These are solid and tenacious compounds, adhesive at the ordinary heat of the human body; they owe their consistence to different causes, viz.
1. To a due admixture of wax or fatty matter, and resin, e. g. Emplast: Ceræ, &c.
They may be said to differ only in consistence from liniments, ointments, and cerates; Deyeux[[312]] accordingly proposes to distinguish them by the appellation of Solid Ointments.
2. To the chemical combination of the semivitreous oxide of lead with oils or fat, e. g. Emplast: Plumbi.
3. To the chemical action of the component parts of the plaster on each other, as Emplast: Ammoniaci, &c.
Plasters are generally kept in rolls, wrapped in paper, and when to be used they are melted and spread on leather; in performing this operation the practitioner ought not to apply a heat above that of boiling water; for if metallic oxides be present, the fatty matter will, at a higher temperature, reduce them, in consequence of the powerful affinity of oil for oxygen at an exalted temperature; and if aromatic substances enter as ingredients they will thus suffer in their strength, besides which the fat itself will undergo a very injurious change by a mismanaged application of heat, and the plaster will be less adhesive.
They are employed as remedies to answer two general indications; mechanically, to afford support to muscular parts and to prevent the access of air; and medicinally, to operate as stimulants, discutients, rubefacients, or anodyne applications. That by affording an artificial support to the various parts of the body, by the application of plasters, we are capable in certain diseases of effecting much benefit, is a truth to be explained upon the principles of physiology, and is daily confirmed by the results of practice; thus by giving support to the muscles of the back, how frequently the stomach is steadied and strengthened? Diseases of the kidneys are in the same way very frequently relieved by tight bandages around the loins; the existence of an intimate connexion between the external and internal parts is strikingly exemplified by the distressing effects which are often experienced in weak habits, such as sickness, giddiness, and other uneasy sensations, from a want of any usual compression, as that of stays, under-waistcoats, &c. The support afforded to persons who have been tapped in Ascites is another instance. I have also lately met with a case in which a morbidly relaxed state of the bowels had harassed the patient for several years, and set at defiance every astringent medicine; upon the application, however, of a tight bandage around the abdomen, the healthy action of the intestines has been completely restored. Sir Gilbert Blane has suggested the trial of mechanical compression of the head in the cure of Hydrocephalus, and several cases, apparently favourable, have been published. Dr. Thackrey of Cambridge has related a very interesting history in support of the practice, and judiciously recommends the substitution of straps of adhesive plaster for the bandages of cloth originally proposed by Sir Gilbert. In reasoning upon this treatment, it will be found strictly conformable with the soundest principles of physiology, and with those views in particular, for the illustration of which I have here directed the reader’s attention to the subject. Where our object is simple support, we should of course select a plaster which is the most adhesive and the least irritating. Many plasters which have gained great celebrity for their curative virtues will be found to owe all their powers to their adhesiveness, such is the Emplastrum Oxidi Ferri Rubri of the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia, for it is impossible that the iron should communicate any tonic effect. The same observation applies to many of those empirical plasters which have at different times acquired so great a share[[313]] of popular applause. In the cure of sore legs[[314]] the importance of adhesive strapping is generally acknowledged, and on such occasions nothing is superior to the Emplastrum Resinæ.
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ILLUSTRATION OF THE SUBJECT