The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-23 00:00:00

THE BISULPHURET OF CARBON

DR. TURNBULL'S DISCOVERIES.

We have frequently had the pleasure of re
cording the almost marvellous success which has
attended Dr. Turnbull's application of the vapour
of hydrocyanic, or prussic acid, as a remedial
agent in cases of blindness and deafness. Since
that period the Doctor has directed his attention
to the investigation of the therapeutic properties
of other gaseous bodies, and the results of his re.-;
searches have been communicated to the public
through the medium of the Lancet and the Me-
dical Gazette, in the following letter to the Editors
of those periodicals :
Sir,—ln October, 1841, I gave an account of the
action of the vapour of hydrocyanic acid upon diseases
of the eye. Since that period I have been engaged
in investigating the action of various other bodies on
the same organ, and under the same form.
One reason why I did not rest satisfied with the
great effects produced by the hydrocyanic acid was,
that its action, like that of all other medicines, de-
creased in power by continued application, thereby
rendering it necessary to have occasional recourse to
other medicines, in order to insure a more speedy re-
covery. Another reason was, the reluctance of many
individuals to submit the eye to the action of so po-
tent a medicine.
The first medicines to which I shall refer, and
which I have employed with some success, are the
chiorocyanic acid and sulphuretted chyazic acid. The
plan I pursue is that of putting a drachm of one of
the medicines into a bottle (containing a small piece
of sponge) of about two-ounce size, having a mouth
precisely fitted to the eye, and with a ground-glass
stopper.
The action of these medicines is very different from
that of the hydrocyanic acid, in as far as they both
stimulate the eye, and produce much greater warmth
and irritation, with less dilatation of the pupil. Few,
however, can bear the chiorocyanic acid to be applied
longer to the eye than half a minute, though, in a
minuteiinneeeihaianfteeornistesqaupepnlciecation, all irritation is removed,
and the eye feels perfectly at ease.
The next medicine which I have employed in the
form of vapour was the chloruret of iodine. This
medicine produces very little warmth or uneasiness to
the eye, if continued for the space of two minutes or
upwards ; but a sensation of irritation, accompanied
with a flow of tears, takes place on its removal. It
contracts the pupil, and in no case have I seen it dilate
it. Its vapour rises very readily, and does not leave
blieseays-eelsloowf
thdooefits.i
eat
carbon,yg
to the
e a b
eye,
N,
Ne, colouring on the skin
pro-
duced by the vapour of iodine, when uncombined,
which is a great drawback in the use of iodine in
ltuairoshetnatnmaefdoircianefewwhich I have. employed is the
when is
the so volatile,bottle is thatheld theiD
fibbaapooisN:l3,lSUni,:lliof tears which itofocte seconds, is as much as can he
siinontesnseoprwicinkglintgo
thheiastfaateitd,
I generally use it by causing the patient to shut the
eyelid during its application, which can then he con
tinned for a minute or two with the same beneficial
effect upon the eye, and without inconvenience to the
patient. It generally contracts the pupil, and very
seldom dilates it.
I used to employ iodine by putting it into the same
bottles, and immersing it in hot water, and in it., state
of vapour applying it to the eye ; but I now find it
answers much better when dissolved in the bisulphuret
of carbon.
It is my intention, shortly, to give a full account of
the action of these medicines upon the various forms
of disease to which the eye is subject, and also what
particular disease each medicine is best calculated to
remove. At the same time I shall state such instances
of failure as have occurred in my experience, in order
that a just estimate may be formed of the value and
importance of each medicine.
It may not be out of place here to state, that I have
employed, with great success, the bisulphuret of car-
bon to enlarged indurated lymphatic glands. In the
first instance, I rubbed equal quantities of the
bisulphuret of _ carbon and alcohol upon the
parts affected, but without any effect upon the
glands. But as its effects were so great when its
vapour was confined to the eye, I was led to apply
it in the form of vapour, and by means of
glass bottles similar to those I have described.
By these means,l excluded the action of the medicine
from the external air, and thereby prevented its
speedy evaporation. When it had been applied about
one minute, the patient felt the part very cold, kut
immediately after a gradual heat, accompanied with
great prickling—the heat increasing the longer the
medicine was kept in contact with the part, until it
could no longer be endured. On removing the glass,
the part was red to an extent two or three times
greater than the part enclosed. In a few days the
change in the size of the glands was very great ; and
by its daily repetition, a complete and speedy removal
of the disease was effected. I also find that its action
neon disposed elands is more decided if the surface of

the skin is well woistencO. previous to the

_ .
application of the bottle to. the .
The water, hi fart.; not only prevents the esenpe. of
the vapour het een the glass and the skin, but. assists
the imbibition or th-3 'Oarbon ; a point of the highest

importance, inasinnoh all its action on the part de-
pends upon the exclusion of the atmosphere from the
vapour. I may here observe, that these applications
occasion no injury whatever to the skin.
I have also found the bisulphuret of carbon and the
chlorocyanic acid valuable medicines in the removal
of deafness, depending upon a want of nervous energy
and deficiency of wax. The mode of its application
is substantially the same as that which I employ in
diseases of the eye, with this difference only, that the
bottle is formed with a small neck and stopper adapted
to the size of the orifice of the ear, and held close to

the organ until a considerable degree of warmth is
produced.
The action of these medicines, which contain so
large a share of carbon, arises from the carbon in the
vapour permeating the cuticle, and coming in contact
with the oxygen in the vessels, which is conveyed
through every part of the frame by inspiration and
otherwise, and thereby forming carbonic acid gas,
which evolves heat in the ratio of the quantity con-

sumed by the oxygen.
The following quotations from Professor Liehig, in
his work on " Organic Chemistry," sufficiently prove
the correctness of this position :—" It is only in those

parts of the body to which arterial blood, and, with
it, the oxygen absorbed in respiration, is conveyed,
that heat is produced. Hair, wool, or feathers, do
not possess an elevated temperature. This high
temperature of the animal body, or, as it may he
called, disengagement of heat, is uniformly, and under
all circumstances, the result of the combination of a
combustible substance with oxygen.[ n whatever way
carbon may combine with oxygen, the act of combi-
nation cannot take place without ; ne disengagement
of heat. We can no longer doubt that gases of every
kind, whether soluble or insoluble in water, possess
the property of permeating animal tissues, as water
permeates unsized paper.'
Does not the action of medicines, containing so
large a proportion of =bon, which can be brought
into contact with the Whole external surface of the
body, and thereby capable of being easily disengaged,
suggest a method of relieving pulmonary disease likely
to be attended with no ordinary success, by calling
into greater activity the action of the skin, and thereby
materially lightening the labour of the lungs ? Are
we not the more encouraged to expect such remedial
influence in diseases of the lungs, from the fact of its
great power in removing indurated glands, which are
so common accompaniments of consumption ? There
can be no doubt of the usefulness of bisulphuret of
carbon in skin diseases.
I have submitted these observations under the con-
viction that they embody principles which may be
carried out, and made of great utility to mankind.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
A. TURNBULL, M.D.
48, Russell-square, Oct. 20, 1842.

A brief notice of this letter appeared in the
Literary Gazette of the sth Nov., and in the
week following the following letter from Dr.
Turnbull appeared in that periodical, still further
explaining the views of the Doctor on the

subject :
REMARKS ON TILE ACTION OF CARBON, &C.
(To the Editor of the Literary Gazette.)
48, Russell-square, Nov. 8, 1842.
Sir,—l beg leave to tender my sincerest thanks
for your kind notice in the last Gazette of my recent
discoveries on the treatment of diseases of the eye, &c.
Allow me to intrudefor onee in your crowded columns
by referring to what you accidentally omitted, 'viz.,
my manner of applying the bisulphuret of carbon,
and also to add a few reasons illustrative of the fact
which you have quoted from me, that its action
depends on its union with the oxygen. The plan
I adopt is this :—I put a drachm of the bi-
sulphuret of carbon into a two-ounce bottle ;
the medicine is so volatile that the heat of the hand
causes the vapour rapidly to rise, and come into con-
tact with the skin. The action is more decided if the
skin is previously moistened with water, as the water
not only prevents the escape of the vapour between the
glass and the skin, but also excludes the external air, a
point of the very highest importance. In my paper,
which appeared in the Lancet, of October 29th, I
'stated, that " when it had been applied about one mi-
nute, the patient felt the part very cold, but immedi-
ately after a gradual heat, accompanied with great
pric'kling, the heat increasing the longer the medicine
was kept in contact with the part, until it could no
longer be endured. On removing the glass the part
was red, to an extent two or three times greater than
the part enclosed. These applications occasion no
injury whatever to the skin. Showing that the
action of the bisulphuret of carbon depends on
its union with the oxygen in the blood-vessels,
I will merely state the following experiments
:
Carbonic acid gas was applied in a similar
bottle, and in the same way, to the skin, the ex-
ternal air being excluded, and the skin moistened with
water, for the space of ten minutes; but neither red-
nessnorrety se
heat was
the consequence of oxida-
tion aS induced; for this satis-
factoryon,
with the carbon, which oxidation, in the case of
carbonic acid gas, had of course been previously
effected. Alcohol, sulphuric ether, nitric ether, and
many other ethers— all of which contain a large por-
tion of carbon—were similarly tried, but had no
effect ; for the same reason, viz., that it is already in
a state of union with oxygen in all these highly car-,
bonised bodies.
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
• A. FURNBULL, &c.
So deeply are we convinced of the importance
of these discoveries, that we have felt it our duty
to give these communications of Dr. Turnbull
entire. It is a great thing to have discovered a
remedy capable of restoring the sight or the
hearing in cases which have hitherto been consi-
dered as incapable of relief; but neither the
sight nor the hearing are essential to the conti-
nuance of' life : not so the proper performance of
the functions of the lungs and the other blood-
vitalizing organs. Now without entering upon
the discussion of the vexatce questiones as to the
manner in which the lungs and the skin prepare
the blood for the proper perforMance of its func-
tions in the animal economy—without taking
part either with Liebig and the supporters of ate
new chemical theory on the one hand, or with
the disciples of the more ancient- school of
physiology on the other, we may assume
that both the lungs and the skin are employed
in fitting the blood for its office in the animal
economy, by eliminating for it a something, the
ultimate product of which is carbonic acid gas;
that if the skin flails in performing its portion of
the work, an improper share of the labour is
thrown upon the lungs, either by furnishing
them with a fluid in an improper state for them
to act oh it completely, or by calling upon them
to do more than their fair proportion in the
work of vitalizing fluid furnished to them in a
proper state; and that, admitting the skin to
perform its air proportion of the work, yet if
the lungs are too weak to perform their fair
proportion, they may be greatly relieved by
throwing an additional proportion of labour
on the skin, which will not be materially
injured by taking for a time a larger proportion
of the labour on itself. These things being ad-
mitted, it follows as a consequence, that in
asthma, consumption, and all diseases of the
lungs, our curative efforts should be directed to
the throwing. upon the skin a portion of the work
of the lungs. This has been the theory of me-
dical treatment in diseases of the lungs time
out of mind. This is, in fact, the theory of
the cure by blood-letting, and of the cure by
counter-irritation; but unfortunately, while by
blood-letting the labour of the lungs is dimi-
nished, the vital powers are diminished also; and
by the applications of all the usual counter-irri-
tants, while one portion of the skin is excited to
increased action, another portion is so completely
disorganized as to be rendered incapable of
action altogether. The great desideratum
has been to discover a counter-irritant
which, while it should excite the cu-
taneous surface to increased action, should
occasion no injury whatever to the skin ; and,
according to Dr. Turnbull, we have the remedy
in the bisulphurate of carbon. We therefore
strongly urge on Dr. Turnbull the necessity of
continuing lib:. researches as to the therapeutic
properties of the bisulphurate of carbon, more
particularly as a remedy for diseases of the
lungs. In considering,the action of the skin in
relation to the internal organs, he is proceeding
in the right path. Sir Charles Bell, in his ad-
mirable work on the « Anatomy and Physiology
of the Human Body," has well observed—
Some practitioners take the stomach, and others the
bowels, and others the liver, on which they harp con-
tinually, Let any one take the skin as his object of
care, and his practice will have equal success, his
cases and facts become soon as numerous, while his
connexion with general science will be more intimate;
and if he introduce his system by showing that
health is enjoyed when the various functions which
together form the animal economy are perfect, and
that one function cannot be in health without the
whole be also, he will, in my opinion, have better
claims to public favour than any who have yet
flourished in it by promulgating doctrines in regard
to the functions and diseases of individual parts.

THE INCOME-TAx.—Every day. brings with it
fresh indications of the universal dissatisfaction this
oppressive, and, (according to Sir Robert Peel's own
previous arguments) now unnecessary impost is
creating. These are not the complainings of one par-
ticular party, or persons engaged in some peculiar
departmentslof commerce, but they are dee Courant.
nature and fteneral in their extent.—Yoric n