A*

              CHEMICAL



AND  MEDICAL  RESEARCHES


                      ON


           KREOSOTE,


Eta preparation, ftroflerties autr Wtet.


               BY  E.  MIGUET,
PHYSICIAN, MEMBER OF THE CHEMICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS,
      ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE SOCIETY " PREVOYANTE DE SECOURS
              MUTUELs" OF THE SAME CITY.
'1
      TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH,


BY WILLIAM  WETHERILL, M. D.

              OF THE FIRM OF

       WETHERILL & BROTHERS,

             CHEMISTS.
         PHILADELPHIA:
JUDAH  DOBSON, 109 CHESNUT STREET.
       Printed by J. Crissy & G. Goodman, 4 Minor street.

                 1835. 
IB3S*
  Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by William
Wetherill, M. D., in the clerk's office of the District Court for the eastern dis-
trict of Pennsylvania. 
         TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

  As Kreosote, now prepared in this city, has created some excite-
ment, and many in the use of it are experimenting, uncertain of the
strength required, or to what diseases it is applicable, some informa-
tion of cases in which it has been used, is at this time desirable;
and as the following work has been published in France, communi-
cating valuable information of its discovery, properties, and prepara-
tion, with a great variety of cases in which it has been tried, both
in Germany and  France, being  the  fullest account  of its  use yet
received, I have been  induced to give it as careful a translation as
possible, with the object of affording the opportunity of trying it in
corresponding cases;  believing, that should the same results  be
confirmed,  this preparation  will make a valuable addition to our
pharmaceutic agents.
                                WILLIAM WETHERILL. 
 
PREFACE,
   When a new medicinal preparation makes its appearance, it soon
finds violent panegyrists, and many ready to cast obloquy upon  it.
Quackery is exercised so  shamefully on public credulity by the
pompous names given to substances, the virtues of which in general
are  but doubtful,  that  the  conscientious  practitioner  is cautious
against all medical innovation.   This scepticism has become neces-
sary, since the journals are  daily filled  with pompous praises  in
favour  of  many  medical substances which have been  mentioned,
time  out of  mind, in  our dispensatories,  and others in which the
fecula of potatoes, or the chocolate nut are the principal constituents.
The most inert powders are extolled and  highly spoken of, by men
unacquainted with the art of healing, having no fixed establishment
for their sale.  Men of sense laugh at such impudent shamelessness;
but the credulous, confiding in what is told them, judge blindly, and
being governed by others, are caught by the bait.
   The  interest which the informed  are at this time taking in Kreo-
sote,  and the researches  which have multiplied themselves from all
directions, have been a sufficient motive to determine me to make
this article the  subject of my especial study; but above all, I feel it
my duty to cast off prejudice, and set aside systems, in  conformity
with the precepts of Bacon, who looked upon a patient as being  in
great danger, when a physician approached him with a fixed system
in his head.
   I do  not wish to write a panegyric upon, nor do I wish to detract
from  the virtues  of Kreosote; I do not  say, as Berkley speaks  of
the wonderful virtues of the water of tar, of which this is the active
principle, that  it  cures all diseases;  I  should be in as ridiculous  a
situation as the poet, of whom Horace has so pleasantly said,
           " Quid dignum tanto feret hie promissor hiatu."
My intention is to offer  a series of facts, calculated to make  clear
hereafter its administration by the light of experience;  to this end, 
VI
PREFACE.
 I shall report faithfully the facts stated by the German physicians;
 also, the result of the experiments of the physicians of France, to
 which I shall add such as have been tried by myself.
   Thanks to  the efforts of M. Lemire and Billard, who have ob-
 tained pure Kreosote, by aid of the long and complicated process of
 the  chemist of Blansko, practitioners, (putridity hereafter  being
 abandoned,) have many researches to make, by means of which it
 will be more  easy to prove in an exact manner the effect of this
 medicine, for in  medicine, as  the Baron of Verulam  says, experi-
 ence is the demonstration of demonstrations; it  is the mother of
 systems, and its works have always been the verification of princi-
 ples.  In  short, in science, as  in the arts, there is not, nor can we
 have any true axioms but those founded on experience itself.
  The principal  sources from which I have drawn for compiling,
 are the translations of the memoirs  of " M. Reichembach, by M.
 Vallet, pharmacien at  Paris," and some  pieces in the " Bulletin
 Gen6ral de Therapeutique," published under the direction of M.
 Miguel.
  Allow me to  express my gratitude  to Martin  Solon;  from his
lessons I have drawn the most learned  precepts, and in discourses,
the counsel of a teacher and a friend.
  I  cannot  conclude without remembering my friend  M. Letertre
Valliere, pupil at the hospital of Beaujon; all thanks for his kindness
in aiding me in the researches of many of my observations. 
              ON

KREOSOTE.
   The name  of  Kreosote is derived from  two  Greek  words,
(xplaj, flesh, and gu£a, I save,  or preserve,) signifying a preserver
of flesh, being a substance recently discovered by M. Reichembach,
first in pyroligneous acid, and more lately in all kinds of tar.   This
well informed  man,  whose works  deserve  an honourable  place
among those of the chemists of Germany,  obtained, some time be-
fore, by  dry distillation of organic  bodies, parafine,  eupione and
picamore substances, which until this time, excited but little  inter-
est.   But Kreosote seems destined to enjoy much greater notoriety,
not owing so much to its chemical properties, as to the number of
r  rapeutic cases to which  it is applicable, and its use in domestic
economy.  As  to  its virtues in this double capacity, we have the
testimony of the highest authorities in Germany.
   At  the  time  M. Reichembach  first commenced the discovery of
Kreosote, his fingers were deprived by it of their epidermis.   This
energetic action on organic matter, having made him believe that
this was the preserving principle in pyroligneous acid, experiments
with it confirmed his conjectures.  The antisceptic action which it
exercised on dead animal matter, made him presume, that placed in
contact with living tissue, against which we are often exercised to
counteract mortification, it would be of much service as a therapeu-
tic agent.   He  says the water of Benelli was unknown to him, and
that his  experiments were entirely independent; also,  that they
were not directed towards the suppressions  of haemorrhages, which
constitutes a special property of this preparation.  At  this time, he
was not  aware that Kreosote  possessed the property of arresting 
8
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
the flow of blood; his attention was  only devoted to suppurating
sores of a bad nature, and chronic diseases, from which his experi-
ments brought him to the conclusion, that in all suppurations, Kreo-
sote possessed properties, healing, specific and  energetic, without
producing any unpleasant effect;  he says he was not disappointed
also in the treatment of wounds.
   The water of Benelli, of which I have spoken, has enjoyed during
many years a colossal  reputation in Italy, sometimes under the
name of the Balsamic Arterial Water, because it was said to arrest the
most serious internal and external haemorrhages, and  sometimes
called the water of Benelli, from  the  name of the discoverer.  M.
Schweigger Seidel has compared it with the water of Kreosote;
and  believes  the Kreosote  is  the active agent  in  this liquid for
checking the flow of blood, but that  it  is a very weak  solution  of
this substance.   Thus it does not astonish us that the effect of the
water of Benelli  was contested by many physicians.   The chemical
examination of it agrees with the experiments made by Doctor  J.
Davy upon animals.  Every  haemorrhage was  not arrested, and
compresses, wet with it, applied to the  wound, seemed as ineffectual
as if common water had been used; from which Doctor Davy con-
cludes, that all he could say in favour of this liquid was, that it was
perfectly harmless.

                    Physical Properties.
   Kreosote is a colourless, transparent  liquid; its  consistence  is
oleaginous;  it has  a disagreeable, penetrating odour,  resembling
smoke, or rather like smoked meat;  its  taste is burning and very
caustic.   It is  possessed of great refrangibility; its specific gravity
is 1.037, under an atmospheric pressure of 0.722, and at 20 degrees
of Celsus.

                    Chemical Properties.
   Submitted to the action of caloric, it boils at 203 of Centigrade,
and is not congealed even at the temperature of 27 Cent.;  it burns
with a smoky  flame;  it is not a conductor of electricity.
   It forms with water at 20 degrees, two different combinations; one
is a solution of one part and a quarter of Kreosote in 100 parts of
water, which makes one part of Kreosote to 80  of this  liquid;  the
other, on the contrary, is  a  solution of 10 parts  of Avater in 100 of
Kreosote. 
researches on kreosote.
9
  The aqueous solution of this  substance does not change the co-
lour either of tournsol,  or curcuma, and is not neutralized either by
acids or alkalies.   It forms, however, a number of interesting com-
binations  with these two classes  of  bodies.   Nitric acid attacks
Kreosote actively, and a disengagement of red vapours takes place.
It combines with  chlorine,  bromine, iodine, phosphorus, and sul-
phur.  Potassium  thrown into Kreosote is dissolved;  there  then
takes place a disengagement of gas, and potash  is formed, which
remains combined with thickened Kreosote.  This  substance  can
be  separated without any alteration by distillation.  Concentrated
sulphuric  acid, in small  quantity, colours  Kreosote red; a larger
quantity blackens  and thickens it: the sulphuric acid is decom-
posed and  the sulphur left free.
   Of all acids, the acetic has the strongest  affinity for Kreosote; it
seems to be its proper solvent, and combines with it in every pro-
portion.
   This substance  forms cold with potash two combinations: one is
an  anhydrous liquid, of an  oily consistence; the other, a hydrate,
which crystalizes in pearly white  spangles.  Even carbonic acid
separates Kreosote from  these combinations without alteration; its
action is the same with soda.   It has a great affinity for lime and
the hydrate of barytes, and gives with these bodies compounds of a
dingy white colour, soluble in water, and when in a dry state, may
be  made into powder of a pale  rose colour.  Ammonia dissolves  it
cold; this  alkali generally accompanies it,  and gives  some trouble
in  its separation.  It dissolves a  vast number of salts, some hot,
others cold.   Alcohol,  aether, carbonate of  sulphur, eupione, acetic
aether, combine in every proportion with Kreosote.
   Of all organic substances, the resins, the resinous colouring prin-
ciples, and other  like  bodies, are  most actively attacked  by Kreo-
sote.  It  decomposes  them even  cold,  as  well as  dissolves them
totally.  It forms cold  a solution of a yellow red colour with  cochi-
neal, a deep red with dragon's  blood, yellow with madder, yellow
with saffron.  Placed  in contact with indigo, it dissolves cold, the
colouring matter which is precipitated by the addition of water and
of  alcohol.
   It now remains for me to mention other properties of Kreosote of
the highest interest, because it is on these that rest all its  therapeu-
tic importance.
   Kreosote agitated with the white of an  egg, coagulates it imme-
            2 
10
chemical and medical
diately; a property on which its efficacy is rationally founded; if
in a large quantity of an aqueous solution of this last substance, we
put a single drop  of Kreosote, it is immediately filled with coagu-
lated albuminous pellicles.  When fresh  meat has been placed for
an hour in a  solution  of Kreosote, after having  been well dried, it
may  be exposed to the heat of the  sun without putrefaction ; it be-
comes  hard in about eight days, and assumes an  agreeable odour of
good smoked meat, its colour being reddish brown.  Fish may be
preserved  by the same  process; many  birds killed by Kreosote
were preserved for a month and a half without having any unplea-
sant  smell.   I  have now one remaining  which is completely dry,
never having  presented any indication of putrefaction. But as pyro-
ligneous acid and tar water produce the  same effects, it cannot be
doubted that Kreosote is the preserving antiputrid principle of these
liquids, and also of smoke.
  It  would be  interesting to know how Kreosote acts under these
circumstances, and presuming it was upon the blood, what reaction
takes place.   M.  Reichembach has placed Kreosote successively in
contact with  the  serum, the coagulum, the colouring  matter, and
pure fibrin,  and has  concluded from his experiments:  1st.  That
Kreosote coagulates the  albumen of the blood.   2d.  That this coa-
gulation takes place immediately, when the two liquids are concen-
trated.   3d.  That it  takes place  little by little, when one or the
other is in quantity.   4th. That the fibrin separates itself from the
other principles, and  is not attacked by Kreosote.   But it is said
that the albumen which is coagulated will not putrefy, and the mus-
cular fibre alone does  not appear susceptible of entering into putre-
faction.
  Physicians were acquainted with the medical properties of pyro-
ligneous acid, of animal oil, and of the empyrumatic water of  Dip-
pel, which has been recently discovered.  M. Reichembach thought
that it  was the Kreosote  in these preparations that gave them  their
medical properties, and having made experiments  with this  sub-
stance, concentrated and dilute, his success far  exceeded his ex-
pectations.
  The foregoing shows  to how many uses this substance is applica-
ble.  It would be desirable only that its preparation might be sim-
plified, which is  tedious and difficult.  Two processes have  been
pointed out,  one  to extract  the Kreosote  from  pyroligneous  acid; 
researches on kreosote.
11
the other, for extracting it from tar.   I have no doubt the last pro-
cess  will  furnish the greater quantity, and  the extraction will be
more easy.

                          Preparation.
   Tar is produced from the dry distillation of organic bodies, beach
wood, for example; this is distilled in an iron retort, until the resi-
due has  the consistence of black pitch.   Care must be taken not to
prolong  the distillation, because  the residue would again be carbon-
ated,  which would introduce  into the liquid empyrumatic products,
from  which we are desirous to free it by this first distillation.  The
liquor caught in the receiver contains an acid empyrumatic water,
which is to be rejected, and an oil, called oil of tar, which is afterwards
placed in a glass retort, and rectified;  it is requisite not to continue
the distillation to dryness, and to reject the acid water again taken
in the receiver.  In these  two distillations, the oil of tar, which first
passes over at a low temperature, is light, though unequally so; but
its gravity increases by heat. Attention is requisite to the time when
the oil passes to the bottom of the water; all above this liquid con-
tains  but a small quantity of Kreosote; it contains  principally eupi-
one,  with other different  light  substances,  affecting the purity of
Kreosote; all this supernatent liquor should therefore be rejected.
In this state, the oil of tar is of a yellow pale colour, heavier than
water; it becomes brown by exposure to air; its smell is disagreea-
ble ;  its  taste is acid, caustic, sweet, and bitter at the same time:  it
is then  heated  and agitated  with  carbonate  of  potash, until when
shaken it no longer disengages carbonic acid; it is then decanted, in
order to  separate it from the solution of acetate of potash, which is
formed,  and  it is again distilled  in a  glass retort.   The distillation
must  not be  continued to dryness, and all the first products which
float on the surface of the water must  be rejected.
  The oil must then be dissolved in a solution of caustic potash, of
the specific gravity of 1.12,  much heat is disengaged; part of it is
formed  into  eupione, &c, and is  not dissolved:  it swims on th
surface and must be taken from it.  The alkaline solution is placed
in an  open vessel, and brought slowly to ebullition.    It absorbs
with avidity a considerable quantity of oxygen from the air:  an oxy-
dizeable  principle  which  is found in it is decomposed by this ab-
sorption, and the mixture becomes brown.  After cooling, by expo- 
12
chemical and medical
sure to air, weak sulphuric acid is to be added, until the oil is set at
liberty.
  It is now distilled with water, to which a small quantity of caus-
tic potash is added; this is necessary, to prevent the Kreosote from
dissolving, and the  loss of distilling over again  and again the water
which comes over ; though 'the water is kept in strong ebullition,
yet the operation advances but slowly:  Kreosote being but slightly
volatile  even at 100 degrees of  Cent.; but after some time, though
we yet see much oil in  the matrass, the quantity passing by distilla-
tion has much  diminished,  and  increasing the fire does not advance
the process, this is the  time for stopping this distillation.  The re-
sidue contains  picamore,  a small quantity of this substance carbo-
nated with potash, sulphate of potash, a small quantity of acetate of
the same base,  and the colouring principle.
   The oil in the receiver, is to be separated from the water which
has passed over with it, and is to be dissolved a second time in a so-
lution of potash of the specific gravity  of 1.12.   There yet remains
a considerable  quantity  of light  oil which will not dissolve, formed
of eupione, &c, which should be rejected.  It is then again heated
slowly in a vessel open to the air, to ebullition, and suffered to cool
gradually.   It again becomes brown, but much less so.   Sulphuric
acid must again be added, and care must be taken this time to add it
a  little  in  excess, because the oil itself absorbs a small  quantity,
and afterwards it is to be  frequently washed in cool water, until it is
no longer  acid.  The  distillation  is  to be repeated with water, to
which now no potash is added,  but a little phosphoric acid, in order
to deprive the  oil of the ammonia, which is yet retained.
   Again, you proceed to  tbe third solution of the oil in caustic pot-
ash.   If the precautions pointed out have been  well observed, these
bodies will now combine  without leaving a residue of eupione: and
 the mixture heated i.i the open  air does not become brown; it only
 assumes a slight red tint.  It is clear, however, when eupione and
 brown colouring matter, may still be separated  by alkaline solution,
 making it necessary to  repeat, a sufficient number of times, its solu-
 tion in potash.   In this state, though the Kreosote is not pure, yet
 it may be employed thus   for medical  purposes.  In order to purify
 it, it is necessary first to  distil  it with water ;  without any addition
 afterwards rectify alone the product of this distillation, which is only
 a hydrate ; at  first, much water passes over into the receiver; while
 the same heat is continued its quantity decreases, little by little, and
 at last stops altogether; a small quantity of Kreosote distils at the 
researches on kreosote.
13
same time ;  all the first products ought to be rejected, and the Kreo-
sote should  not be collected until  it distils purely without water,
but yet when the heat is raised to 203 Cent.   The last result may
be improved, by again once rectifying the product of this distillation
and making the vapours pass over chloride of lime.
   This preparation, the operations  of which required so  much at-
tention,  and were  so tedious and complicated, M.  Reichembach
wished to  simplify by means more expeditious ;  but Kreosote ob-
tained in this  manner excited violent vomiting when administered
internally, whilst at the same time its action on the  skin was con-
siderably weakened.   This effect was attributed to a particular sub-
stance contained in this impure Kreosote, which possessed emetic
properties to an alarming degree.   In fact, a single drop applied on
the  tongue, brought  on in one minute  great nausea accompanied
with trembling; the   face  became flushed, the eyes  fixed and pro-
truded ;  these  were followed  by violent vomiting, after which the
most complete" prostration  took place.  M. Reichembach, satisfied
that he could not in this manner prepare Kreosote  with security,
without first  depriving  it  of this  emetic principle,  found himself
obliged  to recur to his original method, which he recommends to
observe with conscientious fidelity, if it is wished, not to  bring suf-
fering on the sick, and cast his medicine into discredit.

                   Physiological Properties.
   If permitted, I will enter  into some physiological digressions.  I
believe it necessary to have information of pathological facts, which
we should follow; they may lead to important deductions in medi*
cal jurisprudence.
   Kreosote applied to the tongue excites violent pain; this organ
seems contracted; it does not present either redness or tumefaction:
if the Kreosote is pure, it is the seat of the most violent burning ;
you are also   sensible of  a smoky taste, which extends  over the
whole cavity  of  the  mouth, invades the pharynx, and penetrates as
far  as the nasal cavities; when placed  upon the skin, it causes a
sensation analogous to that of  a slight burn;  it excites rubefaction,
and an  erosion of the epidermis, which splits and falls off in little
rough scales.
   Plants die when watered with a solution of Kreosote.   A young
rose bush, full  of vigour, and ornamented  by a great number of buds
and one rose  just in bloom, was thus killed.  The first five or six 
14
chemical and medical
  waterings did not produce any appreciable modification of its exter-
  nal appearance;  but scarce  the  eighth  day had passed when it
  withered.  I have  placed drops  of the same solution on a rose of
  lively and bright redness, immediately its bright colour became pale?
  and after a short time it turned yellow: the leaves of the same rose
  bush, of a remarkable verdure, submitted successively to the  same
 alterations.
   I threw into  two ounces of water, holding in suspension twelve
 drops of Kreosote, some flies, a spider, and little fish; they did not
 live more than two minutes after their immersion.  This poisonous
 action is probably owing to the same  property which causes Kreo-
 sote to preserve flesh from putrefaction, being the same which co-
 agulates albumen.   The plants and animals of which I have spoken,
 perished no doubt from asphyxia;  that is to say, by a suspension of
 the  circulation; there was evident absorption of Kreosote by the
 respiratory organs and  by the  cutaneous system.   However small
 the quantity of the substance  absorbed, it was more than sufficient,
 considering the smallness of the  animals, to diminish the liquidity
 of the blood,  and to render it incompatible with the mechanism of
 circulation, and of course, of respiration.
   A young dog, two months  old, was able to take with impunity,
 during eight days,  eight ounces of distilled water containing four
 drops of Kreosote.   During the eight days following, I administered
 double the quantity ;  the following symptoms then became evident:
 he walked slowly and  with apparent pain, frequent nausea, inter-
 mittent trembling, and in a few days perceptible falling away.   The
 use of the Kreosote  was  suspended,  and all the functions resumed
 progressively their healthy state, and in a short time he recovered.
   But administered in the dose  of two drachms in half an ounce of
 water to  another young dog, it caused the most alarming symptoms.
 The digestive power of the stomach was immediately followed by
 complete muscular prostration;  the head was inclined  towards the
 ground, on which  he frequently laid;  deafness,  vertigo, his looks
 were  fixed; all  the  senses of  the  animal seemed wrapped up  in a
 profound torpor; he took no notice when called, and was indifferent
 when caressed by the hand: but what most struck me, was at the
 end of about three minutes, respiration which was troubled in the
 beginning, was suddenly almost intercepted, by a considerable quan-
tity of viscid mucous filliments much thicker than  in a natural state,
which  obstructed the superior opening  of the larynx; the dog  was 
researches on kreosote.
15
then seized with a violent  cough, convulsive startings, which were
much augmented by the discharges already abundant of frothy saliva,
which formed on each side of the lower jaw  salivary globes the size
of a chicken's egg; the respiration  was  short,  whining and inter-
rupted ; the breath hot;. to all these phenomena were still joined,
eructations and nausea, accompanied with violent spasmodic retrac-
tion of the abdominal muscles, and vomiting  of a milky matter;* he
remained  about two hours in this  painful  situation without much
alteration, but the symptoms by degrees were aggravated to such an
extent as to threaten suffocation ; respiration became more and more
laborious ; the intervals  between expiration and inspiration were
much  longer; the  limbs were  seized with trembling,  afterwards
with contraction, and  then followed the suspension of the exercise
of all the functions.
   Post mortem examination, which  was immediately made, demon-
strated to  me some very remarkable organic  injuries.  Every tissue,
except the liver, exhaled  strongly the smell of Kreosote.    The mu-
cous membrane of the alimentary canal showed almost  throughout
its whole  extent, traces of inflammation; it was spread over with
red spots, some large, others small.  The matter contained in the
stomach, when placed in contact with the white of an egg, immedi-
ately coagulated it; by heating, a dense smoke  was produced, hav-
ing the decided smell of Kreosote; these  appearances seemed to me
sufficient to establish the presence of Kreosote in cases  of poison-
ing, and I did not try it by any re-agent.
   The cavity of the heart contained three or four small clots of red
and clear blood.  In those  vessels near the centre of circulation, the
blood seemed to have coagulated in a greater  degree than under
ordinary circumstances.
   The lungs, for  the  most part, were filled with  reddish  brown
blood; those parts which were of a light red colour, floated on wa-
ter in which  they were placed: those of a deep red,  descended
slowly to  the bottom, and were with difficulty again brought to the
surface.
   The brain offered no signs either  of congestion or haemorrhage.
   A mixture  of equal parts of water and  of  Kreosote, injected into
the carotid artery of another young  dog, produced nearly analogous
effects, only the termination was much  more immediate.

         * He had taken no nourishment since the  night previous. 
16
CHEMICAL and medical
   Blood, treated with either pure or diluted Kreosote, thickens on
becoming of a brown red colour;  it is also spread over with small
white spots of coagulated albumen, which, by exposure to air, be-
come of a yellow red colour.
   To what are we to attribute the death of animals killed by Kreo-
sote ? is it to inflammation or coagulation of the blood ? It seems to
me to possess an equal power in the production  of symptoms; for
the rest, experience must decide.   Might  not Kreosote have a spe-
cial action upon the  nervous  system which has escaped our means
of observation?
   From the foregoing, it follows:
   1st. That Kreosote exercises an action  essentially deleterious to
the animal economy.
   2d. That, given in a weak dose, it has  relieved much functional
derangement; whilst  diffused in  two or  four times its weight of
water, its effects are immediately mortal.
   3d. That it acts by irritating  the  surfaces on which it is applied.
   4th.  That poisoning by this substance may  be  established by
the redness of the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines,
by the thickness and peculiar colour of  the blood, by the property
which the alimentary matter has of coagulating the albumen of the
egg, adding as an essential  character, the  smell sui generis, which
is  exhaled from every tissue exposed to investigation.

                   Therapeutic Properties.
   Having to relate the results obtained from the use of Kreosote in
Germany as well as in France, I  must,  to establish  its progressive
course, give the starting point of this new agent, by calling to mind,
in a few words, the credit which the water of tar has had for about
a century.
   We read in James' Dictionary of Medicine, that an oil has been
extracted from tar, which, from the great virtues attributed to it, has
acquired the name of balm of pitch; moreover, when turpentine is
distilled by a slow fire, there  arises an acid spirit which mixes rea-
dily with water; an  agreeable acid spirit,  which is extremely cool-
ing, diuretic, sudorific,  and balsamic; a good preservative against
warts or excrescences.
   As to the pure and simple oil of tar, I will mention what George
Berkley, Bishop of Cloyne, says of it: he thought the water pre-
served against small pox, and that all those who drank it  in time, 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
17
escaped the contagion;  that it cleared the voice, made  healthy the
constitution, exhilarated the spirits in cases of melancholy, and cor-
rected the acrimony of the blood.
  Following these arguments, at the same time earnest and logical,
Boerhaave assures  us  that scurvy causes pleurisy, colic, malignant
and putrid fevers, &c, and that the water of tar will cure the scurvy,
consequently it would  cure all the other diseases.  Some authors
believe that erysipelis and plague differ from each other only in de-
gree,  but  I have seen this water cure erysipelis;  it ought then to
cure plague.
  The Bishop  of Cloyne, in his enthusiastic  praise of tar water,
recommended it as very salutary for sailors and all seafaring men,
frankly avowing that  he thought it a panacea, and  that in the hope
of obtaining for  the human race  the adoption of a remedy by  which
he had cured thousands of individuals, he would willingly suffer all
kinds of ridicule;  and  as  the ancient philosopher who cried from
the housetop to  his fellow-citizens,  " mind and bring up your chil-
dren well," I wish, said he, I was able to place myself sufficiently
high, and had a voice strong enough to cry to all the infirm—Drink
the water of tar!
   Who is not sensible, that whatever is ridiculous is equally  enthu-
siastic ?   But in taking the part of exaggeration,  and leaving the
side of reason,  it is more than  singular that the Bishop of Cloyne,
on the modus operandi of this substance, should not have overlook-
ed the basis  of  these observations, but rejected it without previous
examination.  Is it not astonishing, that a medicine  formerly of
such  great repute, should have fallen almost into complete disuse ?
   Doctor Caster avowed, that when reading the works of  Berkley,
he was so struck with the praises bestowed on  the water of  tar, he
could not avoid  thinking of the collection of cures almost miraculous.
On this  account, for two years  previous  to  the discovery  of  Kreo-
sote, he  made use of it in a number of cases.   He assures us this
medicine is  a great discovery,  of which he has learned to  appre-
ciate  the good effects, above all, in the convalescence from cholera.
   Berkley, however, was not the first who extolled the virtues of
the water of tar.  The  ancients, among whom we will mention
Aretus, Ccelius  Aurelianus, &c, assigned to it analogous properties:
Jlstimaticas et  purulent es adjuvat,  said  Galen,  abstergendi vim
habet, glutinendis vulneribus aptior. It is said that Hippocrates sent
            3 
18
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
his phthysical patients to breathe the atmosphere of some of the is-
lands of the Archipelago.
  At the time M. Reichembach discovered Kreosote, and when he
thought he had confirmed by experiments the medical virtues which
he first believed it to possess, he communicated his first observations
to the physicians  of Vienna, who received them with but little fa-
vour; this did not deter him from following with ardour the exami-
nation of his new medicine.   His situation for attending to these
experiments was not very advantageous.  There was not, for many
miles around him, a physician sufficiently scientific to write a ra-
tional direction to his experiments, follow  critically their results,
and arrange properly the observations.   Nevertheless, with the as-
sistance of a surgeon from the country, and  an apothecary, he was
enabled to operate in a certain number of remarkable cures.
   The first trials  were upon light burns, on chaps in children, and
on wounds; the success obtained, induced him to try it for itch, for
chronic eruptions on the skin, for corroding ulcers, gangrene, white
swelling, caries, the tooth-ache, trumatic sores, every kind of ulcera-
tion, cancerous and  syphilitic, and  even in phthysis pulmonalis,
this  scourge so redoubtable against even the most robust youth, was
made to succumb to the use of Kreosote, in the cure of which, ac-
cording to the report of M. Reichembach, he was successful beyond
all hopes.
   We will now give many cases of diseases  treated with success by
Kreosote, communicated by M. Reichembach, and desire the reader
to attend to the matter of the subject, and not to the compiling.

                             Burns.
   Observation 1. A domestic at Blansko, burnt her arm with a hot
iron.  The burn  was five inches long and two wide;  it was at first
treated with a solution of acetate of lead, and passed to suppuration;
it was then dressed  four times a day by an application of a linen
cloth, in which was imbibed a weak solution of Kreosote;  it at first
produced smarting, the suppuration soon ceased, in three days the
inflammation disappeared, and in eight days  it healed.
   Observation 2. Another domestic at Ernsthal burnt herself with
boiling water; she was also cured in three days by the water of
Kreosote.*

  * The water of Kreosote is a solution of two parts of pure Kreosote in one
hundred of water. 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
19
  Observation 3.  A wagoner at Ober Lotha burnt his knee with
hot water;  Kreosote water also healed it in a short time.

                      Itch and Tetter.
  Observation 4.  The daughter of a peasant, at Blansko, seventeen
years of age, had a kind  of itch  on the hands;  she was washed
during eight days with the water of Kreosote; the diseased skin
raised itself in scales, and the itch disappeared.
  Observation 5. An infant, at  Blansko, was covered  over the
whole body with a chronic eruption; it was washed with the water
of Kreosote and healed.
  Observation 6.  A domestic at an  inn, thirty years of age, had a
decided itch on the hands, fore-arms, and the feet; he had been
troubled with it  a long time; purgative medicine was given, and he
was washed with a solution of Kreosote;  he got better but slowly:
the use  of pure Kreosote was  then  tried on the diseased  parts, at
the same time, an ointment composed of  Kreosote and hog's lard
was laid upon the itchy pimples;  these soon scaled off, and the dis-
ease was healed in eight days.
   Observation 7.  The judge of Blansko was  tormented for a long
time by a syphilitic itch.  Physicians had employed mercury almost
to  salivation; the decoctions of sarsaparilla, china-root, the itch
ointment, &c, all had been useless.   The parts were then washed
for fourteen days with water of Kreosote,  at the end of which time,
the healing not being complete, the Kreosote itself was put upon the
pimples; at the end of eight days he could resume his occupations,
and in three weeks was completely cured.
   Observation  8.  A domestic, at Habrowka, thirty-two  years of
age, had for nine years a scaly tetter on her hands and arms. During
this time it disappeared once, (during pregnancy,)  but again return-
ed;  she first used the water of Kreosote,  afterward the pure was
rubbed over the whole diseased surface; it excited general irritation,
after which the healing took place with  disquamation.  She then
returned to service, and has now been nine months  in perfect health.
   Observation 9. A female of Keritien, forty years of age,  : t  on
her face for two years a painful  running tetter, also affecting her
sight; the ordinary means had been resorted to without effect; she
was washed several times with the water of Kreosote;  swelling fol-
lowed which soon disappeared; the  disease became dry, scaled off,
at the end of eight days was healed, and her sight restored. 
20
CHEMICAL  AND MEDICAL
                             Chaps.
    Many children have  chaps, which we cannot cure by using the
 powder of lycopodium; it  is only necessary to wash the part a few
 times with the water of Kreosote.

                           Gangrene.
    Observation 10. A mason, at Daubrawiz, was so lacerated by a
 compound fracture, that from his hip to the knee all the skin was
 gangrenous; the gangrene  had already penetrated to some depth.
 Applications of Kreosote were made, and the disease partly healed;
 but the  patient  not being  able to leave his  bed on account of the
 fracture, died in consequence of it.

                             Caries.
    Observation 11. The child of a carpenter at Daubrawiz, eight
 years of age, had near the nail of the great toe a carious ulcer which
 had continued a long time, affecting the bone;  water of Kreosote
 was applied and renewed several times a day; in five weeks it was
 healed.
   Observation 12.  A little girl, of Daubrawiz, seven years  of age,
 and a boy in the same neighbourhood, of five, had both carious ul-
 cers of the feet;  they were cured in the same manner.

                         Tooth-ache.
   Observation 13. A woman, at Ober Klepaczow, thirty years of age,
 had continued pain in a hollow tooth ; cotton, in which Kreosote was
 imbibed, was forced into the cavity; the pain was immediately relieved.
 The same experiments were often repeated with like success,  and the
 tooth-ach was thus immediately relieved in so many cases, that the
 effect of this  substance cannot be too highly recommended.   Often
 it is sufficient to gargle with the Kreosote water,  but it is more cer-
 tain to put a drop of pure Kreosote in the hollow of the tooth, pre-
 viously cleaned out.  Persons who had been tormented by pains in
 the teeth for years, were immediately and completely relieved.  We
 may hope that caries of the teeth may be prevented by  Krecsote:
 but the experience I have gained at  present in this  respect, being
only from the use  of it for about six months, and not being confirmed
by time, I do not yet wish to express.
   Observation 14.  A domestic, at Laschan, suffered with a den- 
researches on kreosote.
21
tal fistula;  Kreosote was put into the  opening, and the disease dis-
appeared.

                     Whitlow, or Felon.
   Observation 15.  A journeyman, at Palawa, forty years of age,
had  an open whitlow  on his finger of a bad nature, it  had been
opened by incision; he  was made  to  apply  water of  Kreosote
mixed with the pure Kreosote, which  was renewed five or six times
a day; it was cured in three weeks.
   Observation 16.  A  workman at an instrument manufactory  in
Blansko, twenty-seven years of age, had also on his finger a suppu-
rating whitlow which caused the loss of the nail; treated with Kre-
osote the inflammation subsided, the ulcer dried, and the finger was
healed

                      Scrofulous Ulcers.
   Observation 17.  A  founder,  at Rudix, thirty-six years of age,
had  a scrofulous ulcer on the neck, and continued discharge from
the ears ; he took internally golden sulphur, with aloes and rhubarb;
an ointment of Kreosote was put upon the ulcers, and the water of
the same substance injected into the ears  ; the ulcers healed in three
weeks, and the discharge from the ears stopped.
   Observation 18.  A peasant, at Ober Lohta, had for three years a
scrofulous ulcer on his  face ; the glands  of the neck had become as
large as the egg of a chicken ;  there was an ulceration on the cheek
three inches wide, and half the nose was destroyed; mercury, hem-
lock, and other remedies had been tried.   He was washed with the
water  of Kreosote, and a compress  wet with the same   liquor
applied;  on the edges of the  sore  pure  Kreosote was used. . The
discharge of blood  immediately stopped, the suppuration dried up,
the  glands  returned to their natural state, and healing  soon took
place.
   Observation 19.  A journeyman  joiner, of  Raix, had  for  nine
months an inveterate  ulcer occupying  the whole leg, which had
inflamed the  foot.  He was  washed  for six weeks with  the water
of Kreosote, and completely healed.
   Observation 20.  A tavernkeeper, at Ober Lohta, forty years of
age, had on his heels two holes, which came  of  themselves, pene-
trating to the bone, and suppurating continually.   Lint wet with the 
22
chemical and medical
 water of Kreosote was put into the sores, and renewed several times
 a day.  The disease was cured in fourteen days.

                 Ulcerated White Swelling.
   Observation 21. A servant, at Babiz, had below the tuberosity of
 the tibia, a carious ulcer with continued suppuration, accompanied
 with a considerable white swelling of the knee.   She had  suffered
 from the complaint for two years.  The patient was emaciated, and
 in a state of marasmus;  she had already been  under  the  cure of
 many physicians.  Lint wet with Kreosote water was placed in the
 bottom of the wound, afterwards pure  Kreosote was  used.  The
swelling decreased, and the diseased part exfoliated.  The young
 girl got well, recovered her healthy appearance and married.
  An experiment was then  made of administering Kreosote inter-
nally.   A person  in health may take  mixed with gum water four
drops of pure Kreosote without danger.

                         HEMOPTYSIS.

                   Internal use of Kreosote.

  Observation 22. A workman, at the forge of Blansko, who it
 was believed was afflicted with pulmonary consumption, complained
 for  many years.   It was principally in spring and  autumn he found
 himself most troubled with the cough  and  fever; he could not lie
 on one of his sides ; at times his expectoration was green, purulent,
 and mixed with blood.   Golden sulphur had been given him with-
 out effect.  After he had been suffering for six days with an attack
 of haemoptysis, we gave  him for four days, from four to five drops
 of Kreosote  with sugar.   In twenty-four hours the spitting of blood
 ceased,  the pain in the  side left him, respiration became easy, the
 fever went off, and he was cured.
  Observation 23. A tailor, of Lazaneak, sick for  three  months,
 suffered with a periodical haemoptysis and fever ; he could lie in bed
 only on one side.  He complained  of pain in the breast,  his expec-
 torations were purulent, and  of a  yellow green colour.   He was
 looked upon as being afflicted with pulmonary consumption.  We
 gave him during four days four drops of Kreosote with sugar; the
 expectoration was checked immediately after the first dose, and the
 complaint was cured without the use of any other remedies. 
researches on kreosote.
23
               Ulcerated Syphilitic Chancres.
   Observation 24.  A domestic, at Ober-klepaczow, was for a year
and  a  half affected with syphilis;  her chancres and excrescences
were first treated in secret without internal remedies, by applications
of blue vitriol, the disease increased.  Ulcers made their appearance
over the whole  body, secreting an irritating ichor; some of con-
siderable size made their appearance on  the legs, on the back, and
about the ears.   Her  throat was  so much diseased that her voice
was. almost  lost;  she had   never   taken mercurial remedies.
We  did  not administer them, but simply washed with the water of
Kreosote, and put  compresses, wet with the same liquor,  on the
largest ulcers ; soon the discharge thickened and ceased, the ulcers
became  dry, crusted,  and fell off;  the young  girl recovered  her
health, her voice, and  regained her natural strength.   During  the
healing,  she complained of an almost unsupportable itching over the
whole  skin.
   Observation 25.  A domestic, at Ollomauczan, was for three years
afflicted  with syphilis;  she had tried for a long time to cure  herself
in secret by applications of blue vitriol;  there were large chance-
rous ulcers on the neck and on the right and left tibia, with enlarge-
ment of the bones;  she washed with the water of Kreosote  and
used it as a gargle.    The cure was as rapid and complete as in the
former cases.

                           Wounds.
   All kinds of wounds made by knives, pointed instruments, or by
caustic alkalies, have  not suppurated  when washed with Kreosote;
they healed and dried up.
   Some French physicians, desirous to ascertain for themselves the
truth of  these cases, advanced  by the Germans,  submitted this  me-
dicine to a new series of experiments.   Let us see, if in their state-
ments made in cases nearly analogous, we will find data sufficiently
precise to confirm the assertions of the chemist of Blansko.

                             Burns.
   Doctor Berthelot has observed two cases, one  of which is very
remarkable.
   Observation 1.  A little girl, living at No. 22 Ecrivaine street, by
a fall,  brought her wrist in contact with a much  heated  frying pan; 
24
CHEMICAL and medical
 a violent burn was the consequence; the epidermis, by the serosity,
 was elevated.   Dressings imbibed with water of Kreosote were ap-
 plied ;  on the following morning, those parts the  least burnt were
 dry; the  other part was covered over with a  crust.  The same
 dressings were continued for five days;  no suppuration occurred;
 the crusts fell off, and the wound was entirely healed.
   Observation 2.  Miss Isadore,  residing at  No. 20, Heaumerie
 street,  burnt with boiling milk the right temple, part  of the ear, the
 cheek, the neck, and the back, as far as the loins.   On the temple,
 the cheek, and on the neck, the burn was of the first  degree; on the
 ear and on the back, it was of the second degree;  lotions of water
 of Kreosote were used. Those parts burnt in the first degree healed
 in a few days without suppuration; those burned in  the second de-
 gree were cicatrized in twelve days.  The last parts became covered
by a crust which raised itself,  fell off, and left a glossy cicatrix,
without either contraction or seams of the skin.
   Observation 3. Doctor Goupel  has well ascertained, by the em-
ployment of Kreosote  in the treatment of burns, that it cures them
rapidly, and without allowing suppuration time to establish itself.
  Kreosote seems to fulfil many important indications  in the treat-
ment of these affections, by preventing or diminishing suppuration,
which frequently destroys the life of the patient, sometimes  by its
great abundance,  and sometimes by its long  continuance;  it pre-
vents the colliquative discharges, of course, extreme emaciation and
those fatal complications, against which the efforts of art are almost
always insufficient.   We will see below,  it hastens  the  separation
and loss of diseased parts, and can now admit  it cleanses the burnt
surface, and thus prepares the organization for cicatrizing.
  It is  known, in burns, as in other sores, cicatrization has  a great
tendency to pass from the circumference to the centre; by the too
quick approach of  the  edges of the  ulcer, parts are united which
ought to have remained free.  Kreosote seems to obviate these in-
conveniences ; it has  been observed, by employing this substance,
the cicatrix presents fewer bridles and inequalities;  because, without
doubt, producing a more equal excitement over all parts of the sore,
it enlivens the weak  granulations,  and  favours organization and ci-
catrization as  much in the centre as at the  edges.

                       Tetter and Itch.
   Observation 1. M. Berthelot cured a tetter the size  of a two- 
researches on kreosote.
25
franc piece, on the left side of the chin, in eight days, by treating it
with Kreosote.
   Observation 2. Marrais was admitted into the hospital of Beau-
jon, on account of some remarkable venereal symptoms; he had a
scurfy tetter on the  left arm; he made application of compresses,
wet with Kreosote; much  burning was experienced.  Two days
after, the tetter had entirely disappeared.
   Observation 3.  A man  man  named Lafosse,  was admitted at
Beaujon into  Ward Saint  Eloi, on  account of  a plethoric habit,
which yielded promptly to venesection, attention to diet, and diluent
drinks; he had from his childhood, an icthyosis covering the body,
except on  the  face, the hands, feet, organs of  generation, and the
internal part of the knees.  During ten days, he tried sulphur baths,
and rubbed himself with the following ointment,  (hog's lard, 5ij.;
sulphate of potash,  3i-;) he experienced no change.
   On the  17th  of  March, Martin Solon prescribed an ointment
made with hog's  lard gij.,  and Kreosote gtt. xvi., with which he
rubbed the left limb, the body, but not the right leg;  to it he ap-
plied simple hog's lard.   At the end of three days he  was evidently
better on both sides.   But the left leg healed most rapidly; the
frictions were continued, and  early in April, I  saw him go out of
the house completely cured.
   Observation 4. At the dwelling of a lady, I succeeded in healing
completely a case of crustacious tetter, situated on the right cheek,
covering a space  of about two inches ;  the patient had succeeded in
curing, prematurely, a  tetter  of  the same nature, which, for more
than six months, had attacked the ear on the same  side.  The edges
were of a lively red colour, the middle  discharged a yellow ichorous
suppurative liquid, various means had  been employed without any
success.  I prescribed  lotions of the  water of Kreosote during the
day and night, frictions  of ointment  of Kreosote were also used.
These diverse applications only excited at first slight irritation, with
a stinging sensation; soon a burning  pain was felt,  it became ne-
cessary in place of Kreosote to employ emollient cataplasms ; in five
days the suppuration was dried up, a yellow crust formed, soon fell
off, and the  cheek only  exhibited the red colour of a recent cicatri-
zation.
   Observation 5. Lemonier,  a thatcher, arrived from the port of
Normandy; for two years a tetter invaded progressively the whole
surface of  the  nose; it was  of a  lively red colour,  presenting in
            4 
26
chemical and medical
many parts ichorous exudations ;  he had continued itching, render-
ed painful by the smallest quantity of spirituous drink ;  small ulce-
rations  began to make  their appearance.  I prescribed for him lo-
tions and compresses of Kreosote : at first there was slight  irrita-
tion, and afterwards an almost insupportable burning.  Four days
after the  first application, the exudation diminished, small  rough
scales formed, detached themselves successively and  only left slight
redness.  In eight days, healing was complete.
   Observation 6. Doctor  Goupil assured  me,  he in a short time
obtained a most complete cure in  a case of dry itch of the scalp, by
lotions of Kreosote.
  He cited two cases of chronic eczema on the  fingers, terminating
favourably by the employment of Kreosote, after having resisted all
other means.
  Observation 7. M. Coster has  at this time under his care a young
girl brought from Caracas, horribly deformed by a leontine leprosy;
he had the goodness to submit her to my observation.  The  fol-
lowing is the state in which I found her :  all the body covered with
tubercles, varying in size, indolent, livid and of  a dark colour, with-
out trace of sanguine determination, or increase  of heat; they were
more numerous on the forehead, about the lips, which are thickened,
about the nostrils, dilated by them, and about the  ears, where  the
size was four fold;  the inside of the mouth was covered with foetid
ulcerations, the voice hoarse,  respiration sterterous,  and troubled.
M. Coster made her take internally water of Kreosote,  (a  scruple
of Kreosote to six  ounces of water;) compresses imbibed with it
were also applied to the cheek, the nose  and the chin.  The first
application excited  redness  and slight burning; in two weeks  the
tubercles became the seat of a sufficiently abundant suppuration;
healthy granulations were  developed, they were covered with a  red
coloured pellicle; soon  yellow thick crusts formed and  fell off of
themselves, leaving tubercles,  the size of which had much dimin-
ished.   A new suppuration,  tended to destroy these  small tubercu-
lous  masses newly formed.  By treating thus successively all parts
of the body similarly diseased, may we not hope to cure this horri-
ble complaint that for two years  resisted the most energetic appli-
cations.
  M. Duchesne, Dupare and Dauvergne,  made at the hospital Saint
Louis,  under the care of professor Alibert, numerous experiments
on the  action of tar ointment in cases of itch; the ointment was 
researches on kreosote.
27
 composed of two drachms of tar and one ounce of hog's lard. They
 came to the conclusion,
   1st, That the application of tar ointment on the integuments af-
 fected by itch, calms in a very short time the itching;
   2dly, That the use  of this ointment very rarely causes those ac-
 cidental eruptions frequently excited by ordinary practice ;
   3dly, This  application,  employed every day in proper quantity,
 (a half an ounce for two frictions, used morning and evening,) com-    *
 bined  with a sulphur or alkaline bath every other day,  generally
 cures the itch in less than ten days.

           Chancres, and Chronic Venereal Ulcers.
   Observation 1. Two patients were afflicted with syphilitic ulcers
 large and deep, located in the interior of  the mouth and on the ton-
 sils ; they had been treated unsuccessfully during five or six months
 by mercurial  preparations.  Doctor  Kunckel healed them in  six
 weeks, by employing Kreosote; he made them gargle three times
 a day with the water,  and  at  the same time gave them as before,
 pills of the duto chloride of mercury.   The  circumstance of their
 taking the pills cannot destroy confidence in the effect of Kreosote,
 since for five or six months previously, under the mercurial treat-
 ment, they remained in the same state.   The ulcers soon lost their
 bad  appearance,  and their progress  towards cicatrization became
 manifest and rapid.
   Observation 2.  M.  Berthelat had  M.  Lemarquant,  in  Saint
 Honore street,  No. 43, under treatment for a syphilis of long stand-
 ing.   For two months he could not obtain with mercurial ointment
 and nitrate of  silver, the cicatrization of a  chancre, with perpen-
 dicular  edges,  situated on  the glans  penis the size of a  ten cent
 piece.   It was then dressed with lint wet with  water of Kreosote;
at the end of three days a crust was formed, fell off on the eighth,
 and left the chancre entirely healed.
   Observation 3. Lambquin, twenty  years  of age, was  admitted
into  the hospital  of Beaujon,  on the 8th of January;  he had a
gonorrhoea and five chancres, four were disposed around the open-
ing of the prepure, and the  fifth on the frenum; the first four days
he tried baths, and without benefit dressed his chancres with cerate.
On the 13th,  lotions were made with water of Kreosote; he ex-
perienced an excessive burning, which  continued the greater part
of the day.  They were continued the following day.   After each 
28
chemical and medical
washino- the burning returned, but continued less time and was less
violent.  On the 20th, the chancres  disappeared, and he was treated
for the gonorrhoea.
   M. Lessere, doctor of medicine and surgeon, No. 48, Montmartre
street, has been so obliging as to give me a case  in which he obtain-
ed astonishing success by means of  Kreosote.   The case is suffici-
ently interesting to be reported in detail.
   Observation 4. Jean Francois  Masson, a tailor, at No. 39, Man-
conseil street,  forty-five years of age, temperament nervo-sanguine,
at the age of nineteen, had a foul connection; six days after, five
chancres made their appearance on the prepuce, on a level with the
edge  of  the glands on the right side ;  they disappeared  after three
weeks,  under the influence  of  emolient  baths and fifty mercurial
pills,  prescribed by  M.  Cullerier.   He  again  had an impure con-
nection ;  the following day  was  attacked with violent gonorrhoea,
very painful, particularly  in passing urine ; during five days a solu-
tion of nitre and  sal ammoniac  was  used,  and  the  discharge  sup-
pressed ; for fifteen months he believed himself well;  after an  ex-
cess  at  table  he discovered on  his  right side  two  considerable
glandular swellings, and  two chancres came  eight days after their
appearance, having their  seat on the same side of the prepuce.
   Masson  was admitted into the hospital of Midi,  in ward of M.
Cullerier ;  during four months the liquor of Van Swietan was given
him, except while under  salivation, and  during the  presence of  a
number of apthous sores  in the mouth.  The glandular swellings
were opened with caustic potash and cicatrized promptly.  He left'
the hospital;  after  about twelve months was  attacked  with con-
tinued excruciating pains  in his bones, strongly exasperated by con-
tusion.   It may be remarked  some  years  after he married, and his
wife never had the disease.
   On the  10th of September, 1833, Masson came  to consult M.
Lessere ;  the  uvula,  the  velum palati, and the  tonsils on the left
side, were covered with quite a deep livid ulceration, the edges per-
pendicular ; the  adjoining  tissue was violently  inflamed ; deglu-
tion of solids and liquids  was difficult and  painful; he had frequent
dry cough, nausea and want of appetite. All had almost completely
disappeared in twelve days,  by  means  of tisans and appropriate
gargles ;  he continued apparently relieved  about ten days, when the
disease suddenly returned, which determined Masson to consult M.
Record, who made arrangement for him  to go into the hospital of 
researches on kreosote.
29
Midi, and advised him to  take in the mean time, some pots of bar-
ley water.
   He again came under the care of M. Lessere, who combated the
inflammation by antiphlogistic means,  during the month of Decem-
ber 1833, and touched the chancres from time to  time with  nitrate
of silver ; the principal character of the inflammation changed, but
the  chancres continued their ravages ; they  destroyed the uvula,
the  pendulum  palati and  the tonsils.  He then used tisans with
syrup of sarsaparilla, extract of  parsley root, and 80 mercurial pills
with opium,  which only served to  exasperate the pain  in  his
bones.   The chancres did not increase, but they did not diminish;
the  uvula  was  entirely  destroyed.   The  months  of January and
February were passed without having been able to  obtain a cure,
which  was prompt and easy by means of the water of Kreosote,
applied on each ulceration, with a little dossil of cotton lint.  This
operation was repeated six or eight times, and in  fifteen days the
cicatrization was  complete.   This patient recovered rapidly under
the  influence of  Kreosote,  when other energetic means employed
during  several months had not produced the slightest amelioration.
   Observation 5. Miss P----,  No. 11, Taitbout  street,  twenty-
five years of age,  of a lymphatic temperament, was in the month of
November 1833, attacked with gonorrhoea ; she had deep ulceration
of the mucous  membrane of the  meatus urinarious ;  for four months
it had  resisted all  antiphlogistic, astringent, tonic,  mercurial and
antisyphilitic applications.   M. Lessere used the concentrated wa-
ter of tar; in less than fifteen days it completely healed the ulcera-
tion.
   Observation 6. In  the  month of March 1833,  the same practi-
tioner had occasion to employ the concentrated water of tar against
deep ulceration of the neck of the uterus, that had resisted remedies
of every description;  in a few days cicatrization was induced, and
no trace of ulceration could be perceived.
    Observation 7.  A young lawyer had upon the prepuce five
 chancres; for  three weeks they had resisted the employment of
 stimulating, antiphlogistic and  emollient applications.  I saw them
 change their appearance under the influence of Kreosote : after the
 fifth dressing, cicatrization  was manifest,  the edges of the ulcers
' approached the centre, and in a few days healing was complete.
    Observation 8. A man fifty-three years of age, having  the hu-
 mours  corrupted, and afflicted  with  syphilitic ulcers on the alae  of 
30
CHEMICAL and medical
  the nose, was relieved by the employment of various remedies.   A
  month after the ulcers returned; they were five or six lines in di-
  ameter, the edges were callous  and elevated, the external skin was
  of a violet  colour, the bottom of the ulceration presented a gray
  appearance, and was  the seat of lancenating pain.  Martin Solon
  tried without benefit during some days, the  application  of  an oint-
  ment of opium and calomel;  there was no change  in the appear-
  ance of the ulcer.    It was then washed and dressed with lint in
  which Kreosote was imbibed, some burning was felt on the surface
  of the ulcer; the edges became flattened, the bottom became of a
  vermillion colour, and the cicatrization was  complete  in eight days.
   From the want of success  by the mercurial treatment in divers
 cases, I have concluded the active power of Kreosote  seems clearly
 demonstrated.   It is difficult to say what belongs to  each of these
 medicines; but it will not be unreasonable  to admit,  Kreosote has
 powerfully contributed to the healing.  In short, it is to be re-
 marked,  amelioration  soon followed this application, whilst there
 was no  relief under the influence  of mercury.  I do not deny the
 last may have produced some  effect, but am led to believe it pos-
 sessed only a secondary action ;  it  produced no  amendment when
 employed alone.

             Phthisis Pulmonaris and  Catarrhs.
   The advantageous effects  obtained from the use  of Kreosote in
 the treatment of some diseases, looked upon from the  symptoms as
 phthisis  pulmonaris, led M. Reichembach to this very simple  rea-
 soning ;  ought we not, as in external ulcers,  ascribe to the action of
 Kreosote in pulmonary diseases, a tendency  suitably proportionate,
 the same principles giving rise to the phenomena continuing ?   As
 Kreosote, says he,  is  a substance  slightly volatile, shown by its
 penetrating smell, and  still more by its  evaporation in open glass
 vessels, I would inquire if it would  not be  useful to place patients
 with phthisis, in an atmosphere  charged with the vapour of Kreo-
 sote.
   Many believe fumigations  are  a modern discovery;  from the re-
 sults observed by the oldest  physicians in natural modifications of
the air, they have endeavoured  to  give to the atmosphere by arti-
ficial means, qualities  they knew possessed a salutary  influence.
The father of medicine recommended the use of fumigation.   Galen 
RESEARCHES on kreosote.
31
prescribed  against nocturnal cough, fumigations of styrax, of mas-
tic, of laurel berries, &c.
   Read and  Triller advised patients with phthisis to breathe moist
and warm air, exhaled from animals  in  stables ;  Marcagni thought
if an efficacious  remedy should  be discovered for consumption, it
would be among those substances applicable directly to the lungs by
inspiration.   Martin Solon, who published a very interesting me-
moir, entitled " Considerations sur l'atmiatrie pulmonaire," thinks,
for phthisis it is the mode of treatment  combined with means indi-
cated according to circumstances, which ought to give the most ad-
vantageous results.  He mentions two remarkable cases of phthisis
in which pulmonary atmaitry performed an entire cure : for a more
full account I must refer to the memoir in which Martin Solon re-
sorted to  the application of this remedy, under advantageous cir-
cumstances.  I will here only present some facts, collected by my-
self in his service at the hospital of Beaujon.  It is more suitable to
my subject that  the patients,  furnishing these  observations,  were
placed in  the same room,  (ward Saint Therese,) where an atmos-
phere of Kreosote was established.
   Observation 1. In No. 158, of the ward Sainte-Therese, was ad-
mitted on the 6th of January,  a female named Laurriere, thirty-five
years of age, afflicted from the month of August, 1830, by a cold,
sometimes more, sometimes less  violent.   She  said for five days
past she spit  blood, and had become much thinner within a month;
her expectoration continued tinged with blood, was nummulary and
and riziformed;  she  experienced cold pain  between  the shoulders
and at the epigastrium; had night sweats, pulse feeble, voice weak
and low; on  the left side some resonance was ascertained, and on
the right rattling and pectoriloquy. Fifteen leaches were applied on
the sternum with emollient cataplasms;  some days  after she was
bled from the arm; oily pectoral julep given  and fumigations  of
Kreosote tried.  In three weeks a  sensible diminution  of the expec-
toration was  remarked;  it became more  mucous and more adherent
to the vessel; the sweats  were  less abundant, the febrile appear-
ances subsided little by little; on auscultation, there was still on
the left side resonance, and on the right pectoriloquy, but no more
rattlino-.  in this state she remained during the months of February
and March.  The expectorated matter always mucous, the riziform-
ed concretions had almost entirely disappeared.  Towards the last of
March, M. Solon prescribed an oily julep, and a cough julep with 
32
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
 one drop of Kreosote; she complained  soon after taking the julep
 with Kreosote, of a burning sensation in  the oesophagus and a dis-
 agreeable  smell  of smoke; her expectorations  were without pain,
 more easy with  the  Kreosote than  the oily julep.  At  this time,
 April 15th, the matter expectorated is less abundant,  without pain
 and merely mucous ; the pectoriloquy has  much diminished and the
fever subsided.  She says she is much better,  and feels herself re-
 gaining strength.
   Observation 2. Dombriski, thirty-four  years of age, was admit-
ted into the hospital of Beaujon, ward Sainte-Therese, No 163, on
the 12th of March. The following symptoms presented themselves :
digestive functions healthy, pulse weak, oppressive, cough painful,
expectorated  matter yellow, separated and nummulary, auscultation
demonstrated, on the right side, the presence of pulmonary caverns,
some  rattling  and pectoriloquy,  and on the left some  whistling.
Four days after her admission into the  hospital,  she  became  con-
siderable better;  the expectorated matter was  less  separated, less
purulent and  more glutinous, expectoration more easy,  and much
less febrile action. March 25th, the expectorated matter is spumous,
adheres to  the vessel  and is  less  in  quantity; the pulse is  nearly
natural, the cough  and the  oppression have  almost disappeared.
She says she feels strong, believes herself well, and obtained per-
mission to leave  the hospital.
   Many other cases in which decided openings in the lungs were
caused by pulmonary catarrh, presented analogous changes  of ex-
pectoration.
   Observation 3.  M.  Billard, parmacian at Paris, was  for many
years subject to frequent sore throat; in 1828 he was attacked with
gastritis, which resisted all curative means and became chronic; a
milk diet,  continued  during three  months, gave  him but little re-
lief.
   In 1830, when the influenza prevailed in France, M. Billard was
one of the first attacked by this epidemic.   His convalescence was
tedious and difficult; since this time he  had cough, slight in the be-
ginning, but  in  the course of three  months it assumed  characters
much  more painful, complicated  with  serious  gastric symptoms ;
digestion was slow and painful, the abdomen had a tendency to dis-
tension, respiration was noisy and laborious, a dull and continued
pain was felt  in  the thoracic  region, in the sides and between the
shoulders ;  what he expectorated had a sour taste, was dense, puru- 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
33
 lent, yellow, and overspread with streaks of blood.  A rapid decay
 appeared to be  the  inevitable  consequence of this complication of
 morbid phenomena.   M. Billard  tried country air, which only af-
 forded slight relief;  symptoms quite as distressing reappeared, two
 months after his return to Paris.  He again resumed  his milk diet
 with mucilaginous drinks, and  left off the use of all kinds of meat
 and alcoholic liquors.
   He had passed three years in this state, when the effect of Kreo-
 sote in pulmonary diseases was made known by M. Reichembach.
 The desire to submit himself to this new application, determined
 him to  prepare  it carefully.*  For  this purpose  he constructed a
 laboratory, and  in  it finished  purifying  the Kreosote.   He found
 himself in a much more favourable  state, when the atmosphere of
 his laboratory was  continually loaded with dense vapour of Kreo-
 sote, formed by frequently breaking  the retorts placed  on the fur-
 naces ;  it is well to remark, however great the density of these fumes,
 he was not under  any circumstance  incommoded by inhaling them.
   After he had occupied himself about fifteen days at this manufac-
 ture,  he remarked in his situation decided amendment; the cough
 diminished and  almost left him, the pain he had between the shoul-
 ders was  eased, respiration was more free, the expectorated matter
 became more homogeneous,  white and spumous; he  regained his
 animation and strength, his appetite returned, he could take with im-
 punity meats and liquors, such as  he had  not tasted for five years ;
 in short, he now enjoyed perfect health.
   The friendly  relations existing for  some time  between M. Bil-
 lard and myself, placed it in my power to observe  the  different pe-
 riods of his disease.
   I ought  to end with the three  preceding observations, but there
 yet remains  a fourth, offering too  much interest not to be men-
 tioned.
   Observation 4. At No. 162, ward  Sainte-Therese, was confined
 to the bed, since the 13th of  February, a young girl fifteen years of
age, named  Vanniere, of a  weak constitution, and so decidedly
scrofulous, that  the  bones  themselves  had undergone   remarkable
changes in their  conformation.  Her catamenia were irregular ; she
coughed since the month of March,  1833 ; her fingers  showed evi-
dent tuberculous indications ;  she now feels, February 25th, stitches

  * It is this  i)hnrmacien, M. Billard, who prepared the Kreosote which served to
establish the facts contained in my  memoir.
           5 
34
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
in the side, palpitation, want of appetite, and difficulty of sleeping;
to these symptoms are joined night sweats, febrile action, weakness
and extreme emaciation, augmented by an excessive diarrhoea; pec-
toriloquy  Avas  in  the  right cavity under the spine,  no  rattling;
nothing on the left side ;  the discharges from the lungs are of a
white  yellow colour,  nummulary and separated;  the expectoration
is painful.   Six leaches were applied to the seat of the disease, fu-
migations of Kreosote  were used, and cough julep.  From the  14th
to the 25th of February, the discharges from the lungs became more
mucous, adheres to the vessel spit into, the cough is less frequent,
the expectoration more easy, and the diarrhoea less abundant.  She
continued better during  the whole month of March, except slight
lassitude; now, the early part of April, the matter spit up  is less
abundant, is homogeneous, very spumous, entirely mucous, and ad-
heres to  the vessel; there  is  no more nummularia, the fever has
diminished, the state of the  respiratory organs have undergone  a
sensible amelioration;  but those of digestion have become more and
more  disturbed, the diarrhoea  is of the most stubborn  nature, the
belly is painfully distented.  On the 9th of April, the symptoms of
chronic enteritis were  aggravated, and on the 10th, she fell into the
last state of mirasmus.   Martin Solon attributed to gastro-intestinal
lesion this fatal termination.
   Post mortem examination made by  M. Grissole, a distinguished
pupil  of the hospital,  fully justified his diagnosis.  These are the
anatomical lesions I have  been able  to establish: the  large intes-
tines, the small intestines, the coecum  itself, presented  in their
whole extent,  but  above all, near the ileo ccecal opening, a number
of ulcerations  large and  deep, having  red and irregular edges ;  the
coats of the small intestines, the jejunum in particular, were so  thin
they were transparent,  and had so little consistence that the  slight-
est traction was sufficient to tear them.
   The liver had acquired an enormous size,  and only  offered the
appearance of a fleshy  mass, which we generally call liver flesh.
   The right lung presented a great  number  of miliary tubercles,
some in a state of suppuration;  the superior  and middle lobes had
contracted on the back part, and laterally,  adherences very intimate
and quite extensive with the pleura costalis ; at the upper part there
was a cavity large  and  deep, the anterior parietes of which had been
entirely destroyed by the traction excited to destroy the adherences;
the posterior portion of the cavity remained adhering to  the  upper 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
35
ribs; it presented on its internal surface a membrane of a rose colour,
like  that  lining the nasal cavity, and which M. Magistel, Martin
Solon, Blanden and Serres,  of Montpelier, present at  the amphi-
theatre of the hospital of Beaujon, considered a mucous membrane
of a new formation, resulting from the recent cicatrization of the
cavity.  It  is  known in tuberculous excavations we find a mem-
brane produced, analogous to the mucous tissue which secretes pus
constituting  the matter  expectorated.  In this  case  the membrane
was more dense, more smooth, and did  not offer on its surface any
purulent trace ; its aspect almost resembled the pituitary membrane:
it is this made  it be looked upon as the result of cicatrization of the
surface of the  cavity, rather than a membrane destined for the se-
cretion of pus.  Beside, the complete cessation of purulent expec-
toration for many weeks fully confirmed  this opinion.
   Can we flatter ourselves  to cure completely the two first cases,
the history of which I have traced ?  If so, therapeutics would  have
made  an  immense stride.  It is certain,  however, I have under the
influence of the vapours of Kreosote seen  the cough diminish in
frequency, the expectorated matter detach  itself readily and without
pain, the aqueous expectoration become  condensed, change its  puri-
formed aspect  and assume the characters of homogeneous mucous,
stringy  or spumous.  Observing nevertheless, when a patient has
 arrived at a tuberculous diathesis, the chances of success are against
recovery.  In fact, to change or destroy this  general disposition of
the system is  not easy; it  would be better  early to prevent than
 combat it existing.  If one of these pulmonary cavities  could  be
 cicatrized or placed in good  condition, one or more  other tubercu-
lous masses would come again to enervate, again placing  in danger
 the  life of the patient.   These  fatal complications  having already
 weakened considerably the whole of this important system of econo-
 my,  local amelioration produced by recent cicatrization, is not  suffi-
 cient to relieve the whole disorder.   If  by means of Kreosote the
 progress of the disease can be stopped, or healing induced, it does
 not follow it should possess the  property of again  giving the lost
 elasticity.   It is evident this terrible disease carries  in a short time
 deep destruction to the vital forces; such a point may then have  ar-
 rived, rendering it impossible to  reanimate the vital spark lost and
 extinct.  Thus we should say with Ovid,
             Non est in medico semper relevetur  ut eager;
            Interdum docta plus valet arte malum. 
36
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
    Whatever chances we are obliged  to run, we must be persuaded
  art is not always without resource, as was evinced by the cicatriza-
  tion of the cavity which occurred in the  case  of the  young girl.
  With the desire and time, success is  sometimes beyond our hopes;
  but if it would only prolong the days  of the patient or allay pain, it
  would still merit praise from its disposition to heal.   The oracle of
  Cosmology has declared for more than thirty centuries :  Divinum
  opus sedare dolorem.

        Engorgements, Indurations and White Swelling.
    Observation 1. Hautmatte, fifty-six years of age, was  operated
  upon about two years since, for a cancer of her left breast.  For ten
  months all the superior extremity on the corresponding side, was
  engorged, hard and painful,  with loss  of power.  She was admitted
  into the hospital of Beaujon on the 14th  of January, having with
 the oedema of the left arm a  cancerous tumour in the axilla of the
 same side.   The tumour was dressed with Kreosote ointment, and
 the whole arm rubbed.   At  the end of fifteen days the fingers were
 more moveable; the arm was supple without pain, all the movements
 were executed with facility ; the tumour in the axilla was softened,
 and perceptibly diminished in size.
   Observation 2.  Conture,  twenty-six years of age, was admitted
 into the hospital of Beaujon  on the 9th of January, for an inflamma-
 tion which he had for eight days  on the right side of the inferior
 jaw ; he had no decayed teeth.  The engorgement commenced by
 the sub-maxillary gland, and had extended itself  to  the  adjacent
 cellular tissue.  Two  applications,  each  of fifteen leeches,  were
 made;  they relieved the pain, but did not diminish the swelling.
 Fomentations  and cataplasms of Kreosote were applied: excessive
 smarting was experienced for eight or  ten minutes.   In two days it
 was sensibly better.   On the 18th of  January, fluctuation of small
 extent, but quite manifest, was felt around the sub-maxillary gland;
 four drops of pure Kreosote  were applied, the fluctuation complete-
 ly disappeared,  extensive fomentations  with  the  Kreosote  were
 again resorted to:  improvement continued.  The application was
 stopped for one day (from want of Kreosote) the swelling returned.
 The 2d of February the patient  was completely cured.  The epi-
 dermis was destroyed.
  Observation 3. Chuleix, twenty-two  years  of age, entered the
hospital of Beaujon on the 17th of December, to place himself under 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
37
treatment for gonorrhoea,  which diminished much by the employ-
ment of powder of cubebs ; but the disease continuing, attacked the
testicle.   On the 5th  of  January, he had an engorgement of the
right testicle, it was  the seat of active pain and considerable tume-
faction.  During seven or eight days extensive  fomentation with
acetate of lead were had recourse to, and cataplasms applied, both
emollient and such as would bring about resolution ; these did not
prevent the testicle from becoming  four times its natural size.  Fo-
mentations and cataplasms of Kreosote were then used, they di-
minished the swelling and calmed the pain; at the end of eight days
the disease had almost disappeared, when the left testicle was at-
tacked, became engorged,  and in its turn painful, (general bleeding,
leeches,  and Kreosote cataplasms were resorted to.)  On the 2d  of
February, the disease was relieved: there remained no trace of en-
gorgement.
   Observations 4,  5.   I  have seen Kreosote succeed wonderfully
in two cases of  venereal engorgement of the testicles,  which were
hard, tumefied and painful, by  cataplasms and fomentations.   In
six days the  swelling diminished; three or four days after the tes-
ticles returned to their natural size.
   Observation 6.  A female, twenty-four  years of age,  of strong
constitution, had in the axilla, on the left side, for many years a hard
lymphatic tubercle, the size of a hazel-nut, painful when pressed upon.
Martin Solon had endeavoured to  heal it without effect, by the ap-
plications of leaches, cataplasms  and preparations  of  iodine :  the
tumour had not, for many months,  undergone any change.   Cata-
plasms of farina of rice, impregnated with water of Kreosote, were
used; sharp pain was experienced,  the skin became red,  a collection
of lymphatic vessels inflamed, extending  themselves from  the  tu-
bercle  towards the elbow;  some drops of suppuration formed in the
tubercle,  and it opened outwardly:  the small opening  cicatrized.
The tumour still maintained half its size, applications of cataplasms
of Kreosote were continued;  the remainder of the engorged tubercle
was dissipated completely,  and after being  under treatment five
weeks she was completely cured.
   Observation 7.    Martin Solon,  without effect, had endeavoured
to discuss a venereal bubo by many applications of leaches,  cata-
plasms, linseed and rice poultices,  baths, frictions, and the prepara-
tions of iodine.  The suppuration, first infiltrated, began to be con-
nected with heat;  he prescribed wetting the cataplasms with water 
38
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
 of Kreosote, and renewing the dressings twice a day.  On the se-
 cond day the tumour was less  elevated;  the fourth, there  was no
 more fluctuation;  and in some days, what remained of the tumour,
 was completely discussed.
   Observation 8.  A child of a scrofulous constitution, suffered for a
 long time from a white swelling on the great toe ; the tumefaction
 was considerable—motion could not be made but with difficulty and
 pain ; there  was no  ulceration.  M. Goupi  told me he discussed it
 completely, by applications of water of Kreosote.  Is success to be
 attributed to the Kreosote in this case ?  Ought we  not to believe
 the disease receded ?

 Suppurations, Ulcers of different kinds, Fistula and Chil-
                            blains.
   Observation 1.  A little girl  named Martin, living in Marivaux
 street, No. 23, had a stubborn and very disagreeable suppuration in
 the passage of the  meatus auditorius externus of the right ear.  On
 the 17th of December, 1833, M. Bertholet instilled some drops of
 Kreosote water into the ear;  two days after the suppuration ceased
 and has not returned.
   Observation 2.  Mrs. Cristin, at No. 60, St. Martin street,  was
 operated upon by M. Bertholet, on the 17th of November, 1833, and
 a tumour, the size  of an egg,  extracted from the left side of the rec-
 tum, in which she experienced violent pain. The extraction of this
 tumour from  the vicinity of the anus, rendered necessary  a consi-
 derable loss of substance, and brought on a suppuration so abundant,
 that  the  strength of the  patient was much reduced:  the  wound,
 moistened incessantly, by the  mucus  from the rectum, cicatrized
 with difficulty.  On the  16th  of December, recourse was had to
 Kreosote, pure and its solution in water: it fulfilled, in a short time,
 the indications expected;  it diminished the suppuration, and prompt-
 ly cicatrized  the wound.   In fact, three  hours after the dressing,
 there was scarcely  any discharge of pus; the wound  changed its
 appearance,  and though  it was very large  and in an unfavourable
condition, necessarily bathed by the  intestinal  mucus,  it neverthe-
less cicatrized entirely at the end of twenty-seven days.  From the
moment  when the suppuration ceased,  Mrs. Cristin regained her
strength.  Now  she experiences no  weakness:  she is perfectly
cured. 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
39
  Observation 3. Doctor Colombat, of Isere, communicated to the
Academy  of Sciences  some  observations,  in which he stated his
having employed Kreosote with success, in a case of sanious ulcera-
tion of the neck of the uterus.  He made use of it in solution, com-
posed of one part of Kreosote, and ninety parts of water: dossils of
lint, imbibed with it, were placed twice a day on the ulceration, by
means of  a speculum.   He assured me at  the end of fifteen days,
the ulcerations were covered  with healthy granulations ; and, after
five weeks  of this treatment, complete cicatrization was  induced.
This case is rendered more  remarkable,  on  account of the most
systematic means, many cauterizations, and even an anti-venereal
treatment having been  resorted to without success,  by two cele-
brated physicians of Paris.   M. Columbat observed the application
of the speculum being  painful,  he could not have recourse to it for
three days.  It  was by injections of about an ounce of solution of
Kreosote, he completed the treatment.   The  first injections caused
heat and considerable pain, which only lasted an hour.
   Observation 4.  A clerk of Mr. Couture, residing  in the avenue
from Petit-Saint-Antoine, had, since 1823, on the left leg, a varicose
ulcer with callous edges, about the size of a five franc piece.  For
two years, M. Bertholet treated this ulcer without success.   On the
10th of December, 1833, he applied on the sore, cotton steeped in
water of Kreosote; some drops  of pure  Kreosote were instilled
from time to time, to augment the activity of the tissues.   The sup-
puration and the unpleasant smell disappeared immediately after the
first application; at the end of some days, a light  pellicle formed,
extended  itself progressively over the whole surface, and on the 22d
of January, 1834, the whole was cicatrized.
   Observation 5. M. Coster has employed Kreosote with  success
in a case  of inflammation of  the free edges of the eye-lid, accompa-
nied from many points  by small suppurating ulcers,  by touching
them twice a-day  with a camel's hair  pencil, dipped in an aqueous
solution of  Kreosote. The cure, uselessly attempted for two years,
was complete at the end of ten days.  I saw  the patient, and can
declare there remained  no trace of inflammation.
   Observation  6.  Gouset,  locksmith to the Batignoles,  living  in
the street des Dames, No. 39, had, for twenty-five years,  a large
ulcer  occupying the whole maleolus externus  of the left  leg.  All
the surface of the ulcer and the adjacent tissue,  presented a degree
of ntrescence lardacie.  The ulcer had been dry for some  time, and 
40
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
  the pains so insupportable, the patient declared he  had often been
  near destroying himself.  Dr. Kunckel applied, every twelve hours,
  pure Kreosote  on the diseased parts.  At  first the patient  experi-
  enced no sensation, after a time shooting pains were felt, an abun-
  dant serous discharge was established.   The quantity of the Kreo-
  sote was  gradually diminished;  the  dressings were  made  with
 Kreosote water;  in a little time the lardacee products were destroy-
 ed, and the ulcer progressed towards  cicatrization, which  is now
 complete.
    Hypolite Cloquet, who has endowed science with some excellent
 productions, assured me he had employed Kreosote with success in
 many cases of cancer of the uterus.  This  preparation appeared to
 him to hasten cicatrization of a certain number of suppurating ulcers,
 the aspect of which remained stationary under the influence of other
 curative means.
   Doctor Tealier  read to the Society  of Medicine, a memoir  con-
 taining many observations on the advantageous application of Kreo-
 sote in certain diseases of the neck of the uterus.
   M. Goupil has communicated many observations on ulcers of the
 legs, large and  deep, with edges hard and callous, their appearance
 livid and somewhat white, which, resisting various other means, had
 yielded in very little time to the action of Kreosote.
   Many chilblains on the feet and hands, with or without  suppu-
 rating cracks, were cured by applications of  pure Kreosote, and by
 frictions  with Kreosote ointment.   The inflammation  diminished,
 suppuration was checked,  crusts were  formed which fell off;  in a
 few days the cure  was complete.
   Observation 7.  Mrs. C-----,  forty years of age, of  a plethoric
 habit, living  at No. 5, Cerisaie street, had  for many years  on the
right thigh, a deep abcess ;  following it there remained a  fistula, dif-
ficult to heal.   This fistula had two openings  prevented  from heal-
ing by  the sanious discharges;  in calculating its  extent, it  would
receive about two ounces of water,  before the fluid would pass out
at the opposite orifice.   In  consequence of the stiff and dense dis-
eased-texture, there existed a false anchylosis; the patient could only
walk with the limb extended.  After injections of water of Kreosote,
she felt lancenating pain, and it became necessary to combat the too
great  inflammation by leeches.  After four  months treatment, the
internal  extent of  the fistula was so much diminished, it would only
admit a small quantity of fluid, the skin became supple, the  larda- 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.      .           41
ces diminished, movement returned in the knee, one of the orifices
of the fistula healed, and now the patient is cured.

                   TOOTH-ACHE AND CARIES.
   M. Regnart, surgeon dentist, Dauphin street, in Paris, told me of
his having seen thirty or forty cases of decayed teeth, accompanied
with violent pain, in which  the  application of pure Kreosote acted
like enchantment.   A case he related should be reported here :
   Observation 1.  Professor Brussais experienced for several days,
violent pain caused by a decayed tooth ;  he desired the assistance of
M. Regnart, who  presented the Kreosote  as the best antidontalgic ;
this determined him to try its application.  The tooth  for  two or
three minutes was the seat of a lively burning sensation, succeeded
by the most perfect calm.    M. Brussais found so much  relief from
this  first application, that after some days he again had  recourse to
it with benefit against the return of pain.
   Observation 2.  M.  Berthelot was called on the  10th  of January
1834,  by Mrs. Lamy, No.  5, Vielle-Mounaie street.   Her case
proved  to be violent pain  in  a decayed tooth.  He placed cotton
wet with  pure Kreosote into it, and the pain ceased.  On  the fol-
lowing day she  again experienced  pain  caused by another tooth;
the same  means were employed, and the pain relieved almost in-
stantly.
   Observation 3.  I had since the month  of January, in  the upper
jaw, a carious tooth;  it caused me from  time  to time such violent
pain, mastication became impossible; the gum corresponding was
tumefied, very red and painful; the inflammation extended some-
times  to  the  centre of the palate.  Towards  the  first of March I
began to apply small balls  of  lint wet  with Kreosote;  I continued
this application until  April the 23d, with the view of ascertaining
its effect.    I can declare the cessation of pain  follows immediately
the application of Kreosote, and the inflammation of the gum disap-
pears on the morning after an application made on the previous day.
I must say, however, caries has not been prevented from pursuing
its ravages ; I doubt whether Kreosote can ever check the progress
of this morbid work.
   When  the teeth give us pain, almost always the nervous  pulp is
exposed to the air, or comes in contact with other external agents.
If some drops  of pure Kreosote are applied  to  the carious tooth, it
produces  at first  active exaserbation, and  afterwards cessation of
            6 
42
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
pain. Can the pulp be destroyed as by caustic, without any of the
adjacent parts undergoing any sensible alteration ; or does the Kreo-
sote coagulate  the  albumen of the blood almost always  found in
carious teeth, forming thus an albuminous covering, and preventing
the nerve from being exposed to the air?  This last opinion appears
to me most rational.   If  the nervous pulp  is cauterized and de-
stroyed, why is it that at the end of one or two days the pain is
again felt ?  The prompt recurrence of the pain seems to depend on
the destruction  of  the  albuminous covering, occasioned by the ef-
forts of mastication or other causes,  placing the nerve in the same
condition as before the application of Kreosote.

             Recent Wounds and  Hemorrhages.
   Observation  1. A carpenter, No. 33, Arcis street, on the 18th of
January, made a deep wound on two of the fingers of  his hand;
cotton wet with Kreosote  arrested the haemorrhage instantly, and
the wound cicatrized in five days without suppurating.
   Observation 2. Mrs. Nure, No. 6, Arcis  street, on the 11th of
January, cut the ring finger of the left hand ; a piece of the integu-
ments, half an inch long, was nearly detached;  it was replaced, and
cotton wet with water of Kreosote applied.   On the 15th of Janu-
ary, the wound was cicatrized, without having suppurated.
   Observation  3.  I made  on  the thigh  of a  dog, two incisions,
equally lcng end deep.   The blood from the left side, after having
flowed freely for two  or three minutes, was instantly  arrested by
the instillation  of  three drops of pure Kreosote into the incision.
The wounds were of an elliptical form;  the greater axis was two
inches, and the  smaller a half an inch.  I will now give the manner
of dressing them :  I did not make immediate reunion ;  I applied on
the wound of the  left side a compress spread over with simple
cerate, and again covered the pledget with lint, wet with the  water
of Kreosote :  the wound on the right side was dressed in the same
manner,  except the lint was wet with a solution of chlorate of so-
dium ; at the end of four days, the wound on the left thigh had al-
ready ceased to suppurate ; but that on the right side still discharged
purulent  matter, which  was not  arrested until eleven days after the
first dressing.  It of course may be imagined, the first had advanced
far beyond the second in the process of cicatrization.
   I  have  repeated  the same experiments on wounds with loss of 
RESEARCHES on kreosote.
43
substance, and  have ahvays observed the suppuration was longer
and more abundant under the influence of chlorine than Kreosote.
   Observation 4.  Dettiege, thirty-six years of age, was admitted
into the hospital of Beaujon, for jaundice complicated with ascites.
Some days after his admission, cups were applied;  one of the scari-
ficators being too deep, an abundant haemorrhage followed; it was
suppressed,  but returned at intervals: recourse being had  to pure
Kreosote, it was completely arrested.
   I have seen the bites of leaches occasion considerable haemorr-
hage ;  when the usual means of stopping them have proved unsuc-
cessful, Kreosote has succeeded wonderfully.
   Observation 5.  A child,  twelve years of age, in presence of whom
I expressed  a desire to see a cut for  the purpose  of arresting the
flcrtfr of blood, made in  an  instant, on the index finger, an incission
at least three lines in length, which he presented to me with a proud
and courageous air.  Two  drops of Kreosote suppressed immedi-
ately the haemorrhage;  after five minutes the edges of  the wound
were joined so  that the trace of the cut could scarcely be seen.
   Observation 6.  I cut the two ears from a  dog, and treated them
comparatively with  water  of Kreosote  and common  water; the
Kreosote still showed in this case its haemostatic properties: the
fresh water produced no effect.
   Observation  7.  This case of haemorrhage is  quite  remarkable.
Having cut off the tail  of  a cat, much haemorrhage ensued during
eight or ten minutes.  Desirous to know if the  discharge would
stop of itself, I  did nothing for sometime  to suppress it;  at last, on
going to apply some drops  of  Kreosote, I found the blood, in place
of exuding from minute vessels, formed a jet like bleeding from the
arm;  the Kreosote was  not sufficiently powerful, while the jet con-
tinued, to arrest it. I interrupted it for some seconds by light pres-
sure on the tail, which was dipped into Kreosote ; in a few minutes
the haemorrhage was suppressed and did not again return.
   I have seen many cases of solution of continuity and wounds with
loss  of substance, causing abundant haemorrhages, yield almost as
soon as Kreosote water, or pure Kreosote was applied.

                  Succedaneum of Kreosote.

   Doctor Bland, on witnessing the virtues of Kreosote, thought he
had discovered  a succedaneum in soot:  an  ointment composed of
lard and soot reduced to fine powder,  appeared to him an excellent 
44
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
remedy for inveterate  tetter, scaldhead, and favourable above all for
ulcers  of bad character, &c.  He employed the  soot in lotions and
in fomentations for diseased ulcerations, and in  cases of inveterate
fistula, by injections.
  M. Goupil communicated a case of impetigo  of the scalp, cured
in an infant five years of age, by the use of lotions and an ointment
of soot,  made according to the  prescription of the physician of
Beaucaire.
  M. Carron  du Viellars  published in the Medical Gazette, some
favourable cases from  the employment of soot  in diseases of the
eyes;  M. Baudeloque, physician to the hospital  des Enfans, has
also spoken in its praise as being good in scrofulous opthalmia.

            Prescription  of M. Carron du Viellars.
                        Take Soot,  5ij.
  Dissolve it in boiling water, filter and evaporate it to dryness.
  The residue is  dissolved in very  strong boiling white vinegar,
with the addition of 24 grains of extract of roses to every xii.  5 of
the fluid.   A  few drops of this solution in water forms a good col-
lyrium.

                       Contrary Cases.
  I have collected with much care the cases and  observations not
tending to confirm  the good effects of Kreosote ; persuaded, in or-
der to  appreciate in a precise manner the results obtained from ad-
ministering any medicine, it is necessary to place the successful ef-
fects on a level with the unsuccessful,  and thus learn by attentive
examination, the rank it can aspire to in the therapeutic scale.
  I have  employed  Kreosote,  without benefit,  in three cases of
haemorrhage, caused by complete  section of blood vessels  of  con-
siderable  size,  and in two  other cases in which there  was  simple
incision of the same vessels;  thus I am far from believing  it  pos-
sesses all the  haemostatic  virtues its inventor  acknowledged,  and
that it merits, as M. Reichembach said, the greatest attention from
the government and from military  authorities.
   M.  Lessere found it unsuccessful in the treatment  of syphilitic
blotches of the skin.
   M.  Breschet used it for a cancerous ulcer of  the nose.  The day
after its  application,  the  ulcer changed  its  appearance  and  was 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
45
cleansed :  it was much better, but only remained so a few days;  the
ulcer was  stationary a short time, but now continues its ravages.
   M.  Goupil cites  two unsuccessful applications of  Kreosote in
cases of fistula, communicating with caries of the  bone. The Kreo-
sote injections in these cases revived the fistulous passages to such
an extent, as to produce slight sanguineous discharges.
   From the account given  by the  physicians of Germany, it is
doubtful if Kreosote can arrest the  progress of this morbid action.
   Martin  Solon had under  his care, in  the month  of November,
1833,  five patients having  phthisis with established cavities in the
lungs.  They used, by means of Woulf's bottle, fumigations prepared
with eight ounces of water,  and from twenty to sixty drops of water
of  Kreosote, without any  sensible effect.  This want of success,
says M. Solon, does not weaken the advantageous results collected
in  Germany;  there  the  atmosphere of the  room was abundantly
loaded with a profusion of vapour, more  than we could employ, on
account of the small quantity of Kreosote placed at our disposal.
   I have  seen some chronic pulmonary catarrhs and some tubercu-
lous diseases, pursue their unfavourable degrees, under the continued
employment of Kreosote.

                    MANNER OF USING IT.
   In the  use of Kreosote, a certain course should be pursued, in
suitable relation to its nature and activity.  It is necessary to keep
it within just bounds, between an action too strong and an action too
weak, determined by the changes and progress of the healing.
   My observations have demonstrated, says M. Reichembach,  that
for healing certain ulcers,  tetters and wounds, the water of Kreosote
often has been  applied with  success;  but  we must remember, as
the water only holds in solution about one eightieth part of  Kreo-
sote, there   are  stubborn cases requiring a more powerful  action.
We are then obliged to  have recourse  to pure Kreosote, which if
employed to a certain extent, causes slight inflammation, but it  is
soon relieved; for this reason our physicians stop the employment
of Kreosote on  the ulcers, as soon as the inflammation is decided,
and leave the wound at  rest during some days ; afterwards, they
again apply Kreosote, and if the inflammation  again  shows itself, it
must be  arrested; they continue thus  until the greenish coloured
pus changes to white, and the flesh  at first blue  or white, becomes
red, and the diseased parts placed  in a state for healing. 
46
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
   Many reason, that as Kreosote has much tendency to produce in-
 flammation, they prefer employing it with energy on ulcers  in the
 commencement,  without regarding  the pain ; it being  only great
 during  a short  time.  This  pain is also much less violent  in the
 commencement; it increases  in time in proportion as the Kreosote
 causes the return, in diseased parts, of a new vitality;  thus we will
 do well to act with  vigour in the beginning, in order that the patient
 may support readily the remedy.   When by energetic treatment,
 the bad character of the ulcer is overcome, when it has assumed a
 healing red colour, when granulations of a healthy nature are formed,
 we may be content  to make applications  of  ointment  or water of
 Kreosote, or  may  endeavour to favour healing by other dessicative
 means, without employing ulteriorly this substance.
   Kreosote  has been  employed, sometimes pure and  sometimes
 mixed with  water, in all cases where there is ulceration, formation
 of enlarged  productions, discharge of pus of an unhealthy nature,
 &c.:  some  drops are placed on emollient or resolutive cataplasms.
 In haemorrhages, it  may be  applied  drop  by drop; but its effect is
 more  sensible when applied on cotton or lint.
   For lotions or frictions,  it is mixed in the proportions of two,
 four or six  drops in an ounce  of  distilled  water, or in the same
 quantity of hog's lard.   For internal use, one or two drops have
 been given in a julep of four ounces.  We can, by means of evapo-
 ration by caloric, or simply  with sheets of paper or compresses wet
 with Kreosote, form in the room or bed of a patient, an atmosphere
 of Kreosote. It may also be introduced by aid of an apparatus, such
 as Woulf's  bottle,  advantageously modified  by Richard Desrues,
pharmacien at Paris.

                     MODE OF ACTION.

   How does Kreosote act ?  This question to me is of but little im-
portance ; I  present facts observed, and deduct from  them conse-
 quences ;  this is my only end.  I leave every one to explain as he
 may understand them.  The ignorance of the world as  to the  action
 of this medicine ought not to  prevent us from enjoying its benefits.
 We do not know how sulphate of quinine, mercury, camphor,  &c
act; yet many diseases are cured by the employment of these sub-
 stances.   It  would well suffice to know the effect of the therapeutic
agents we daily  employ; it  is difficult, however, to overcome the
 desire of knowing by what mechanism we arrive at certain ends. 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
47
  How is Kreosote haemostatic ? This action appears to me evident-
ly due to the property it possesses in a high degree of  promptly co-
agulating albumen. In haemorrhages, the suppression of the flow of
blood  is purely mechanical;  if, after having carefully wiped  away
the blood  from the  surface,  Kreosote is applied before it has had
time to reappear, we do  not prevent it  from escaping  from the tex-
ture ;  it still  flows until a thin  transparent pellicle, formed by the
agglutination of small particles  of  coagulated albumen, opposes an
insurmountable obstacle.
  The same mechanism perhaps presides over the cicatrization of
ulcers and suppurating sores.  A more considerable afflux of  blood
is determined to  the  part, owing to the new vitality excited by the
Kreosote;  it establishes the  work of organization more rapidly ;
then coagulable lymph  forms a protecting  envelopment over  the
whole extent of the ulceration; the granulations approach each other;
afterwards unite ;  the secretions are less and less abundant; the  pus
becomes healthy,  and from  the edges  cicatrization progresses to-
wards the centre.
  It is certain it destroys rapidly fungus granulations, hastens the
separation  of apthes  and crusts covering the  surface of certain
wounds.  Can we not  admit by  irritating  the part on which it is
applied, it there excites an eliminating operation, and by the forma-
tion of  an albuminous pellicle, it establishes a line of demarkation
between the living texture and the  anormal products, the separation
of which will soon take place, when they lose their vitality ?   Some
practitioners to whom I have communicated this explanation, think
it reasonable.
  How does it  ease expectoration  in pulmonary catarrh and in
phthisis ?  In old syphilitic ulcers, is it only disposed to cicatrize, or
does it  possess, according to the opinion of some physicians, an an-
tisyphilitic property ?  These are questions of the  highest interest;
we should not  enter upon them  but  with great reserve; their solu-
tion will remain doubtful until by multiplied experience, some light
is thrown upon this subject.
         ---------In cunctis certas inquirere causas
         Difficile est.-----
                                     Fracastor, Syphil. lib. 1.

   In the  mean time, let us suppose  Kreosote to be introduced into
the pulmonary organs, or carried into the stomach; it reacts on the 
48
CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL
lungs, exercising perhaps on the ulcerations of this tissue, the same
modification as on external ulcers.
   It may  be  deduced from the  preceeding observations and facts,
that Kreosote  possesses a very energetic medical property in many
cases.   I am not so exclusive, however, as to believe there is but
one rational course to follow.   I  am convinced each disease comes
from different causes ;  the treatment to be resorted to, should equal-
ly vary.   It is for medical acquirement to choose which seems the
most suitable.  Kreosote so appears in the treatment of the diseases,
the histories of which I have traced: we must make it always un-
dergo the modifications experience demonstrates as necessary.
   In  the mean time,  from ulterior proofs  our informed observers
have assigned to  Kreosote the rank which  it ought to  occupy in
therapeutics from the facts;  what now can be its pretensions.
   1. Kreosote produces good effects in burns of different degrees.
  2. It heals in general ulcerated, furfurescent, squamous and crus-
    taceous tetters.
  3. It cicatrizes inveterate ulcers, arising from a syphilitic  state of
    the  constitution;  it  stops or  diminishes the suppuration and
    destroys proud flesh, without altering in the least the adjoining
    texture.
  4. It is useful in phthisis; not that it destroys the tuberculous
    concretions, which in the hard or soft  state, act as extraneous
    bodies in  the lungs,  and become,  if they  are  numerous, the
    cause of irreparable disorder ;  I wish  only to say in cases of
    phthisis, it facilitates  expectoration, to which it gives a favoura-
    ble shade, and that it can cicatrize ulcerations of the bronchia,
    and some  excavations of the parenchyma of the lungs.
  5. Tumours, chronic indurations  of the lymphatics,  (edematous
    infiltration into the sub-cutaneous cellular tissue, are often ter-
    minated by resolution under the influence  of Kreosote  fomen-
    tations.
  6. The success obtained  from Kreosote in the cicatrization of
    fistulous passages, led me to  presume, in case of blind external
    fistula, it might be tried advantageously, previous to the opera-
    tion.
  7. It almost always succeeds in calming the pain occasioned by
    carious teeth, but does not prevent its return; it will not stop
    the destruction of the teeth ;  its only effect  on them is  tempo-
    rary. 
RESEARCHES ON KREOSOTE.
49
  8. It is certain, as a haemostatic, Kreosote is a precious  applica-
     tion ; but it must be remarked, it is only efficacious in capillary
     haemorrhage, and bleeding  from vessels of small caliber.   Er-
     ror in this particular should be avoided ;  the action of Kreosote
     in like cases is altogether mechanical.
  9. Kreosote ought not to  be employed in a continued manner;
     far from being useful, it aggravates  the complaint, occasioning
     violent pains.   It answers  well to alternate with other applica-
     tions ;  often with emollients, seldom with resolutives. Prema-'
     ture repelling by it may produce fatal consequences.
  10.  Finally, it produces decided relief, and sometimes unexpected
     cures, even when all other means have failed.
  I  cannot flatter  myself with having  treated, to all the extent of
which  it is  susceptible,  this interesting subject, by delivering for
publication, this weak result of my researches and particular obser-
vations.  I have  no other object  than to call the attention of prac-
titioners towards a medicine, I believe preferable in certain cases,
to those employed.  Such, at least,  is the  opinion suggesting itself
to me from the observation  of facts ; happy, if it is participated in
by my fellow members,  and more happy  still,  should it  be con-
firmed by experience. Some assertions appearing to me exaggerated,
T searched into facts, and reduced them to  their just value ; per-
suaded, as  says  one  of  our  experienced physicians, that it is the
duty of all  conscientious men  and friends  of truth, to declare with
impartiality,  all that can be useful  or  hurtful  to science or to hu-
manity.
THE  END. 
 
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