Homeopathy LibraryKali Permanganicum
Hempel - Materia Medica and Therapeutics · Charles Julius Hempel · 11,622 chars
General
[PEKMAZsTGANATE OF POTASH.]
Permanganate of potash is prepared by heating together ten parts of binoxide of manganese and twelve of potassa. It occurs in slender, prismatic crystals of a dark-purple color, inodorous, of a sweetish, disagreeable taste, and very soluble in water, with which they form a solution varying from a purplish black to a beautiful reddish lilac, according to the strength. When kept dry and not exposed to the atmosphere, the permanganate of potash is a perma- nent salt, but whenever in solution it is brought into contact with an organic body, it at once gives up its oxygen to the latter, and is converted into potassa and the black oxide of manganese.
(Dr. H.
Wood, Jun
)
This salt has been in use as a disinfectant for some length of time. It is too expensive to come into general use, nor is it as effective as carbolic acid and other agents more recently introduced ; but it arrests decomposition of tissue and hence forms a valuable application to fetid ulcers, neglected sores, etc. Its beneficial effects upon such cases is increased by its slightly caustic properties. " The most favorable method is, to cover the wound with lint soaked with that substance, and to place above this a layer of raw cotton, the latter having the property of filtering the air, and of retaining the germs which determine putrid fermentation." A solution of two scruples of the salt to eight ounces of water is recommended for this purpose.
A solution of the salt, varying in strength as circum- stances may demand, may also be very useful in fetid leucorrhoea, otorrhoea, and in ozgena; it will in many instances remove the bad smell of the feet, which troubles some persons, and is an excellent means of removing from the hand the offensive odor contracted at post-mortem examinations or in the dissecting-room.
For many years the permanganate of potash has been used as a gargle in ulcerated sore throats and in the diphtheritic and scarlatina sore throat, depending, at first, more upon its power as a disinfectant and mild irritant, than upon any really curative action of the salt in such conditions.
The proving of Dr.
II.
C.
Allen shows pretty con- clusively that the permanganate of potash, taken internally, has a decided effect upon the mucous membrane, especially of the throat, and produces upon the healthy a group of symptoms, which estab-
KALI PERMANGANICUM. 257
lishes a hornceopathicity of the salt to malignant inflammations of the throat, characterized by breaking down of the mucous membrane and even of the underlying tissues.
The following symptoms are pathogenetic :
Head
Dull headache ; profuse lachrymation.
Nose
Thin discharge from the nose, which smarts and irritates the mucous membrane. Sanious discharge from the nares; the discharge from the nares and larynx is streaked with blood ; haemor- rhage from the nose ; the nose feels stuffed and full, and haemorrhage sets in on every attempt to free the obstruction.
Mouth
Dryness of the mouth and lips. Profuse flow of saliva, with painful and very difficult deglutition and with a raw, nauseating, smarting pain in the throat, extending down the oesophagus into the stomach ; speech painful and difficult, with hoarseness.
Throat
Swollen and painful; small ulcerated spots here and there on the walls of the throat, with stinging and burning pains.
Constant hawking up of blood-streaked, tenacious mucus, which appears to be abundant, but in reality is very little.
Constant, in- effectual attempts to hawk up something ; constant and painful attempts at deglutition.
Great soreness of the larynx.
The whole throat and larynx feel as though the cavity were constricted, appar- ently from thickening of the mucous membrane of the fauces and larynx.
The throat feels raw and bleeds on attempting to hawk up the secretions, which appear to fill the cavity completely.
The uvula, soft palate and fauces are mottled, of a dark-red color, with livid spots here and there ; the uvula is cedematous and very much elongated.
The muscles of the neck feel sore, particularly the digastric and stylo-hyoid, and the cervical glands opposite the hyoid bone are swollen and very painful; considerable difficulty in opening the mouth, on account of soreness of the parotid gland and muscles of the neck.
Stomach
Loss of appetite.
Thirst.
Nausea and vomiting, first of the contents of the stomach, afterward of a thick, ropy fluid, which is ejected in large quantities, but with very little diffi- culty, and with yery violent pain in the throat.
Deep-seated, sick- ening pain in the stomach, with a raw dryness of the throat.
Heat and burning pain in the stomach.
Other Symptoms
Constipation.
Frequent and copious emission of a clear, watery urine.
Short, hacking cough, with soreness in
258 KALI PERHANGANICUH.
the throat and hawking up of mucus. Weakness ; languor ; rest- lessness at night ; fever ; profuse perspiration.
The permanganate of potash may be of service in the treatment of the following diseases :
DIPHTHERITIS, with great foulness of breath ; great prostra- tion ; great difficulty of swallowing, fluids taken by the mouth are returned by the nose ; diphtheritic exudations over the fauces ; dis- charge of ropy, tenacious saliva from the mouth ; hacking cough, resulting in the expectoration of tough, stringy mucus, streaked with blood.
A little girl, seven years old, had been sick with sore throat one day.
Upon examination, I found the whole pharynx covered with a yellowish pseudo-membrane, not very firmly attached ; extreme fetor of breath, great difficulty of swallowing.
Phytolacca tincture, twenty drops, were dissolved in a gill of water and a teaspoonful of the solution given every hour.
Next morning I found the patient far worse ; great prostration, fetor of breath still worse, inability to swallow, pulse 140 per minute, and very feeble.
A teaspoonful of a solution of three grains of the first trituration of the permanganate to a gill of water was given every hour.
Next morn- ing I found the patient remarkably improved, sitting up in bed, able to swallow liquids readily, pulse 100 per minute, full and soft.
Discharged cured in a few days.
(Dr.
F.
X.
Spranger in Am.
Observer, vol. iv.)
ANGINA. — In the treatment of various forms of angina, with symptoms like those given in the pathogenesis, in various degrees of severity, you may receive much benefit from its application both internally and topically.
Miss B., aged forty years, caught a severe cold which terminated in a sore throat. There was great soreness ; the throat looked swollen and red ; she complained of much pain, of apparent accumulation of phlegm, hawking and coughing with inabiltty to raise but a very little; very severe pain in the throat upon swallowing, which she had to do constantly, inability to take nourishment, because of the torture in swallowing. Permanganate of potash, given in three-grain doses of. the third trituration, once in two hours, relieved her at once.
OXALURIA
This salt is said to have a curative effect in oxalu- ria.
A case is mentioned in the Medical Times, 1870, which was cured by grain-doses, three times each day, presenting the following symptoms : The food causes much distress, unless of a light and fluid nature ; oppressive breathing and constant headache ; pains in the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, with sudden stoppage of urine during micturition.
Urine acid, with an excess of uric acid and urate, and many crystals of oxalate of lime, octahedral, and of immense size.
CARBUNCLE — The use of solutions of the salt as a topical application has been spoken of.
The following cases, taken from the Am.
Jour, of Med.
Sciences illustrate its use in carbuncle.
KALI PEKMANGANICUM. 259
Mrs.
R., aged about sixty years, was suffering terribly from a carbuncle located upon the left shoulder-blade, and occupying the supra-spinous fossa.
Loss of sleep, constant pain, and a naturally nervous temperament combined, induced a mental dis- turbance almost amounting to delirium.
The tumor was in its sixth day, with all the general accompaniments, of the size of an hen's egg, tumid, tense and shining.
A free crucial incision had been made two days before, but with no relief; dense areolar tissue, puffy granulations, and sanious oozings crowded the track of the knife, with no appearance of suppuration or healthy action.
The pulse was quick and com- pressible, no beats in the minute ; the countenance anxious and expressive of great pain ; bowels regular.
A strong solution of the permanganate of potash was imme- diately applied with a brush, and a dressing saturated with it, covered with oiled silk, placed upon the shoulder.
Anodynes, beef-tea, milk-punch, tincture of the chloride of iron and quinia were administered.
The same evening the patient was again seen, and expressed herself as feeling much relieved; pulse 98 and gaining in volume and elasticity.
The next morning the dressing was removed, and already, although but twenty-five hours had elapsed, true pus had began to form, the intense pain had sub- sided and the patient declared it a miracle ; she had slept well and felt some appetite for food.
The potash was continued a few days longer ; the slough separated and the wound healed in the short space of one week.
Mr. C, aged fifty years, shoemaker; was visited July 30, 1866. He had been sick three days, was found suffering intensely from a carbuncle, situated upon the abdomen, just below the umbilicus, of the size of a large walnut, and involving the surround- ing structures in an erysipelatous inflammation. Bowels constipated ; high fever ; pulse 120; heavy breath; tongue furred; anxious countenance; great restlessness and general uneasiness were his principal symptoms.
Hops and laudanum poultices had been applied, but he had been gradually growing worse and approaching the condition described, the tumor increasing daily, the parts becoming more dense, and at last an ichorous pus exuded from several small openings. A slight incision was made and the permanganate applied, as in the previous case, the dressings being re- moved once in twenty-four hours. This case was seen seven days successively ; on August 13, he returned to work, the severity of the suffering having been arrested after the first application.
ANTIDOTAL TKEATMENT in cases of poisoning with the salts of potash :
Poisonous doses of the carbonate of potash are antidoted by vinegar and water, aqueous solutions of citric acid; almond, olive, or lamp oil.
In a case of poisoning with the bichromate of potash, we first ad- minister an emetic ; afterward we may give a mixture of chalk or magnesia with milk, or the whites and yolks of eggs mixed up with water.
Against the nitrate of potash no chemical antidote is known ; in a case of poisoning, we should remove the poison from the stomach as soon as 'possible, and administer tepid emollient drinks.
Pereira thinks that opiates may be advantageously administered.
Inflam- matory symptoms are to be combated with aconite, etc.
The same treatment applies to poisoning with the hydriodate of potash.
Eemove the poison as speedily as possible by means of an emetic, and afterward resort to demulcent and emollient drinks.
Pain may be hushed by opiates.
Inflammation is to be combated by aconite ; ptyalism by astringent washes.
I need hardly repeat here
260 KALMIA LATIFOLIA.
that the hydriodate of potash is one of our most efficient agents in counteracting the effects of chronic constitutional poisoniug by mer- cury, described under the ominous appellation of hydrargyria.