Page 417 - My FlipBook

GLYCERIN. 415

etc. It has also been employed in smallpox as an emollient and
to prevent pitting, a mixture of one part of glycerin and two
parts of rose water being applied, after the pustules have broken
and the discharge has commenced to dry. It should be applied for a
few days until the scabs begin to loosen. Glycerin is also used in
croup, locally applied to the glottis ; also in deafness, where the
auditory canal is dry and inelastic. For an emollient application
it is frequently combined with other agents, and used in the form
of an ointment or embrocation. Five parts of glycerin rubbed
up in a mortar with four parts of yolk of egg, forms a compound
which prevents the action of the air on irritated broken or abraded
surfaces, and is soothing in erysipelas, cutaneous affections, etc.
Although glycerin is so bland in its general character, yet it pro-
duces a smarting sensation when first applied to an abraded sur-
face of the skin ; such an effect is thought to be due to the affin-
ity of glycerin for moisture, which it abstracts from the skin so
rapidly as to cause the smarting sensation ; mixing the glycerin
with a little water will obviate this. Pure glycerin, when mixed
with water, will raise the temperature eight or ten degrees, and
hence the two should be combined previous to the application.
Dose.—Of glycerin, 5j to oij-
Dental Uses.—Glycerine is a useful agent in dental practice
as a solvent and emollient, as a solvent alone, and as both solvent
and emollient, when combined with other substances.
It is employed with great benefit in such diseases of the mu-
cous membrane of the mouth, as the different forms of stomatitis,
ulcers of the mouth, aphthae, alveolar abscess, abraded surfaces
from the irritation of acrid substances, artificial teeth, etc.
In the treatment of inflamed and ulcerated conditions of
the mucous membrane, it is frequently combined with borax, and
for chronic alveolar abscess, after the use of more active agents,
and diseases of mucous membrane, it is combined with carbolic
acid, iodine, sulphite of soda, etc. As an anodyne and emollient
application, glycerine is combined with morphine, atropine,
acetate of lead, etc., etc. To form ointments and embrocations,
it is combined with gum tragacanth, lime water, oil of almonds,
rose water, etc., etc.