Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 178

Writers on dietetics (DIETETICA, L.) have taken much trouble to divide and cla.s.sify the numerous articles of food suitable to the various conditions of the body in health and disease; but little practical advantage has resulted from their labours. Low diet, middle diet, full diet, milk diet, farinaceous diet, fruit diet, and vegetable diet, are terms which, under most circ.u.mstances, are sufficiently simple to be almost self-explanatory.

=DIGES'TION.= In _chemistry_ and _pharmacy_ the operation of exposing bodies to a gentle and continuous heat. The best digesters are thin gla.s.s flasks and beakers, and the most convenient source of heat is the sand bath. Digestion is often performed to soften and otherwise modify bodies that are to be distilled. In _physiology_ the term is applied to the conversion of food into chyme, or the process of dissolving food in the alimentary ca.n.a.l, and preparing it for circulation and nourishment. In _surgery_ digestion signifies a method of treating ulcers, wounds, &c. See DIGESTIVES (_below_).

DIGESTIBILITY OF DIFFERENT FOODS.

Mean time of chymification Foods. How cooked. in stomach.

h. m.

Rice Boiled 1 Eggs, whipped Raw 1 30 Trout, salmon, fresh Boiled 1 30 Venison, steak Broiled 1 35 Sago Boiled 1 45 Milk Boiled 2 Eggs, fresh Raw 2 Milk Raw 2 15 Turkey Boiled 2 25 Gelatin Boiled 2 30 Goose, wild Roasted 2 30 Pig, sucking Roasted 2 30 Lamb, fresh Broiled 2 30 Beans, pod Boiled 2 30 Potatoes, Irish Baked 2 30 Chicken Frica.s.sed 2 45 Oysters, fresh Raw 2 55 Eggs, fresh Soft-boiled 3 Beef, lean, rare Roasted 3 Mutton, fresh Boiled 3 Bread, corn Baked 3 15 b.u.t.ter Melted 3 30 Cheese, old, strong Raw 3 30 Potatoes, Irish Boiled 3 30 Beef Fried 4 Veal, fresh Broiled 4 Fowls, domestic Roasted 4 Ducks, Domestic Roasted 4 Veal, fresh Fried 4 30 Pork, fat, and lean Roasted 5 15 Cabbage Boiled 4 30

The results recorded in the above table, giving the respective time required for the digestion of different foods, were obtained by Dr Beaumont, through his being enabled to watch the process of digestion actually going on in the stomach of a man, who had received a wound in that organ, by which part of it was laid bare, and could thus be seen into.

The above data were controlled by a series of independent experiments, which consisted in digesting different foods in a solution of gastric juice, and heating the mixture to 100. The relative results of both sets of experiments were found to agree pretty closely; and they have since, on the whole, being confirmed by the researches of other physiologists.

=DIGES'TIVES.= In _surgery_ substances which, when applied to wounds or tumours, induce or promote suppuration. All stimulating applications are of this cla.s.s. Heat is a most powerful digestive agent. The action of digestives is opposed to that of DISCUTIENTS, which repel or resolve tumours and indurations.

=DIGITA'LIN.= _Syn._ DIGITA'LIA. A vegetable principle discovered by M.

Royer in _Digitalis purpurea_, or purple foxglove.

_Prep._ 1. (Majendie.) Foxglove leaves (powdered), 1 lb., are digested in ether, first in the cold, and then heated under pressure; when the whole has again become cold, the liquor is filtered (rapidly), and the ether is distilled off in a water bath; the residuum is dissolved in water, the filtered solution treated with hydrated oxide of lead, the whole gently evaporated to dryness, and the dry residuum again digested in hot ether; from this solution the alkali is obtained, by evaporation and repeated resolutions, in a crystalline form.

2. (h.o.m.olle and Henry.) Foxglove leaves (carefully dried and powdered), 2-1/2 lbs., are digested in rectified spirit, and the tincture expressed in a tincture press; the spirit is then distilled off, and the residual extract treated with distilled water, 1/2 pint, acidulated with about 2 fl. dr. of acetic acid, a gentle heat being employed; some animal charcoal is then added, and the whole filtered; the filtrate is then diluted with water, and partly neutralised with ammonia; a fresh-made, strong decoction of galls is next added; a copious precipitation of tannate of digitalin ensues; the precipitate is washed with water, and mixed with a little alcohol, after which it is triturated with litharge (in fine powder) and exposed to a gentle heat; the whole is now digested in alcohol, the tincture treated with animal charcoal, and evaporated; the dry residuum is, lastly, treated with cold sulphuric ether, which takes up some foreign matter, and leaves the digitalin. 2 lbs. 8 oz. of the dried leaves yield 140 to 150 gr. of the digitalin.

_Prop., &c._ White, inodorous, porous ma.s.ses, or small scales; it crystallises with difficulty, is intensely bitter, and excites violent sneezing when smelled to; dissolves freely in alcohol; scarcely soluble in cold ether; and takes 2000 parts of water for its solution; it is neither basic nor alkaline; concentrated colourless hydrochloric acid dissolves it, forming a characteristic solution which pa.s.ses from yellow to a fine green. (h.o.m.olle.) It is one of the most powerful of known poisons, being fully 100 times stronger than the powdered leaves of the dried plant. It is used in the same cases.--_Dose_, 1/60 to 1/30 gr.; either made into pills or dissolved in alcohol and formed into a mixture. Owing to the difficulty and uncertainty connected with dispensing such small quant.i.ties, it is now seldom employed in this country.

=Digitalin, Crystallised.= Digitalis leaves from the Vosges, in rather fine powder, 1000 grams; neutral lead acetate, 250 grams; distilled water, 1000 grams. The digitalis should be collected in its second year just when the first flowers appear. With respect to the lead acetate, it is very important that it should not have an alkaline reaction; a slight acidity would be preferable. The lead salt is dissolved in the cold water, the powder added and thoroughly mixed, the whole pa.s.sed through a sieve and left in contact twenty-four hours, taking care to mix it from time to time. The mixture is then packed sufficiently in a displacement apparatus, and exhausted with 50 alcohol, until it no longer yields any bitterness.

About six parts of liquor are thus obtained, and this is neutralised exactly with sodium bicarbonate dissolved to saturation in cold water; about 25 to 30 grams will be required. When effervescence ceases, the alcohol is distilled, and the liquor remaining is evaporated in a water bath down to 2000 grams; it is then left to cool and diluted with its weight of water. Two or three days afterwards the clear liquor is decanted off, by means of a syphon, and the precipitate drained upon a linen filter. When freed from the extractive liquor the precipitate weighs about 100 grams. It is suspended in 1000 grams of 80 alcohol, and the whole pa.s.sed through a metal sieve or a fine cloth; the turbid liquor obtained is heated to ebullition, and to it is added a solution containing 10 grams of neutral lead acetate; the heating is continued a few moments, and the liquor is then left to cool and filtered. The deposit in the filter is washed with alcohol to remove any liquor it may retain, and then pressed.

To this liquor is added 50 grams of finely powdered vegetable charcoal that has been washed with acid and afterwards with water until quite neutral, and it is then distilled, the residue being heated for some time in a water bath, it being very important that all the alcohol should be driven off. A little water is added to replace what may evaporate; the residue is allowed to cool, then drained upon the cloth that was used to separate the precipitate, and the carbonaceous ma.s.s is washed with a little water to remove the last portion of the coloured liquor. The carbonaceous residue is then dried completely in a stove at a temperature not exceeding 100 C., and exhausted by displacement with pure chloroform until it pa.s.ses colourless. This liquid is distilled to dryness, and a few grams of 95 alcohol are placed in the retort, and evaporated to drive off the last traces of chloroform.

The residue is crude digitalin with viscous and oily matter. It is dissolved with heat in 100 grams of 90 alcohol, and 1 gram of neutral lead acetate dissolved in a little water added, together with 10 grams of animal charcoal in fine granules without powder that has been treated with hydrochloric acid, and washed until the washings are no longer acid. After boiling for ten minutes it is allowed to cool and settle, and then filtered in a gla.s.s cylinder furnished with a tight cotton plug, through which it pa.s.ses quickly and clear. The black deposit is added last, and exhausted of all bitterness with alcohol. After distillation the digitalin remains as a grumous crystalline ma.s.s, now only contaminated with the coloured oil. A little aqueous liquor that occurs with it is separated and the weight of the impure digitalin is taken in the previously tarred vessel. The digitalin is then dissolved with heat in exactly sufficient 90 alcohol for its solution (from 6 to 12 grams). Any alcohol evaporated is replaced, and then to the cooled solution is added, sulphuric ether rectified at 65, to half the weight of the alcohol employed; after mixing, distilled water equal to the weight of the alcohol and ether combined is added, and the flask is closed and shaken. Two layers are formed: the upper is coloured, and consists of the ether which has taken up the fat oil; the lower is colourless, and contains the digitalin, which being now free quickly crystallises. The flask is placed in a cool place.

Two days afterwards the whole is thrown into a small cylinder furnished with a moderately tight cotton plug; the mother liquor runs off, and then the coloured layer, and the small quant.i.ty that remains adherent to the crystals, is removed by a little ether. Thus obtained, this first crystallisation of digitalin is slightly coloured; it is sufficiently pure, however, for its weight to be taken in an a.n.a.lysis; one tenth being deducted for the digitalin it still contains. To obtain it perfectly white, two purifications are necessary, but first a treatment with chloroform is indispensable to separate the remainder of the digitalin which injures its purity.

The digitalin, well dried and reduced to a fine powder, is dissolved in 20 parts of chloroform, and the solution is filtered in a cylinder through a tight cotton plug. The liquor pa.s.ses limpid; it is distilled to dryness, and a little alcohol is poured into the retort, and evaporated to remove the last traces of chloroform.

The digitalin is dissolved in 30 grams of 90 alcohol, 5 grams of washed granular animal black added, and the whole boiled for 10 minutes; the liquor is filtered and the charcoal exhausted as before indicated; and, lastly, it is distilled, the digitalin in dry crystals is found on the sides of the vessel, but it is still slightly coloured. To obtain it perfectly white it is dissolved with heat in exactly sufficient 90 alcohol (about 6 to 8 grams); to the solution is added ether equal to half the weight of alcohol employed, and double the quant.i.ty of distilled water, and the flask is closed and agitated; the crystallisation commences quickly. The ether does not separate. It is exposed to the coolness of the night, and by the next day nearly the whole of the digitalin is deposited in small groups of white needles, that which retains colouring matter remaining in the mother liquor. The whole is thrown into a cylinder and the crystals washed with ether as before described. 1000 grams of Vosges digitalis of good quality yields about 1 gram of crystallised digitalin.

Digitalin occurs under the form of very white light crystals, consisting of short slender needles, grouped around the same axis. It is very bitter and scarcely soluble in water. 90 alcohol dissolves it well, anhydrous alcohol dissolves it less freely. Pure ether dissolves only traces.

Chloroform is its best solvent. Brought into contact with a small quant.i.ty of hydrochloric acid, digitalin is coloured emerald green, and this reaction is favoured by a very slight heat. From 'Formulae for New Medicaments, adopted by the Paris Pharmaceutical Society.'

=DILL.= _Syn._ ANETHUM (Ph. L. & E.), L. The fruit (seed) of _Anethum graveolens_, or garden dill, _Anethi fructus_, B. P. Dill is an aromatic stimulant and carminative. The Cossacks employ it as a condiment; and in this country it is frequently employed to heighten the relish of soups and pickles, especially cuc.u.mbers. DILL WATER is a favorite remedy of nurses to promote the secretion of milk, and to relieve the flatulence and griping of infants.--_Dose_, of the powder, 10 gr. to 1/2 dr., or more.

Oil of dill (OLEUM ANETHI) and dill water (AQUA ANETHI) are officinal in the pharmacopias.

=DIL'UENTS.= _Syn._ DILUENTIA, D. _Aqueous liquors_; so named because they increase the fluid portion of the blood. Tea, barley-water, water-gruel, and similar articles, are the most common diluents, after pure water. The copious use of diluents is recommended in all acute inflammatory diseases not of a congestive character, and to promote the action of diuretics and sudorifics.

=DINNER PILLS.= See PILLS.

=DIOS'MA.= _Syn._ BOOKOO, BUKU; FOLIA BAROSMae, F. DIOSMae, L.; BUCHU (Ph.

L.), BUCKU (Ph. E.), DIOSMA (Ph. L. 1836). "The leaves of _Barosma serratifolia_, _B. crenulata_, and _B. crenata_." (Ph. L.) These species were all included by De Candolle in the genus _Diosma_. Buchu is princ.i.p.ally employed in chronic affections of the urino-genital organs, especially that of the mucous membrane of the bladder, attended with copious discharge of mucus.--_Dose_, 20 gr. to 1/2 dr. of the powder, taken in wine; or made into an infusion or decoction.

The officinal buchu leaves are "glabrous, glandular; either linear-lanceolate with small serrations, or ovato-oblong, obtuse, crenated, ovate or obovate, serrated." (Ph. L.) Their odour somewhat resembles that of rue, and their taste is warm and mint-like.

=DIOS'MINE.= A bitter extractive matter, obtained by Brande from buchu leaves. It is very soluble in water, but not in alcohol and ether.

=DIPHTHERIA.= A contagious disease affecting the throat and adjoining parts. A false membrane forms on the mucous lining of the several parts of the throat. This alarming malady generally commences with a little soreness of throat attended with fever; sometimes, however, the fever may not come on for some days after the sore throat has shown itself. An ash-coloured spot makes its appearance on one or both tonsils. This spreads to other parts, extending in doing so, over the soft palate and uvula, inclosing the latter in a sheath. Sometimes a thin red line surrounds the opaque membrane thus formed. As the disease proceeds this opaque and false membrane tends to enlarge itself, and may spread down the gullet into the stomach, or, what is more dangerous still, it may involve the mucous membrane of the larynx, and thence extend along the windpipe into the bronchial tubes. When this is the case the disease is accompanied with cough, and the peculiar noise of croup; harsh, noisy breathing. There also frequently runs from the nostrils a thin acrid secretion, smelling very offensively, and often tainting the whole atmosphere of the room.

By the inexperienced diphtheria is almost always mistaken for ulcerated sore throat.

As in croup, part of the exudation or false membrane is often coughed up; sometimes it peels off from the tonsils. Some pathologists think that minute particles of this membrane, loosely adhering to drinking vessels, linen, sheets, the night-dress, &c., of the patient, may be the means of communicating the disease; by others, however, this surmise is not accepted. The absence of certainty on this point does not remove the stringent necessity of thoroughly cleansing and disinfecting everything with which the secretions of the patient come into contact.

The foregoing has been written with the object of enabling the reader to detect the only symptoms by which this dangerous disease manifests itself, in order that he may seek medical a.s.sistance with which to combat the complaint as promptly as possible.

After stating thus much, it is needless to say that we only recommend the adoption of the following treatment, in the extreme case of emigrants and others unable to obtain the services of a medical pract.i.tioner. A saturated solution of borax in the form of a gargle should be first used, and used without stint. Should this fail to arrest the formation of the membrane, then a strong solution of alum should be employed instead; or alum in powder should be applied to the throat every half hour or hour.

When children are to be submitted to this treatment, the alum instead of being used as a gargle may be mixed with honey, and in this condition laid on the parts with a feather; or the powdered alum may be blown on the affected parts with a tube. Tincture of perchloride of iron, diluted hydrochloric acid, and chlorate of potash are also said to have been used successfully as topical applications. The diet should consist of rich nourishing food, such as strong beef tea and mutton broth, aided by port wine. The internal remedies embrace quinine or bark, tincture of perchloride of iron, pernitrate of iron, chlorate of potash, and small, but repeated doses of the mineral acids. Dr Gardner, in his useful work 'Household Medicine,' says, "a definite plan said to have been successful is to employ as a gargle a solution of chlorinated soda half an ounce, syrup half an ounce, water six ounces, mixed. At the same time give internally four drops of the solution every two hours, for two days, then add quinine. We may add that if this latter prescription be used the diet before indicated should be adopted."

=DISCU'TIENTS.= In _surgery_, substances or agents which disperse or resolve tumours, &c. See DIGESTIVES.

=DISH-COVERS.= As these are made of various materials they must be cleaned and polished with the substances best adapted for each. All kinds of dish-covers directly they come from table should be washed free from grease and wiped dry.

Plated and silver dish-covers should be polished with plate powder; that free from mercury should be preferred. When dish-covers (as is usually the case) are made of block tin, they should be polished, by first rubbing them with sweet oil, and then dusting over the oil finely powdered whiting; finishing off the polishing with soft rags. All the best covers are provided with movable handles, which must be removed during the process of cleaning.

=DISINFECT'ANT.= An agent which absorbs, neutralises, or destroys, putrescent effluvia, miasmata, or specific contagia, and thus removes the causes of infection. The princ.i.p.al disinfectants are chlorine, iodine, bromine, the so-called chlorides of lime and soda, chloride of zinc, ozone, carbolic acid, the alkaline manganates and permanganates, peat charcoal, the fumes of nitric and nitrous acid, sulphurous acids, heat, and ventilation. The last two are the most efficient and easily applied.

The clothing, bedding, &c., of patients labouring under contagious diseases may be effectually (?) disinfected by exposure to a temperature a little higher than that of boiling water, for about an hour. Neither the texture nor colour of textile fabrics is injured by a heat of even 250 Fahr. (Dr Henry.) See DISINFECTING CHAMBERS.

It is a practice at some of the workhouses to bake the clothes of the paupers who have the itch, or who are infested with vermin. The soaking and boiling of clothes in the absence of being able to bake them is by no means a bad method for disinfecting them. The process is rendered the more effective by adding to the water in which they are immersed or boiled 1 part of strong solution of chloride of lime to 20 or 30 parts of water; or carbolic acid in the proportion of 1 part of the pure acid to 100 parts of water. In the German army, if the clothes cannot be baked they are soaked for 24 hours in water containing 1 part of sulphate of zinc to 120 of water, or 1 part of chloride of zinc to 240 of water, after which they are washed in soap and water and dried.

Quicklime rapidly absorbs carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and several other noxious gases, and is therefore commonly used as a wash for the walls of buildings. Acetic acid, camphor, fragrant pastilles, cascarilla, brown paper, and other similar substances, are frequently burnt or volatilised by heat, for the purpose of disguising unpleasant odours, but are of little value as disinfectants. The sulphates of iron and zinc have the property of rapidly destroying noxious effluvia. A quant.i.ty of either of these sulphates thrown into a cesspool, for instance, will in a few hours render the matter therein quite scentless.

Of gaseous disinfectants, "sulphurous acid gas (obtained by burning sulphur) is preferable, on theoretical grounds, to chlorine. No agent checks so effectually the first development of animal and vegetable life.

All animal odours and emanations are immediately and most effectually destroyed by it." (Graham.) See ANTISEPTIC, DEODORISER, FUMIGATION, INFECTION, OZONE, CARBOLIC ACID, SALICYLIC ACID, BACTERIA as originators of disease, LIME, CHLORIDE, CHARCOAL, also the DISINFECTING COMPOUNDS given _below_.

Dr Wynter Blyth divides disinfectants into two great cla.s.ses:--Gaseous, and solid or liquid.

I. _Volatile, in the form of Gas or Vapour._

1. Substances which, like the halogens, appear to form subst.i.tution compounds, _e.g._

Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine.

2. Substances which probably combine chemically, and thus destroy contagion:

Sulphurous acid, Nitrous acid, Fumes of other acids.

3. Oxidising substances, such as--

Pure air, Oxygen, Ozone.

4. The volatile oils, &c. Feeble disinfectants, supposed, however, to oxidise--

Camphor, Oil of hops, Oil of rue, Oil of rosemary, Oil of chamomile.

II. _Solid or Liquid Disinfectants._