Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 175

=Decoction of Wil'low Bark.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM SALICIS, D. S. CORTICIS, L.

_Prep._ 1. (Wilkinson.) Willow bark (_Salix latifolia_), bruised, 1-1/2 oz.; macerate in water, 2 lbs., for 6 hours, then boil for 15 minutes, and strain. Tonic, astringent, and febrifuge.--_Dose._ A wine-gla.s.sful.

2. (Nieman.) Willow bark (_Salix alba_), 1-1/2 oz.; water, 3/4 pint; boil to one half.--_Dose_, 1 to 2 fl. oz. Both are used as subst.i.tutes for decoction of cinchona bark.

=Decoction of Win'ter-green.= _Syn._ DECOCTION OF PYROLA, D. OF UMBELLATED WINTER-GREEN, D. OF PIPSISSEWA; DECOCTUM CHIMAPHILae (Ph. L.), D. PYROLae (Ph. D.), L. _Prep._ 1. (Ph. L.) Chimaphila (dried herb), 1 oz.; water, 1-1/2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. D.) Winter-green (dried leaves), 1/2 oz.; water, 1/2 pint; boil 10 minutes in a covered vessel, and strain. Tonic, stomachic, alterative, and diuretic.--_Dose_, 1 to 2 fl. oz.; in dropsies, scrofula, debility, loss of appet.i.te, &c.; and in those affections of the urinary organs in which uva-ursi is commonly given.

=Decoction of Worm'seed.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM SANTONICI, L. _Prep._ 1.

Wormseed, bruised, 2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil down to 16 fl. oz., and strain.

2. (Dr R. E. Griffith.) Fresh leaves of wormseed(_Chenopodium anthelmintic.u.m_),--Linn.), 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; orange peel, 2 dr.; boil (10 minutes), and strain. The above are bitter, stomachic, and vermifuge.--_Dose._ A wine-gla.s.sful twice a day; in worms. It is also used as an injection against ascarides.

=Decoction of Yar'row.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM MILLEFOLII, L. _Prep._ From milfoil or yarrow tops, 1-1/2 oz.; water, 1-1/4 pint; boil to a pint, and strain. Astringent, tonic, and vulnerary.--_Dose._ A wine-gla.s.sful thrice daily; in dropsies, &c. It is also used as a fomentation to bruises, &c.

=Decoction of Black Snake Root.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM CIMICIFUGE. Black snake root, 1 oz.; water, 16 oz.; boil for 10 minutes.--_Dose_, 1 oz. to 2 oz.

in rheumatism and dropsy.

=Decoction of Stavesacre.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM STAPHISAGRIae. Stavesacre seed, 1 oz.; water, 2 pints; boil for a few minutes, and strain. For external use.

=Decoction of Snails.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM LIMATUM (MARS MOUCHON). Flesh of vine or garden snails (cleansed from sh.e.l.l and intestines), 5 oz.; water, 2 pints; simmer gently for 2 hours, adding towards the end, maiden hair 2 oz., and strain.

=Decoction of Soapwort.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM SAPONARIae (SWEDIAUR). Soapwort, 2 oz.; water, 4 lbs.; boil to 2 lbs., and strain.

=Decoction of Wood-Soot.= _Syn._ DECOCTUM FULIGINIS (Dr Neligan).

Wood-soot, 4 oz.; water, 1-1/2 pint.

=DECOLORA'TION.= The blanching or removal of the natural colour of any substance. Syrups and many animal, vegetable, and saline solutions are decoloured or whitened by agitation with animal charcoal, and subsequent subsidence or filtration. Many fluids rapidly lose their natural colour by exposure to light, especially to the direct rays of the sun. In this way castor, nut, poppy, and several other oils are whitened. Fish oils are partially deodorised and decoloured by filtration through animal charcoal.

Cottons and linens are still commonly bleached by the joint action of light, air, and moisture. The peculiar way in which light produces this effect has never been satisfactorily explained. The decoloration of textile fabrics and solid bodies generally is called bleaching. See BLANCHING, BLEACHING, OILS, TALLOW, SYRUPS, SUGAR, &c.

=DECOMPOSI"TION= (-zish'un). In _chemistry_, the resolution of compounds into their elements, or the alteration of their chemical const.i.tution in such a manner that new products are formed.

=DEFECA'TION.= The separation of a liquid from its lees, dregs, or impurities by subsidence and decantation. It is commonly employed for the purification of saline solutions and glutinous or unctuous liquids on the large scale in preference to filtration; than which it is both more expeditious and expensive. See CLARIFICATION, DECANTATION, FILTRATION, &c.

=DEFLAGRA'TION.= The sudden combustion of any substance for the purpose of producing some change in its composition, by the joint action of heat and oxygen. The process is commonly performed by projecting into a red-hot crucible, in small portions at a time, a mixture of nitrate of potash, and the body to be oxidised.

=DELIQUES'CENCE.= Spontaneous liquefaction by absorption of the moisture of the atmosphere. Deliquescent salts are those which by exposure gradually a.s.sume the liquid state. They should all be kept in well-closed bottles or jars.

=DELIR'IUM TRE'MENS.= [L.] The madness of drunkards; a disease of the brain resulting from the excessive and protracted use of intoxicating liquors, particularly of ardent spirits. The early symptoms are extreme irritability and fretfulness, with unusual mobility of the body.

Sleeplessness and unpleasant dreams soon follow. At length frightful dreams and visions hara.s.s the patient. He sees remarkable sights, hears extraordinary sounds, and labours under all the strange delusions of insane persons, which, however vague and unfounded, operate on him with all the force of realities till he becomes furiously mad. The fit almost always comes on after hard drinking; and the hands are usually, but not always, tremulous. A similar affection is occasionally produced by the abuse of opium, excessive mental anxiety, night watching, or depletion.

According to Dr Armstrong, even respiring the fumes of ardent spirits will, under some circ.u.mstances, produce this disease. Persons who have undergone surgical operations under the influence of chloroform are more liable to attacks of this kind than other persons.

The _treatment_ of delirium tremens consists mainly in the judicious use of opium, laudanum, or morphia, in rather large doses, frequently repeated. Thirty to sixty drops of laudanum may be given every hour or two during the fit, its effects being carefully watched. The object is to produce quiet sleep, from which the patient usually wakes free from the worst symptoms of the disease. Diaph.o.r.etics and mild aperients may also be given, and a light, nutritious diet adopted throughout. Depletion, especially bleeding, should be particularly avoided. Alcoholic stimulants and wine, in certain cases, have proved useful. Under this treatment, the patient, unless of a very bad habit of body, or much debilitated by previous excesses, usually recovers. He is, however, very liable to relapses and subsequent attacks, which are best prevented by judicious moral management.

The judicious administration of chloral hydrate, in doses of from thirty to sixty grains as well as of bromide of pota.s.sium in twenty-grain doses, either alone or combined with the chloral, has lately been had recourse to with the happiest results, for the production of sleep in cases of delirium tremens or in the insomnia of dipsomaniacs.

The repet.i.tion of the dose of chloral requires to be regulated with very great caution; and it is only in the case of emigrants and others unable to obtain medical aid that we would recommend it to be given, and then only should opium have failed to produce the desired effect. Not _more_ than sixty grains of the chloral should be administered during the twenty-four hours. The internal administration of tincture of capsic.u.m in moderately large doses, in the intervals of the opiates or chloral hydrate, has lately been tried in the treatment of this disease, it is said, with success.

=DELPHIN'IC ACID.= _Syn._ PHOCE'NIC ACID. A fatty acid, obtained by saponifying the oil of the delphinus or porpoise. According to recent experiments, it is identical with valeric acid.

=DELPHIN'INE.= _Syn._ DEL'PHINE, DEL'PHIA, DELPHIN'IA. An alkaloid discovered by La.s.saigne and Feneulle in _Delphinium staphysagria_ or stavesacre.

_Prep._ 1. The husked seeds (in powder) are boiled in a little water, and pressed in a cloth; a little pure magnesia is then added to the filtered decoction, the whole is boiled for a few minutes, and refiltered; the residuum, after being well washed, is digested in boiling alcohol, which dissolves out the alkaloid, and gives it up again by gentle evaporation and cooling.

2. The bruised, but unsh.e.l.led, seeds are digested in dilute sulphuric acid, the filtered liquor precipitated with carbonate of pota.s.sa, and the precipitate digested in alcohol as before.

3. (Parrish.) An alcoholic extract of the seeds is treated with dilute sulphuric acid, precipitated with an alkali, again dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid; the colouring matter precipitated by a few drops of nitric acid, the alkaloid by pota.s.sa. The alkaloid is then dissolved in absolute alcohol, and the solution thus formed is evaporated; one pound yields about one drachm.

_Prop., &c._ A light-yellowish or white, odourless powder; extremely acrid and bitter; scarcely soluble in water; dissolves in ether, and readily in alcohol; and has an alkaline reaction. Its alcoholic solution produces a burning and tingling sensation when rubbed on the skin, and a similar sensation is produced in various parts of the body when it is taken in doses of a few grains. It has been exhibited in neuralgia and rheumatism by Dr Turnbull.--_Dose_, 1/12 gr. every three hours, made into a pill with 1 gr. each of the extracts of henbane and liquorice. It is also used externally under the form of ointment and lotion.

=DELPHINUM--A Boot Varnish.= Sh.e.l.l-lac, 75 grammes dissolved in alcohol, 15 grammes, mixed with 20 drops fish oil, and 1 gramme lampblack.

(Geisse.)

=DEMUL'CENTS.= In _medicine_, substances which are calculated to soften and lubricate the parts to which they are applied. Though having the same signification as the word EMOLLIENTS, it is desirable to restrict the latter term to such as are intended for external application, and to include under the above head only such as are intended for internal exhibition. The princ.i.p.al demulcents are gum Arabic, gum tragacanth, liquorice, honey, arrow-root, pearl barley, isingla.s.s, gelatin, milk, almonds, spermaceti, almond and olive oils, and most other mucilaginous, amylaceous, saccharine, and oily substances. For use, these are made into MUCILAGES, DECOCTIONS, EMULSIONS, or MILKS, with water, and form suitable beverages in dysentery, diarrha, catarrh, diseases of the urinary organs, and all other diseases where diluents are useful. See EMOLLIENTS.

=DENGUE.= This disease is most commonly met with in the East and West Indies, and occasionally as an epidemic in America. In England it rarely shows itself in an epidemic character. The symptoms of dengue appear to combine those of rheumatism and scarlet fever. On the third or fourth day an eruption shows itself, accompanied with pains in the limbs, glandular swellings, and languor. The course of the disease is varied by frequent remissions. It does not come within our design to indicate the treatment, which appears to be the same as that pursued in scarlet fever.

=DENS'ITY.= Comparative ma.s.ses of equal weights, or the quant.i.ty of matter contained in a given s.p.a.ce. It is commonly used synonymously with SPECIFIC GRAVITY, which, however, refers to comparative weights of equal bulks.

Thus, quicksilver is said to have a density greater than that of copper, and alcohol one less than that of oil of vitriol.

=DENTI'FRICES.= _Syn._ DENTIFRICIA, L. Substances applied to the teeth, to cleanse and beautify them. The most useful form of dentifrices is that of powder (TOOTH POWDER); but liquids (TOOTH WASHES), and electuaries (TOOTH ELECTUARIES, TOOTH PASTES), are also employed. The solid ingredients used in dentifrices should not be so hard or gritty as to injure the enamel of the teeth; nor so soft or adhesive as to adhere to the gums, after rinsing the mouth out with water. Pumice-stone (in fine powder) is one of those substances that acts entirely by mechanical attrition, and is hence an objectionable ingredient in tooth powder intended for daily use. It is, however, very generally present in the various advertised dentifrices, which are remarkable for their rapid action in whitening the teeth. Bath brick is another substance of a similar nature to pumice, and, like that article, should be only occasionally employed. Cuttle-fish bone, coral, and prepared chalk, are also commonly used for the same purpose, but the last is rather too soft and absorbent to form the sole ingredient of a tooth powder. Charcoal, which is so very generally employed as a dentifrice, acts partly mechanically and partly by its chemical property of destroying foul smells and arresting putrefaction. For this purpose it should be newly burnt, and kept in well-closed vessels, until used, as by exposure to the air it rapidly loses its antiseptic powers. Powdered rhatany, cinchona bark, and catechu, are used as astringents, and are very useful in foulness or sponginess of the gums. Myrrh and mastic are employed on account of their odour, and their presumed preservative action and power of fixing loose teeth. Insoluble powders have been objected to on account of their being apt to acc.u.mulate between the folds of the gums and in the cracks of the teeth, and thus impart a disagreeable appearance to the mouth. To remedy this defect, a reddish or flesh-coloured tinge is commonly given to them with a little rose pink, red coral, or similar colouring substance, when any small portion that remains unwashed off is rendered less conspicuous. Some persons employ soluble substances as tooth powders, which are free from the above objection. Thus, sulphate of potash and cream of tartar are used for this purpose, because of the grittiness of their powders and their slight solubility in water. Phosphate of soda and common salt are also frequently employed as dentifrices, and possess the advantage of being readily removed from the mouth by means of a little water. Among those substances that chemically decolour and remove unpleasant odours, the only ones employed as dentifrices are charcoal and the chlorides of lime and soda. The first has been already noticed; the others may be used by brushing the teeth with water to which a very little of their solutions has been added. A very weak solution of chloride of lime is commonly employed by smokers to remove the odour and colour imparted by tobacco to the teeth. Electuaries, made of honey and astringent substances, are frequently employed in diseases of the gums.

The juice of the common strawberry has been recommended as an elegant natural dentifrice, as it readily dissolves the tartarous incrustations on the teeth, and imparts an agreeable odour to the breath. See PASTE and POWDER (Tooth), also WASHES (Mouth).

=DENT'INE.= The tissue of which the teeth are composed.

=DENTISTRY.= The art or practice of a dentist. Directions for the extraction of teeth, as well as elaborate details for stopping them, and for the manufacture of artificial ones, are branches of the dentist's art, which, as they necessitate the exercise of considerable skill and long practice, do not call for notice in a work like the present. We shall confine ourselves, therefore, to that section of dentistry which concerns itself with stoppings for the cavities of decayed teeth, and for the preparation of which we give the following formulae:--

1. (Soubeiran's.) Powdered mastic and sandarach, of each 4 dr.; dragon's blood, 2 dr.; opium, 15 gr.; mix with sufficient rectified spirit to form a stiff paste. A solution of mastic, or of mastic and sandarach, in half the quant.i.ty of alcohol, is also used, applied with a little cotton or lint.

2. Sandarach, 12 parts; mastic, 6 parts; amber, in powder, 1 part; ether, 6 parts. Applied with cotton. Or simply a paste of powdered mastic and ether. Or a saturated ethereal solution of mastic, applied with cotton.

3. Taveare's cement is made with mastic and burnt alum. Bernoth directs 20 parts of powdered mastic to be digested with 40 of ether, and enough powdered alum added to form a stiff paste.

4. Gutta percha, softened by heat, is recommended. Dr Rollfs advises melting a piece of caoutchouc at the end of a wire, and introducing it while warm.

5. (Gauger's Cement.) Put into a quart bottle 2 oz. of mastic and 3 oz. of absolute alcohol; apply a gentle heat by a water-bath. When dissolved, add 9 oz. of dry balsam of tolu, and again heat gently. A piece of cotton dipped in this viscid solution becomes hard when introduced into the tooth, previously cleansed and dried as above.

6. (Mr Robinson's.) After washing out the mouth with warm water containing a few grains of bicarbonate of soda, and cleaning the cavity as above directed, he drops into it a drop of collodion, to which a little morphia has been added, fills the cavity with asbestos and saturates with collodion, placing over all a pledget of blotting paper.

7. (Ostermaier's Cement.) Mix 12 parts of dry phosphoric acid with 13 of pure and pulverised quicklime. It becomes moist in mixing, in which state it is introduced into the cavity of the tooth, where it quickly becomes hard. [In some hands this has failed, from what cause we are not aware.]

The acid should be prepared as directed under ACID, PHOSPHORIC.

8. (Silica.) This name has been given to a mixture of Paris plaster, levigated porcelain, iron filings, and dregs of tincture of mastic, ground together.

9. (Wirih's Cement.) It is said to consist of a viscid alcoholic solution of resins, with powdered asbestos.

10. (Metallic Cement.) Amalgams for the teeth are made with gold or silver, and quicksilver, the excess of the latter being squeezed out, and the stiff amalgam used warm. Inferior kinds are made with quicksilver and tin, or zinc. A popular nostrum of this kind is said to consist of 40 gr.

of quicksilver and 20 of fine zinc filings, mixed at the time of using. Mr Evans states that pure tin, with a small portion of cadmium, and sufficient quicksilver, forms the most lasting and least objectionable amalgam. The following is the formula:--Melt 2 parts of tin with 1 of cadmium, run it into ingots, and reduce it to filings. Form these into a fluid amalgam with mercury, and squeeze out the excess of mercury through leather. Work up the solid residue in the hand, and press it into the tooth. Or, melt some beeswax in a pipkin over the fire, throw in 5 parts of cadmium, and, when melted, add 7 or 8 parts of tin in small pieces; pour the melted metals into an iron or wooden box, and shake them till cold, so as to obtain the alloy in a powder. This is mixed with 2-1/2 or 3 times its weight of quicksilver in the palm of the hand, and used as above.