Page 96 - My FlipBook

94 DENTAL MEDICINE. ;
purpose ; and in the case of children it is seldom necessary for
them to remain longer than three or fours hours. When applied
to the scalp, twelve hours are generally required. After remov-
ing a blister, the usual dressing is some non-irritating ointment,
such as simple cerate. In acute diseases, blistering ought never
to precede such means as have a tendency to reduce inflamma-
tory action, and the application should be as near the affected
part as possible.
Covering blisters with fine gauze renders them much less
irritating, and does not retard their operation.
If a blister is applied long enough to redden the skin, a simple
poultice will complete the vesication ; and in the case of children
this method should always be pursued. When it is necessary to
keep the blister open, weak epispastic or savin ointment will
prove sufficient. When the circulation is languid in the ex-
tremities, they seldom act efficiently, and may cause gangrene
by exhausting what vitality remains. When strangury is pro-
duced, the blister must be removed after three or four hours, and
the part bathed with olive oil, or a poultice applied, and diluent
drinks used; an opium suppository or injection will prove serv-
iceable. Epispastics are employed as local stimulants in the
to create a healthy inflammatory
treatment of inflammations ;
action, as in various cutaneous eruptions ; to relieve pain ; to
destroy morbid associations by causing a powerful impression ;
to stimulate the absorbing or secreting vessels of parts in the
neighborhood of the affected part -, to stimulate generally ; to
relieve threatened gangrene and paralysis ; to produce local de-
pletion as evacuants, and to prepare a surface for the cndermic
application of medicines.
The class of epispastics include such agents as cantharides,
cantharidal collodion, water of ammonia, etc.
SuppURANTS are medicinal agents, which, when rubbed on the
skin, cause rubefaction, accompanied by a pustular eruption
their beneficial effects being due to the counter-irritation set up.
The agents of this class are generally employed in subacute,
chronic laryngeal and bronchial affections, diseases of the joints,
etc., etc.