Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-08-12
ANTIDoTE FOR DEADLY ACID.
Doctors Believe Alcohol a Certain
Remedy for CarboIic POISONING.

Doctors Believe Alcohol a Certain
Remedy for Carbolic Poisoning.
All physicians are interested in the
announcement that alcohol is an eff
ficacious antidote for carbolic acid
burns and poisoning which has just
been published with authentic cases
| certified by the medical men who have
employed the treatment The dis
cevery is considered of the greatest
Importance, as no means of self-de-
struction is SO often employed as car
bolic acid, and the cases of accidental
poisoning by the acid are of frequent
practice. Alcohol, if promptly applied
is said to entirely counterfeit the bad
effects of the acid, whethe- the injury
be external or internal. This remedy
has the virtue of always being easily
obtainable, and local doctors believe
| it will doubtless have the effect of
saving many lives in the future.
In an article by DR.. F. Pirkner. of
Union Hill, N. j., published in the cur
rent number of American Medicine,
the first reference to this cure is
made. The first experiments by which
! it was shown that the local caustic
faction of carbolic acid was arrested
or prevented by the prompt applica-
ton of alcohol were made by S. D.
Powell and A. M. Phelps of New York.
DR.. Powell in 1894 ascertained that in
alcohol 95 per cent. pure he had an an
tidote to carbolic acid, and ne since
used it in the treatment of carbo1ic
acid burns. He demonstrated his dis
covery in the presence of his class by
filling his mouth with pure carbolic
acid and allowing it to remain thirty
seconds. He then filed his mouth
with pure alcohol, and suffered no bad
results
The writer says he made similar
experiment, taking one drahm of Is
per cent. solution of carbolic acid in
his mouth and holding it there thirty
seconds. The pain was instantly re-
lieved by 80 per cent alcohol. He
remained but the carbolic acid taste.
says that no symptoms of any kind
He then rubbed some pure carbolic
acid on his hand, and two minutes
afterward removed all traces by bath
ing it in alcohol.
The first report of a case where al
cohol was tried for an antidote inter
nally was made by New York doc
tor, H. Rodman, in December. 1899.
A woman so years old swallowed two
ounces of pure carbolic acid and was
shortly afterward given four ounces
of strong alcohol The stomach was
washed out, and the treatment repeat
ed until in an hour and a half the III
gent symptom subsidized. BY a cours
of treatment in which magnesium su
plate was alternated with mucilagin
Gus drinks the patient was restored
| to health in five days. The write
concludes that if twenty-five minute
elapse between the poisoning and the
application of the antidote, it may be
too late, but if it is applied before the
! poison has a chance to be introduced
| into the circulation it will cure.
| An advocate said, in referring to
this discovery: 81 consider it one of
the most important discoveries of the
day, and have no doubt that it will
prove of ~incalculable benefit in pre-
venting loss of life. Every household
has a bottle of commercial alcohol for
cleaning or other domestic purposes,
The morgue records show that car
bolic acid is the most frequently en-
ployed for suicidal purposes, and any
physician with general practice has
many cases of accidental carbolic acid
poisoning every year"