407. In Gonorrhœa and Vaginal Discharges the above solution is an excellent application, though not so uniformly useful as in Ophthalmia. In Gonorrhœa, it may be commenced with at once, the injections being repeated frequently during the day, in addition to general remedies; but in Vaginal discharges other remedies may be tried first. (See Index.)
408. Sugar is an excellent dressing for certain forms of Foul, Gangrenous looking Ulcers, the Sugar (white or refined) in grain being merely sprinkled over the sore, which under its use soon assumes a healthy appearance. As a drawing plaster for Boils equal parts of Sugar and Yellow Soap, is an old remedy. (Dr. Aitchison.)
409.
Petroleum. Rock Oil.
Mittí-ká-tél (Hind., Duk.), Mátiyá-tail (Beng.), Man-yenney, Man-tayilam (Tam., Mal.), Manti-tayilam, Manti-núné (Tel.), Mannunyanné (Can.), Mattí-cha-téla (Mah.), Mattí-nu-tel (Guz.), Yé-ná (Burm.).
409a. Petroleum, a mineral oil, semi-liquid, somewhat of the consistence of treacle, tenacious, semi-transparent, of a deep sherry red or nearly opaque, tar-like brown, with a peculiar though not unpleasant aromatic odour and pungent acrid taste, exudes spontaneously from the rocks in volcanic regions, and collects on the surface of certain lakes in Persia, Burmah, Assam, and the islands on the Arracan Coast, as well as in Barbadoes, Trinidad, and other West Indian Islands. As a medicinal agent, it is a terebinthinate (turpentine-like) stimulant, and as such appears to act specially on the kidneys, increasing in a marked degree the urinary secretion. The dose is about half a fluid drachm (thirty drops) suspended in mucilage.
410. Petroleum is very generally employed by the Native practitioners externally as a stimulant in Paralytic Affections and in Chronic Rheumatism, and Dr. Fleming (Cat. p. 53), commenting on this, adds that he can, from his own experience, recommend it in the latter disease as an efficacious remedy, having derived more benefit from it than from the more costly Cajeput Oil, which he had previously used. A case of Beri-beri successfully treated by it, externally and internally, is recorded by Mr. S. Arokeum (Madras Quart. Med. Journ., July 1863), but how far the recovery was due in this instance to the Petroleum seems doubtful. Still, it seems worthy of further trials in this obscure affection.
411. In Skin Diseases, it is a useful external application, and a case of Chronic Eczema, which had resisted a host of remedies cured by it, is recorded by Dr. J. W. Mudge (Indian Ann. of Med. Science, 1854, p. 450). He used it incorporated with Soap in the proportion of a drachm to an ounce.
412. As an Antiseptic agent in Surgical Practice, some trials have been made with it by Sir Joseph Fayrer (Indian Med. Gazette, Sept. 1869, p. 184), and he comes to the conclusion that it possesses some, if not all, the advantages assigned to Carbolic Acid in this character. He used it, pure or diluted, with equal parts of oil or glycerine; and he states that whilst it certainly has some deodorising power, it appeared also to have that of limiting suppuration and of restraining the development of septic miasmata in the discharges. He likewise found it useful as a stimulating and detergent application to Sloughing and Ulcerated Surfaces, and in one case of Carbuncle it proved most efficacious. It causes little inconvenience beyond slight smarting. "The evidence of its virtue," Sir J. Fayrer observes, "is as yet but limited, yet it is such as to suggest the advantage of making further trial of what may prove to be a valuable addition to our surgical resources, and it has the advantage of being produced in the country." The summaries of twenty cases are appended to illustrate the use of this hydrocarbon. It is to be hoped it will meet with further trials.
413.