Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 279

It frequently infested the German armies during the Franco German war of 1869-70, and committed great havoc both amongst the hosts of Russia and Turkey in the late war between those countries.

When we turn to the civil population, we find that typhus has been no less ruthless, and has slain its myriads of these also. Confining our attention to our own country, we find it to have especially devastated Ireland, which has suffered from no less than eleven violent outbreaks of typhus within the last 130 years.

In one of these visitations, viz. that of 1840, 80,000 people are estimated to have died from the disease. The largest recorded epidemic of typhus within our islands during the present century was that of 1846. It extended over the whole of the British islands, and the number of persons attacked by it were nearly 1,400,000, out of which 1,000,000 occurred in Ireland. "The Irish flocked to England in thousands, bringing the pestilence with them. It therefore was extremely prevalent in Liverpool, no less than 10,000 persons dying of typhus in that city."[246] The latest outbreaks in England have been in 1862 and 1869; they were princ.i.p.ally confined to London.

[Footnote 246: Blyth.]

Dr Murchison says that 14,000 persons were admitted to the London Fever Hospital during the two epidemics, and that amongst them a small number only were Irish.

All European countries, as well as North America and some parts of Asia, suffer from the ravages of this alarming disease. Africa, however, as well as Australia and New Zealand, are said to be exempt from it.

_Symptoms._--The symptoms of typhus are thus described by Dr Murchison:--"More or less sudden invasion, marked by rigors or chilliness; frequent compressible pulse; tongue furred, and ultimately dry and brown; bowels in most cases constipated; skin warm and dry; a rubeloid rash appearing between the fourth and seventh days, the spots never appearing in successive crops, at first slightly elevated, and disappearing on pressure, but after the second day persistent, and often becoming converted into true petechiae; great and early prostration; heavy flushed countenance; injected conjunctivae; wakefulness and obtuseness of the mental faculties, followed, at the end of the first week, by delirium, which is sometimes acute and noisy, but oftener low and wandering; tendency to stupor and coma, tremors, subsultus, and involuntary evacuations, with contracted pupils. Duration of the fever from ten to twenty-one days, usually fourteen. In the dead body no specific lesion, but hyperaemia of all the internal organs, softening and disintegration of the heart and voluntary muscles, hypostatic congestion of the lungs, atrophy of the brain, and dema of the pia mater, are common."

_Treatment._--The following remarks, bearing on this branch of the subject, are suggested for adoption by the non-medical reader, in the event of his being precluded by circ.u.mstances from calling in the aid of the medical pract.i.tioner. The most important points to be observed are the isolation of the patient and the thorough ventilation of his apartment by the continuous admission into it of fresh air without stint or hindrance.

Dr Parkes recommends the patient to be put in the top room of the house or hospital, since there is strong evidence to show that the contagious virus is volatile and ascends through the atmosphere.

The forms of disinfection best suited for adoption in this disease, together with the method of employing them, will be found fully described in the article 'DISINFECTANTS,'

The body of the patient should also be frequently sponged with Condy's fluid, properly diluted, or covered with olive oil, to which has been added a small quant.i.ty of carbolic acid.

As internal remedies, dilute hydrochloric or nitro-hydrochloric acids have been highly commended. Chlorate of potash, in large doses, was formerly much employed.

These remedies may be supplemented by the use of saline medicines, sudorifics, and moderate purgatives. The diet should consist largely of milk and water, beef tea, broth, and such like digestible and nutritious food.

=UDDER, Inflammation of.= _Syn._ GARGET MAMMITIS. Amongst domestic animals, cows are the most frequently subject to this affection. It is most common amongst those cows that have lately calved or have been thoroughly milked. Heifers and even young cows that have never had a calf, however, are not exempt from it, and occasionally suffer from its attacks.

The inflammation varies in intensity, in some cases only showing itself in a dryness, tenseness, heat and tenderness of the skin of the udder, whilst in others it is much more serious, and extends to the interior parts and vessels; in the latter case, giving rise to hard lumps amongst the softer texture of the udder.

Inflammation of the udder appears to result from various causes--indigestion, over driving, the too long retention of the milk in the udder, and cold; it is also very frequently a.s.sociated with murrain, rheumatism, and swelling of the joints.

_Treatment._--If the disease be const.i.tutional, as indicated by the suddeness of the attack, the best course will be to administer at once a good dose of Epsom or Glauber salts combined with a little ginger, and to give copious doses of nitre. A modified form of this treatment should be kept up for some little time by means of gentle aperients, and smaller doses of nitre. In the milder form of inflammation, viz. in that confined to the exterior of the udder, it will be best to have recourse to spirit lotions or refrigerant applications, such as ice water, or a mixture of chloride of ammonium and nitre applied immediately after mixing with water. The udder should be kept constantly cool by means of these. When the inflammation is deeper seated, as evidenced by the presence of lumps in the udder, the continuous application of warm water is advisable.

Whether the cold or hot treatment be indicated, it should be diligently kept up for a day at least. In the adoption of either the cold or hot local remedies, above specified, they should be combined with some means of support (by the agency of a proper bandage) to the udder. It is also important to have the milk removed every three or four hours; if the milking operation cause pain, a syphon should be used. The hard lumps will be found to disperse best under gentle friction applied by the hand twice a day, for an hour each time, the hand being previously anointed with lard. When the surface pits or becomes soft, and very hot, it may be a.s.sumed that suppuration has set in, in which case the confined pus must be liberated by means of the lancet.

=ULCERATED SORE THROAT.= This form of sore throat, in which ulcers develop themselves upon the tonsils, is a very frequent accompaniment of scarlatina, syphilis, and other diseases, in which cases to prescribe the method of treatment would be beyond our province. For ordinary ulcerated sore throat arising from cold, chronic inflammation of the part, or a low state of health, the best course will be to gargle the throat four or five times daily with either of the following gargles: 1. Alum, 30 gr.; infusion of rose, 6 oz. 2. Sulphate of zinc, 30 gr.; distilled water, 6 oz. 3. Hydrochloric acid, 1 dr.; water, 6 oz. Should these fail, touch the ulcers every morning with a solution of nitrate of silver, containing ten grains of the nitrate to an ounce of distilled water.

=ULCERS.= These are open sores, mostly accompanied by a discharge of pus, or serous matter. They differ from ordinary wounds by the edges showing no disposition to unite. When they extend or deepen, it is by a process of absorption; while they heal by granulation, whereby they become filled up with little granular growths of flesh. Ulcers may appear on all parts of the body, but they most frequently attack the legs and arms.

In enfeebled states of the body, wounds, boils, and abscesses may degenerate into ulcers; they are also a consequence of enlarged or varicose veins, or the result of some specific poison in the system.

Ulcers may be cla.s.sed into simple, irritable, indolent, and specific.

_Treatment._--When an ordinary wound or sore shows a disinclination to heal, but on the contrary, extends or deepens, it should be poulticed with bread and water or linseed meal. Should these remedies be ineffectual, an old fashioned but useful one, viz. a carrot poultice, may be applied. When the ulceration is irritable or painful, the poultices may be supplemented by the frequent use of a lotion consisting of four parts of water to one of tincture of opium, or of a warm decoction of poppy heads applied by means of a linen rag. Filling the cavity with prepared chalk has been recommended.

It sometimes happens that during poulticing, _proud flesh_ may form in an ulcer. When this is the case, a little sugar in powder may be sprinkled over the unhealthy excrescence, or some red precipitate ointment be applied to it. Taking care not to use too much of either. When the ulcer has a bad or fetid odour, it should be washed with a lotion composed of one part of solution of chlorinated soda to sixteen parts of water; or it may be sprinkled over with charcoal powder; or with a mixture of starch and salicylic acid. The best application to bad smelling ulcers caused by varicose veins is a lotion consisting of nitric acid considerably diluted with water. Directions are given for the treatment of varicose veins, under VARIX, further on. If the veins be ulcerated, the ulcers should be dressed with acetate of lead ointment previous to the application of the bandage. Very irritable ulcers are often greatly relieved by the gentle application to them of lunar caustic, and indolent ones by dressing with yellow basilicon ointment, or by the judicious use of black wash. The general health should be attended to by the administration of tonics consisting of the mineral acids, gentle aperients, and a digestible and nourishing diet. Small ulcers on the mucous membrane of the mouth or on the gums may be made to disappear instantly upon touching them with a piece of lunar caustic. Where any difficulty is experienced in the healing of an ulcer, or if it be at all of a serious nature, the medical pract.i.tioner should be consulted.

=UL'MIN, ULMIC ACID.= By boiling sugar in dilute sulphuric acid for a long time, a brownish-black substance is produced. Boullay and Malaguti state that this is a mixture of two distinct bodies--ulmin (sacchulmin--Liebig) and ulmic acid (sacchulmic acid--Liebig). The first is insoluble in solutions of the alkalies; the latter dissolves in them freely. A number of black uncrystallisable substances, produced by the action of powerful chemical agents upon vegetable matter, have been confounded under these names.

=ULTRAMARINE'.= _Syn._ LAPIS-LAZULI BLUE, ULTRAMARINE B.; CaeRULEUM ULTRAMONTANUM, L. This beautiful pigment is obtained from the blue mineral azure stone, lazulite, or lapis lazuli, the finest specimens of which are brought from China, Persia, and Great Bucharia.

_Prep._ Pure lapis lazuli (reduced to fragments about the size of a pea, and the colourless pieces rejected), 1 lb., is heated to redness, quenched in water, and ground to an impalpable powder; to this is added, of yellow resin, 6 oz.; turpentine, beeswax, and linseed oil, of each 2 oz.; previously melted together; the whole is next made into a ma.s.s, which is kneaded in successive portions of warm water, as long as it colours it blue; from these it is deposited on repose, and is then collected, well washed with clean water, dried, and sorted according to its qualities. The first water, which is usually dirty, is thrown away; the second gives a blue of the first quality; and the third, and following ones, yield samples of less value. The process is founded on the property which the colouring matter of azure-stone has of adhering less firmly to the resinous cement than the foreign matter with which it is a.s.sociated. When azure-stone has its colour altered by a moderate heat, it is reckoned bad or fact.i.tious.

_Obs._ Ultramarine is the most costly, but at the same time the most splendid and permanent, of our blue pigments, and works well in oil.

=Ultramarine, Artificial.= _Syn._ AZURE BLUE, MEISSNER ULTRAMARINE, PARIS B., VIENNA B.; CaeRULEUM ULTRAMONTANUM FACt.i.tIUM, L. From the researches of Clement, Desormes, and Robiquet, it has been inferred that the colour of ultramarine depends on the presence of sulphuret of sodium in a peculiar state of combination with the silicates of soda and alumina; but, according to Elsner and Tirnmon, a minute quant.i.ty of sulphuret of iron is also an essential ingredient. It is by heating mixtures of this kind that the artificial ultramarine of commerce is prepared. The finer specimens, thus obtained, are quite equal in durability and beauty of colour to those prepared from lazulite, while they are very much less expensive.

_Prep._ 1. Kaolin, 37 parts; sulphate of soda, 15; carbonate of soda, 22; sulphur, 18; charcoal, 8; intimately mixed and heated from 24 to 30 hours, in large crucibles; the product is then heated again in cast-iron boxes, at a moderate temperature, till the required tint is obtained; it is, finally, pulverised, washed, and dried.

2. (Gmelin.) Sulphur, 2 parts; dry carbonate of soda, 1 part; mix well; gradually heat them in a covered crucible to redness, or till the mixture fuses, then sprinkle in, by degrees, another mixture of silicate of soda and 'aluminate of soda' (containing 72 parts of silica and 70 parts of alumina), and continue the heat for an hour. The product contains a little free sulphur, which may be separated by water.

3. (Robiquet.) By exposing to a low red heat, in a covered crucible, as long as fumes are given off, a mixture of pure kaolin, 2 parts; anhydrous carbonate of soda and sulphur, of each 3 parts. Some manufacturers who adopt this process use 1-3rd less carbonate of soda.

4. (Tirnmon.) Take of crystallised carbonate of soda, 1075 gr.; apply a gentle heat, and, when fused in its water of crystallisation, shake in of finely pulverised orpiment, 5 gr., and, when partly decomposed, add as much gelatinous hydrate of alumina as contains 7 gr. of anhydrous alumina; finely sifted clay, 100 gr., and flowers of sulphur, 221 gr., are next to be added, and the whole placed in a covered crucible, and at first gently heated, to drive off the water; but as soon as this is effected, raised to redness, the heat being so regulated that the ingredients only 'sinter' together, without actually fusing; the ma.s.s is then to be cooled, finely pulverised, suspended in river water, and brought upon a filter; the product has now a very beautiful delicate green or bluish colour, but on being heated in a covered dish, and stirred about from time to time, until the temperature reaches that of dull redness, at which it must be kept for 1 or 2 hours, it changes to a rich blue. If the heat of the first calcination has been properly regulated, the whole of the ma.s.s taken from the crucible will have uniform colour; but if too little heat has been used, and the ingredients have not been properly mixed, there will be colourless parts, which should be rejected; if too much heat has been used, or the ma.s.s allowed to fuse, brown parts will appear, especially if the crucible is of a bad kind, or easily destroyed; these must also be rejected. ('Compt. Rend.,' 1842.)

=Ultramarine Ashes.= _Syn._ SAUNDER'S BLUE. Obtained from the resinous ma.s.s from making ultramarine, by melting it with fresh oil, and kneading it in water containing a little potash or soda; or, by burning away the wax and oil of the ma.s.s and well grinding and washing the residue with water. Very permanent, but much less brilliant than ultramarine.

=Ultramarine, Cobal'tic.= _Syn._ CHINESE BLUE, COBALT B., LOUISA B., HoFFNER'S B., THeNARD'S B. A very rich blue pigment, with many synonymes, prepared by slowly drying and heating to dull redness a mixture of freshly precipitated alumina (freed from water as much as possible), 8 to 10 parts; a.r.s.eniate or phosphate of cobalt, 1 part. By daylight it is of a pure blue, but by artificial light the colour turns on the violet. For other formulae see BLUE PIGMENTS.

=U'PAS.= The Javan name for several deadly poisons. 'Bohun upas' is a gum-resin obtained from the bark of the _Antiaris toxicaria_. (See ANTIARINE.) The 'upas tieute' is obtained from the _Strychnos Tieute_, and owes its fatal power to strychnine. They are both used to poison arrows and other deadly weapons.

=URA"NIUM.= U. A rare metal, discovered by Klaproth in 1789. It occurs in the pitchblende of Saxony, and the uranite of Cornwall. The chief oxides of uranium are the protoxide and the sesquioxide, or uranic oxide.

=Uranic Oxide= (U_{2}O_{3}) may be obtained in the anhydrous state by heating the hydrated sesquioxide to a temperature of 572 Fahr. The sesquioxide is capable of acting both as an acid and a base. The uranic salts are yellow.

=Uranous Oxide.= (UO.) This may be procured by igniting uranium oxalate in a closed vessel, or in a stream of hydrogen gas. Acids are without action upon this oxide. When, however, it is obtained as an hydrate (which it may be by treatment of its chloride with ammonia) this latter is easily acted upon by acids, and gives rise to salts having a green colour, which rapidly absorb oxygen. Peligot proposed to call this oxide _Uranyl_ (UO.), from the tendency it showed to follow the deportment of a metal when it combined with elementary bodies.

=Chlorides of Uranium.= Uranium forms two chlorides, U_{2}Cl_{3} and UCl_{2}.

_Uses._ Its ores and oxides are occasionally used to colour gla.s.s and enamels.

=U'RATES.= Salts of uric acid.

=U'REA.= COH_{4}N_{2}. _Syn._ CYANATE OF AMMONIUM (Anomalous). A crystalline, colourless, transparent substance, discovered by Fourcroy and Vauquelin in urine, and by Wohler as the first organic compound artificially produced.

Urea generally occurs in slender, striated, colourless prisms, as shown on next page. It is slightly deliquescent. It has a neutral reaction and a bitterish taste. It is extremely soluble in water and in hot alcohol, but very slightly so in ether. At about 248 Fahr. it melts. At a little higher temperature it becomes decomposed into ammonia, carbonate, cyanate of ammonium, and cyanuric acid; this latter being left in the retort.

The ammoniacal odour acquired by urine after a few days is due to the conversion of the urea into carbonate of ammonia, as shown by the following equation:

Urea. Water. Carb. Ammonia.

CH_{4}ON_{2} + 2H_{2}O = (NH_{4})_{2}CO_{3}.

This change is effected by the mucus of the bladder present in the urine.

A solution of pure urea may be kept at ordinary temperature, or even boiled, without undergoing alteration.

Urea occurs as an essential component of the urine of man and animals, being more particularly abundant in the urinary excretion of the flesh-eating mammalia; nor is it altogether absent from the urine of birds and amphibia. According to Bischoff and Voit, urea is the result of tissue metamorphosis. The greater number of inquirers, however, hold an opposite opinion, and believe that it is derived from the alb.u.minous const.i.tuents of the food, when these preponderate over the quant.i.ty required for the nutrition of the body. Dr Lionel Beale says his "own researches render it probable that all pabulum entering the system must, before its elements can he applied to the nutrition of the tissues, or removed by the organs of respiration or secretion, be first of all taken up by cells (chyle-corpuscles, white blood-corpuscles), and become living or _germinal matter_, which, after pa.s.sing through certain definite stages of existence, becomes serum of the blood, and the _formed_ matter of the red blood-corpuscles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The whole of the cuts ill.u.s.trating "Urea," "Urinary diseases," and "Urine" are taken from Dr Beale's work on 'Kidney Diseases, Urinary Deposits, and Calculous Deposits,' by that gentleman's kind permission.]

"The products resulting from the disintegration of this formed matter may be taken up by the germinal matter of the tissues, and at length become tissue, or by that of secreting cells, in which case it is removed in the form of the const.i.tuents of various excretions from the body altogether."

About an ounce and a quarter of urea is daily excreted by a healthy man, although of course there will be a variation in this amount princ.i.p.ally depending upon the quant.i.ty of animal food and active exercise taken during the twenty-four hours. As might be antic.i.p.ated a smaller quant.i.ty of urea is excreted by women than by men, since they are unable to indulge to the same extent in muscular exercise. A diminished quant.i.ty also results from breathing impure air, and from a diseased and unhealthy condition of the lungs or of the circulation, and also, as might be expected, from an insufficiency of food.