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ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
ordinary dose. But I would advise it to be given at first in very muchsmaller quantity ( 35 s.), and to be gradually increased.
(e.) Ointment of iodine. — This is composed, according to the DublinPharmacopoeia, of a scruple of iodine to an ounce of lard. If this be tooirritating, the quantity of lard must be increased. The colour of thiscompound is brown, but, by keeping, it becomes paler; and hence shouldalways be made when wanted. It is employed as a local application toscrofulous tumors, broncliocele, &c.
Antidotes. —In the event of poisoning by iodine, or its tincture, the firstobject is to evacuate the poison from the stomach. For this purpose,assist the vomitings by the copious use of tepid demulcent liquids—espe-cially by those containing amylaceous matter; as starch, wlieatenflour, sago, or arrow-root, which should be boiled in water, and exhibitedfreely. The efficacy of these agents depends on the iodide of starch,which they form, possessing very little local action. In their absence,other demulcents, such as milk, eggs beat up with water, or even tepidwater merely, may be given to promote vomiting. Magnesia is alsorecommended. Opiates have been found useful. Of course the gastro-enteritis must be combated by the usual means.
II istory and Etymology. —This substance was discovered by M.Balard, of Montpelier, in 1826. He at first termed it muride (frommurid, brine), in allusion to the substance from whence he procured it;but, at the suggestion of Gay-Lussac , lie altered this name to that ofbrome, or bromine, (from Ppdfioc, a stench or fetor,) on account of its un-pleasant odour.
Natural History . —It is found in both kingdoms of nature, but neverin the free state.
{a.) In the inorganized kingdom. —Hollander detected it in an ore ofzinc, and Cocliler recognised it in Silesian cadmium (Gmelin, Handbuchder Chemie.) It exists in sea water and many mineral waters, in com-bination with either magnesium or sodium, or sometimes with both.Thus it has been found in the waters of the Mediterranean, the Baltic,the North Sea, the Frith of Forth, the Dead Sea , many of the brinesprings of Europe and America (as those of Middlewich, Nantwicli,Ashbv-de-la-Zoucli, and Shirleywicli, in England), and in many othermineral springs of Europe and America (as the Pittville spring at Chel-tenham , the water of Llandridod and of Bofinington.) It has been justlyobserved by Dr. Daubeny (Phil. Trans. 1830), that the detection ofbromine in brine-springs is a fact interesting in a geological point of view,as tending to identify the product of the ancient seas, in their most mi-nute particulars, with those of the present ocean.
(■ b.) In the organized kingdom. —Bromine has been found in the sea-plants of the Mediterranean, and in the mother-waters of Kelp. It haslikewise been detected in marine animals, and in the sea-sponge ( Spongiaofficinalis), in the stony concretion found in this animal, and in the ashesof the Janthina violacea, one of the gasteropodous mollusca.
Preparation. —Bromine is usually procured from bittern (the mother