ISSUE PEAS. Syn. Pisæ pro fonticulis, L. Those of the shops are the immature fruit of the orange tree (ORANGE BERRIES). They are usually smoothed in a lathe. Issue peas are also ‘turned’ from orris root. The following compound issue peas are occasionally employed:—
1. Orris root (in powder) and Venice turpentine, of each 1 part; turmeric, 2 parts; beeswax, 3 parts; melted together and made into peas whilst warm.
2. Beeswax, 3 parts; melt, add of Venice turpentine, 1 part; mix, and further add, of turmeric, 2 parts; orris root (in powder), 1 part; mix well, and form the mass into peas whilst warm. More irritating than the common pea.
3. (Dr Gray.) Beeswax, 12 parts; verdigris and white hellebore, of each 4 parts; orris root, 3 parts; cantharides, 2 parts; Venice turpentine, q. s. Used to open issues instead of caustic, but their employment requires care.
ISSUE PLAS′TERS. See Plasters.
ITCH. Syn. Youk‡, Scotch Fiddle‡; Psora, Scabies, L.; Gale, Fr. In pathology, a cutaneous disease, caused by a minute insect lodging under the skin, and readily communicated by contact. There are four varieties of itch, distinguished by nosologists by the names—scabies papuliformis, or rank itch;—scabies lymphatica, or watery itch; scabies purulenta, or pocky itch; scabies cachectica, a species exhibiting appearances resembling each of the previous varieties. Our space will not permit more than a general notice of the common symptoms, and the mode of cure which is equally applicable to each species, and will not prove injurious to other skin diseases simulating the itch.
The common itch consists of an eruption of minute vesicles, principally between the fingers, bend of the wrist, &c., accompanied by intense itching of the parts, which is only aggravated by scratching. The usual treatment is repeated applications of sulphur ointment (simple or compound), well rubbed in once or twice a day, until a cure is effected; accompanying its use by the internal exhibition of a spoonful or more of flowers of sulphur, mixed with treacle or milk night and morning. Where the use of sulphur ointment is objectionable, a sulphur bath, or a lotion or bath of sulphurated potash, or of chloride of lime, may be employed instead.
In the ‘Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal’ for 1872 is a paper by Professor Rothmund recommending the employment of balsam of Peru in this objectionable disease. The writer states that one application generally effects a cure, and that its use does away with the necessity of baths. He recommends the balsam being rubbed all over the naked body.
Carbolic acid is another and much cheaper remedy proposed by the same author. To obviate its caustic action he advises the acid to be mixed with glycerin or linseed oil, in the proportion of one scruple of the acid to two ounces of either excipient. He considers the objection to this remedy may be that it enters too rapidly into the circulation. Another agent employed by Professor Rothmund is a lotion composed of one part of carbolate of sodium dissolved in 12 parts of water. The affected parts of the skin are to be rubbed with this three times a day.
It is further recommended to continue this treatment 8 or 10 days after the cure, in order to kill any acari or their eggs that may have lurked among the clothes or bed-linen. See Bath, Lotion (Itch), Ointment, Psoriasis, &c.