In enfeebled states of the body, wounds, boils, and abscesses may degenerate into ulcers; they are also a consequence of enlarged or varicose veins, or the result of some specific poison in the system.
Ulcers may be classed into simple, irritable, indolent, and specific.
Treatment.—When an ordinary wound or sore shows a disinclination to heal, but on the contrary, extends or deepens, it should be poulticed with bread and water or linseed meal. Should these remedies be ineffectual, an old fashioned but useful one, viz. a carrot poultice, may be applied. When the ulceration is irritable or painful, the poultices may be supplemented by the frequent use of a lotion consisting of four parts of water to one of tincture of opium, or of a warm decoction
of poppy heads applied by means of a linen rag. Filling the cavity with prepared chalk has been recommended.
It sometimes happens that during poulticing, proud flesh may form in an ulcer. When this is the case, a little sugar in powder may be sprinkled over the unhealthy excrescence, or some red precipitate ointment be applied to it. Taking care not to use too much of either. When the ulcer has a bad or fetid odour, it should be washed with a lotion composed of one part of solution of chlorinated soda to sixteen parts of water; or it may be sprinkled over with charcoal powder; or with a mixture of starch and salicylic acid. The best application to bad smelling ulcers caused by varicose veins is a lotion consisting of nitric acid considerably diluted with water. Directions are given for the treatment of varicose veins, under Varix, further on. If the veins be ulcerated, the ulcers should be dressed with acetate of lead ointment previous to the application of the bandage. Very irritable ulcers are often greatly relieved by the gentle application to them of lunar caustic, and indolent ones by dressing with yellow basilicon ointment, or by the judicious use of black wash. The general health should be attended to by the administration of tonics consisting of the mineral acids, gentle aperients, and a digestible and nourishing diet. Small ulcers on the mucous membrane of the mouth or on the gums may be made to disappear instantly upon touching them with a piece of lunar caustic. Where any difficulty is experienced in the healing of an ulcer, or if it be at all of a serious nature, the medical practitioner should be consulted.
UL′MIN, ULMIC ACID. By boiling sugar in dilute sulphuric acid for a long time, a brownish-black substance is produced. Boullay and Malaguti state that this is a mixture of two distinct bodies—ulmin (sacchulmin—Liebig) and ulmic acid (sacchulmic acid—Liebig). The first is insoluble in solutions of the alkalies; the latter dissolves in them freely. A number of black uncrystallisable substances, produced by the action of powerful chemical agents upon vegetable matter, have been confounded under these names.
ULTRAMARINE′. Syn. Lapis-lazuli blue, Ultramarine b.; Cæruleum ultramontanum, L. This beautiful pigment is obtained from the blue mineral azure stone, lazulite, or lapis lazuli, the finest specimens of which are brought from China, Persia, and Great Bucharia.
Prep. Pure lapis lazuli (reduced to fragments about the size of a pea, and the colourless pieces rejected), 1 lb., is heated to redness, quenched in water, and ground to an impalpable powder; to this is added, of yellow resin, 6 oz.; turpentine, beeswax, and linseed oil, of each 2 oz.; previously melted together; the whole is next made into a mass, which is kneaded in successive portions of warm water,
as long as it colours it blue; from these it is deposited on repose, and is then collected, well washed with clean water, dried, and sorted according to its qualities. The first water, which is usually dirty, is thrown away; the second gives a blue of the first quality; and the third, and following ones, yield samples of less value. The process is founded on the property which the colouring matter of azure-stone has of adhering less firmly to the resinous cement than the foreign matter with which it is associated. When azure-stone has its colour altered by a moderate heat, it is reckoned bad or factitious.
Obs. Ultramarine is the most costly, but at the same time the most splendid and permanent, of our blue pigments, and works well in oil.