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ACETATE OF LEAD. 517

muscles of the fingers and arms, death resulting from the gradual
failure of nutrition and the paralysis of the muscles of respiration.
When the poisonous dose is large, there is intense gastric irrita-
tion, numbness, paralysis, coma and collapse. Iodide of potassium
in large doses, also Epsom salts and sulphur baths, are the antidotes
in chronic cases of lead poisoning, and for the lead colic, alum in
doses of one or two drachms every three or four hours, dissolved
in some demulcent liquid, is considered to be the best remedy.
For the treatment of lead paralysis, strychnia and electricity are
employed. The blue or slate-colored line on the gums is sup-
posed to be due to a deposition of the sulphide of lead.
Therapeutic Uses.—Acetate of lead is internally administered in
dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera, cholera morbus, phthisis, chronic
bronchitis, pneumonia, diseases of the heart, hemorrhage from the
lungs, stomach, kidneys, nose, etc. ; diseases of the eye, erysipelas,
skin diseases, chronic gastric catarrh, gastralgia, pyrosis, summer
diarrhoea of children, humid asthma, whooping-cough, etc. ; but
the danger of producing toxic effects must be remembered in its
internal use.
Externally, solutions of lead are employed to relieve superficial
inflammations, arrest morbid discharges, and allay the pain of
acute inflammations. Lead should not be given with natural
waters containing lime, carbonic acid, mineral acids and salts,
vegetable acids or vegetable astringents, iodide of potassium and
preparations of opium.
Dose.—Of plumbi acetas, gr. ss or j to gr. v, two or three times
a day.
Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutus— Diluted Solution of
Subacetate of Lead.— Lead water is composed of subacetate of lead
solution, f.3ij ; distilled water, Oj ; and is a mild astringent and
sedative when applied externally ; it is never prescribed internally.
It arrests discharges from suppurating and ulcerated mucous sur-
faces, and promotes the resolution of acute superficial inflamma-
tions.
Dental Uses.—Lead water is employed in dental practice, to
relieve inflamed gums and mucous membrane of the mouth ; as
an application to indolent and foul ulcers ; also in the treatment