SULPHIDE OF CALCIUM, OR CALX SULPHURATE, 
IN 
TONSILLITIS. 
BY 
FRANK P. NORBURY, M.D., 
JACKSONVILLE, ILL., 
Assistant Physician Illinois Central Hospital for the Insane. 
REPRINTED FROM THE THERAPEUTIC GAZETTE, MAY ib, 1892. 
DETROIT, MICH. : 
GEORGE S. DAVIS, PUBLISHER. 
1892. SULPHIDE OF CALCIUM, OR CALX 
SULPHURATE, IN TONSILLITIS. 
ACUTE parenchymatous inflammation of 
the tonsils, in strumous patients, has a 
tendency towards rapid suppuration. The 
febrile symptoms are seemingly aggravated, 
while the enlarged tonsils cause difficulty and 
painful deglutition, from the onset of the 
disease. 
Such cases suffer intensely and become 
greatly depressed by an attack of even a few 
days' duration. A neurasthenic condition 
often follows in the wake of such attacks. 
Especially is this noticeable among the insane, 
where the nervous phenomena are, no doubt, 
greater than in the sane. Observation of a 
number of such cases, where suppuration 
was marked, led me to use sulphurate of cal- 
cium, with the hope that Ringer’s ardent ad- 
vocacy of its use, in boils and other suppura- 
tive processes would, in a measure, relieve 
the suppurative condition present in these 
cases of tonsillitis. The results were most 
gratifying, and in three cases this winter I 
have aborted the attack. In one case, ad- 
mitted to this hospital with tonsillar abscess, 
which broke on the day of admission, spon- 
taneously, the prolonged convalescence, usual 2 
in strumous cases, was cut short, and an in- 
crease of bodily weight noticed within a few 
days. 
In acute cases, I have been pleased with its 
results, suppuration being prevented, and the 
febrile symptoms, pain, etc., being greatly 
modified. 
Small doses to grain), frequently 
repeated, best subserve the therapeutic action 
of the drug. Antiseptic local treatment is 
indicated, and where suppuration has taken 
place, immediate evacuation of the pus 
should be made and the cavity thoroughly 
cleansed. 
I prefer the method of Dr. G. V. Black, of 
this city, in the treatment of abscesses of the 
mouth and throat, which is briefly this : Per- 
oxide of hydrogen, to which has been added 
a little oil of cassia. The oil of cassia—a 
thorough and efficient antiseptic—is, by the 
aid of the peroxide of hydrogen, thoroughly 
disseminated, even to the remote pockets of 
the abscess.