ANTISEPTICS AND DISINFECTANTS.
Antiseptics prevent, while disinfectants arrest putrefaction. Oxygen is a natural disinfectant, but a powerful inciter of change. Although this element is the cause of animal and vegetable decay, yet oxidation is the grand process by which the earth, air, and sea are purified. A few substances are both antiseptic and disinfectant. Heat up to a temperature of 140° Fahr. promotes putrescence, but above that point, is a drier or disorganizer, and destroys the source of infection.
Yeast (Cerevisiæ Fermentum). Yeast is an antiseptic, and is effective in all diseases in which there is threatened putridity. Used externally, it is often combined with elm bark and charcoal, and applied to ulcers, in which there is a tendency to gangrene. Dose—One tablespoonful in wine or porter, once in two or three hours.
Creasote. This is a powerful antiseptic. It is used in a solution of glycerine, oil, water, or syrup. Dose—One to two drops, largely diluted.
Carbolic Acid is a crystalline substance resembling creasote in its properties. It is an antiseptic, and is used both internally and externally. Dose—One-fourth to one-half drop of the melted crystals, very largely diluted. Externally, in solution, one to five grains of the crystals to one ounce of the solvent.
White Vitriol (Zinci Sulphas). White vitriol is a valuable disinfectant, as it will arrest mortification. In solution it is employed in ulcers and cancers and also as a gargle in putrid sore throat. Dose—One-half to two grains in a pill; in solution, one to ten grains in an ounce of water.
Permanganate of Potash (Potassoe Permanganas). This substance is an energetic deodorizer and disinfectant. A solution containing from one to twenty grains in an ounce of water is used as a lotion for foul ulcers. Dose—One-eighth to one-fourth of a grain.
Wild Indigo (Baptisia Tinctoria). The root is the part used. This plant possesses valuable antiseptic properties. It is an excellent lotion for ill-conditioned ulcers, malignant sore throat, nursing sore-mouth, syphilitic ophthalmia, etc. It is sometimes administered in scarlet and typhus fevers, and in all diseases in which there is a tendency to putrescence. Dose—Of the infusion, one-fourth to one-half ounce; of the fluid extract, from three to ten drops, and of the concentrated, active principle of the plant, Baptisin, from one to two grains.