TERCHLORIDE OF GOLD.

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contain hydrochloric acid: hence they are regarded by some as consti-tuting a double chloride of hydrogen and gold.

Physiological Effects, (a.) On animals. —Orfila ( Toxicol. Gen.)examined the effects of the chloride of gold on animals, and infers fromhis experiments, that when introduced into the stomach it acts as a cor-rosive, but with less energy than the bichloride of mercury, and destroysanimals by the inflammation of the coats of the alimentary canal whichit sets up.

( b.) On man. —On man its effects are analogous to those of bichlorideof mercury. In small doses it acts, according to Dr. Chrestien, moreenergetically as a stimulant, though less powerfully as a sialogogue, thancorrosive sublimate. It promotes the secretions of the skin, the salivaryglands, and the kidneys. Taken to the extent of one-tenth of a graindaily, it has occasioned violent fever. “ This excitation,” says Chrestien,“ I regard as indispensably necessary for the cure of the diseases againstwhich I administer gold: restrained within proper limits, it is neveraccompanied with any remarkable or even sensible lesion of the func-tions. The mouth is good, the tongue moist, the appetite continues, thebowels are not disordered, and there is ordinarily only augmentation ofurine and transpiration: hut if earned too fay, we incur the risk of pro-ducing general erethism, inflammation of this or that organ, according tothe predisposition of the patient, which w r ill not only check the treat-ment, but may even induce a new disease, often more troublesome thanthe original one. The suspension or modification of the remedy shouldbe governed by the unusual and sustained heat of skin.” Cullerier, thenephew (Magendie, Formulaire, 8 rae ed. p. 365), has seen one-fifteenthof a grain excite, at the second dose, gastric irritation, dryness of thetongue, redness of the throat, colic, and diarrhoea. When it promotesthe secretion of saliva it does not, as mercury, affect the teeth and gums(Grbtziier, Rust’s Magaz. B. 21, quoted by Wibmer). Magendie (op.cit .) has seen violent gastritis, accompanied by nervous symptoms (crampsand pains in the limbs, agitation, and loss of sleep), and afterwards greatheat of skin, obstinate sleeplessness, and fatiguing erections. In largedoses it would probably occasion symptoms analogous to those producedby the use of poisonous doses of bichloride of mercury.

Uses. —It has been employed, with variable success, as a substitutefor mercury in the treatment of the secondary symptoms of syphilis. Amore extended experience of it is, however, necessary to enable us tospeak of its remedial powers with confidence. In the hands of Chrestien(op. cit.), Niel (op. cit.), Cullerier (Diet, des Sciences Med. xxxvii. art.Or), Legraiul (De VOr, de son emploi dans le Traitement de la Syphilis,Paris , 1832), and others, it has proved most successful.

It has also been used in scrofulous affections, broncliocele, chronicskin diseases, scirrhous tumors, &c. Duportal (Ann. de Chimie, lxxviii.55) cured a case of obstinate ulceration of the face, regarded by him ascancerous, and which had resisted all the ordinary methods of cure.

Uegrand (Lond. Med. Gaz. xx. 414) has used chloride of gold, acidifiedwith nitric acid, as a caustic, in syphilitic, scrofulous, and scorbuticulcers, cancerous growths, and ulcerations of the neck of the uterus.

Administration. —■Internally it has been given in doses of one-twentieth of a grain, made into pills with starch. But as organic matters