia. Pediatricians now generally hold it more harmful than useful in infantile constipation. It may, however, be used by adults exposed to opportunities for lead constipation and in lead poisoning, to prevent absorption of, and overcome the constipating effect of the metal. While of undoubted utility in some cases of cholelithiasis, by indirectly causing a greater increase in the watery constituent of the bile, it is probably of no other value in the gall-stone diathesis. Certainly it does not dissolve the concretions in the gall duct no matter how readily it may affect the solution of cholesterin outside the body. In the intestines it is converted into a soap, and saponaceous particles have been mistaken for expelled gall-stones. Notwithstanding, it is extensively used and advised by physicians to the extent that the laity now consider it the great essential in the treatment of gall-stone disease. The effect of its long-continued use is to derange both the stomach and the bowels. We have seen a persistent diarrhea follow the prolonged use of the oil. Olive oil may be given immediately in poisoning by alkalies and other irritant substances. With the first it combines by saponification, and in the latter acts as a demulcent. It should not, however, be given in either phosphorus or cantharides poisoning, as the activity of these substances through oil solution is decidedly increased.1
Olive Oil, Sweet Oil. A fixed oil obtained from the ripe fruit of Olea europaea, Linné (Nat. Ord. Oleaceae). The olive tree of Asia and southern Europe; cultivated. Description.A pale yellow or light greenish-yellow oil, of slight odor and taste, followed by feebly acrid after-taste. Slightly dissolved by alcohol, but miscible with chloroform and ether. Dose, 2 fluidrachms to 2 fluidounces. Principal Constituents.Olein (72 per cent), palmitin (28 per cent), and arachin. Action.Emollient and demulcent, nutritive and mildly aperient. Applied to the skin it is protective and softening, and when accompanied, by massage is readily absorbed and appropriated by the system. When swallowed it has little effect in the stomach other than that of a lubricant, but is, partly at least, emulsified and saponified upon reaching the intestines. Here it parts with its olein which becomes a part of the general fat of the body, while excessive quantities pass by way of the intestines and the unassimilated absorbed portion, by way of the renal tract. In contact with the conjunctiva olive oil is irritating. Therapy.External. Sterile olive oil is a good lubricant for sounds, bougies, and catheters. To facilitate the passage of a catheter inject through it into the urethra warm olive oil to distend the passage. Masseuers sometimes employ it in their manipulations of the body, but it is less useful than wool fat or cacao butter. It is the safest oil to drop into the auditory canal to kill live insects and facilitate their removal afterward by syringing with warm water. It deprives the insects of oxygen, thus causing their death. Olive oil is sometimes applied to burns and scalds, but is less valuable than lime liniment (Carron Oil). Applied warm it gives relief from the pain of insect stings and bites. It may be used for anointing bruises and excoriations, and is especially useful to prevent excoriations from acrid discharges. It causes too much smarting, however, to use upon the chafed surfaces of infants. Poured over the surface it mitigates the pain and unites to chemically form a soap in cases of external poisoning by caustic alkalies. It is sometimes comforting in sunburn and other acute forms of dermatitis. Dropped warm into the aural canal it frequently relieves earache, but has no advantage over warm water for this purpose. Injected into the rectum it removes ascarides, and sometimes soothes when so used in dysentery and colitis. It is the most commonly employed softening agent for cutaneous crusts, such as those of eczema, seborrhea, favus, and psoriasis. Inunctions of olive oil may be used in malnutrition and wasting diseases, but are far less valuable than cod liver oil for this purpose. It is, however, readily absorbed and thus serves as a food. In the desquamative stage of the eruptive diseases it relieves burning, itching, lowers temperature by quieting the patient, and prevents the dissemination of infective scales. It is particularly useful in scarlet fever. Olive oil is frequently used as the carrier of local anodynes and anaesthetics, as morphine, menthol, camphor, phenol, etc. A warm, olive-oil solution of camphor is a most effective agent in mastitis, both to relieve the tensive pain and to lessen the secretion of milk. It enters largely into the formation of ointments, cerates, liniments, and plasters. Internal. In doses of one to two ounces olive oil may purge, but it is often uncertain and ineffective as a laxative. When one is inclined to dyspepsia it tends to increase the digestive difficulty. It is commonly given to infants as a laxative in constipation, but while it sometimes relieves it more often disturbs by creating a mild dyspepsia. Pediatricians now generally hold it more harmful than useful in infantile constipation. It may, however, be used by adults exposed to opportunities for lead constipation and in lead poisoning, to prevent absorption of, and overcome the constipating effect of the metal. While of undoubted utility in some cases of cholelithiasis, by indirectly causing a greater increase in the watery constituent of the bile, it is probably of no other value in the gall-stone diathesis. Certainly it does not dissolve the concretions in the gall duct no matter how readily it may affect the solution of cholesterin outside the body. In the intestines it is converted into a soap, and saponaceous particles have been mistaken for expelled gall-stones. Notwithstanding, it is extensively used and advised by physicians to the extent that the laity now consider it the great essential in the treatment of gall-stone disease. The effect of its long-continued use is to derange both the stomach and the bowels. We have seen a persistent diarrhea follow the prolonged use of the oil. Olive oil may be given immediately in poisoning by alkalies and other irritant substances. With the first it combines by saponification, and in the latter acts as a demulcent. It should not, however, be given in either phosphorus or cantharides poisoning, as the activity of these substances through oil solution is decidedly increased.1
References
1) Felter, Harvey Wickes, 1922, The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Cincinnati, Ohio.