230
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
It sometimes relieves gastrodynia or flatulence, but is admissible inthose cases only in which local stimulants are usually found beneficial.Where both hydrocyanic and creasote have been separately tried withoutsuccess, Dr. Elliotson advises their union.
Creasote has been tried in a few cases of diabetes. In some itdiminished both the quantity and saccharine quality of the urine (Dr.Elliotson , Med.-Chir. Trans, and Professor Bemdt, Lancet, July 18,1835).In no case does it appear to have effected a permanent cure.
In neuralgia, hysteria, and pulmonary diseases, it has also been usedwith occasional advantage: but a more extended experience is requiredto establish its efficacy in these cases.
As an external agent creasote may frequently be employed with greatadvantage. It has been successfully applied to relieve toothache. Aftercarefully cleaning out the cavity of the tooth, a drop of creasote may beintroduced by means of a camel’s hair pencil, and the cavity filled withcotton soaked in this liquid. As a local application to chronic skindiseases (particularly the different forms of porrigo and impetigo) it is ofconsiderable value. Where a caustic application is required, it may beapplied undiluted; but for other purposes it is used either in the form ofointment, or dissolved in water as a wash. Creasote may be beneficiallyused as an application to foul and indolent ulcers. It serves the doublepurpose of stimulating the living surface (and thereby of changing thequality of actions going on in the part), and also of preventing theputrefaction of the secreted matters. It is sometimes applied pure, butmore commonly diluted with water. In haemorrhages it acts as a mostefficient styptic, partly in consequence of its power of coagulatingalbuminous liquids, and thereby of causing the formation of a clot, andpartly by causing contraction of the bleeding vessels. Creasote watermay be applied either to bleeding wounds and leech-bites, or introducedinto the vagina in uterine haemorrhage, by means of pledgets of lintsoaked in it. There are many other purposes for which creasote hasbeen applied as a local agent, but which I think it sufficient merely toname, referring the reader to the various papers and works before quotedfor further information. It has been employed to check caries, to restrainexcessive suppuration, and to repress fungous granulations in bums andscalds; to act as a counter-irritant in chronic ophthalmia, in whichdisease it is sometimes dropped into the eye on the same principle thatnitrate of silver and other local stimulants are used; and to removecondylomatous and other excrescences. The inhalation of creasotevapour is occasionally useful in relieving excessive bronchial secretion.Dr. Elliotson cured two cases of chronic glanders in the human subject,by injecting an aqueous solution of creasote up the affected nostril.
Administration. —Creasote may be given, at the commencement ofits use, in doses of one or two drops diffused through an ounce of waterby the aid of mucilage : the dose should be gradually increased. Asbefore mentioned, in one case forty drops were given with impunity : inanother instance, ninety drops were administered in less than half a daywithout any bad symptom (Mr. Taylor, Lancet, August 15,1835).
As a caustic, undiluted creasote is sometimes applied by means of acamel’s hair pencil.
The unguentum creasoti of the London Pharmacopoeia is composed ofa fluidraclim of creasote and an ounce of lard. It is used principally in