This drug has a powerful antipyretic action. In all cases the reduction of temperature is accompanied by profuse diaphoresis, which may or may not be accompanied by a chill or chilly sen sation. Great exhaustion is frequently produced. The effects may be obtained by from 30 to 50 drops, and great care should therefore be exercised, the drug being applied but once or twice daily, the initial dose not exceeding 30 drops. Its effect differs from the stimulating cold bath in being depressant. The main indication for its use is in diseases ac companied by high fever in which the cold bath cannot be applied, as well as in all other diseases accompanied by high fever in which irritability of the stomach prevents the use of other anti pyretics. Friedenwald and Hayden (N. Y. Med. Jour., Apr. 14, '94).
Guaiacol has more effect in modifying the temperature about the beginning than toward the end of the acute fever. C. A. Dana (Med. Record, June 22, '94).
Applications of guaiacol over the spleen recommended in intermittent fever where quinine is not well borne or as an adjunct to the latter drug. Kohos (Gaz. des Oct. 30, '94).
The external application of guaiacol may be dangerous, first, by the sudden fall of temperature which immediately follows the application, and, second, by the nervous depression produced by re peated applications. In typhoid fever the method should not be employed on account of the long duration of the disease; in erysipelas and pneumonia, on the other hand, it is very useful. In tuberculosis its effect is favorable only in a certain number of cases of inter stitial granular formations without com plications. Baird (La Semaine Med., Aug. 17, '95).
Guaiacol internally excellent as an antiseptic in the typhoid fever of chil dren. The following formula employed: Ij Guaiacol, I drachm.
Glycerin, 2 drachms.
Alcohol, 2 drachms.
M. 1 to 6 drops in whisky and water every two hours, according to the age.
This treatment is continued through out the course of the disease, the dose of guaiacol being increased or decreased ac cording to the severity of the symptoms. tinder this plan of treatment intestinal antisepsis is evidenced by the slight de gree of tympanites, absence of sordes, and especially by the character of the stools, which are much less frequent and practically destitute of the very disagree able odor that characterized the passages of patients before the introduction of treatment directed toward intestinal antisepsis. Ktinig (Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., Oct. 5, '95).
Guaiacol deemed by many to be a de pressant and a dangerous remedy where the circulation has suffered from long continued fever. The writer has used it in a number of cases of typhoid fever with only the happiest results. When given internally guaiacol does not reduce the temperature to the same degree as when applied to the skin. McCormick (Brit. Med. Jour.. Mar. 7, '96).
Remarkable success with guaiacol in many cases of cough of long standing, in which no tuberculous element could be recognized. A. Goldhammer (Med. Record, Oct. 23, '97).
Guaiacol used in the treatment of malarial intermittent fevers; 15 minims were rubbed into the axilla and covered with cotton. The average fall of tem perature in hour was 1.6°, in 1 'A hours 2.3°, and after 4 hours the average fall was 3°. The fall of temperature was accompanied by a free perspiration and a marked improvement in the condition and comfort of the patient. No depres sion was noticed. Rogers (Ind. Med. Gaz., Jan., '98).
Eleven cases of serous pleurisy treated with a mixture of guaiacol, 1 part, and tincture of iodine, 4 parts, with favor able results. A drachm of this mixture was applied once daily to the affected side. which was then covered with wax paper, cotton, and then with a bandage.
Besides this treatment the patients re ceived only small doses of codeine or Dover's powder. In all cases the exudate became absorbed more quickly than was observed by the author under any other method of treatment.
By irritating the peripheral nerve endings the guaiacol acts on the thermal and vasomotor centres; hence the reduc tion in temperature and increased ab sorption-power of the pleura. Besides, it acts in the blood-current directly as an antiseptic. Brosorowsky (Meditzinskoje Obosrenije, No. 1, '98).
Reduction of high temperatures by the external application of guaiacol tried with small quantities on young children suffering from bronchopneumonia. The points in favor are: speedy reduction of temperature; ease of administration; and absence of ill effects, both locally and generally.
In a case of bronchopneumonia in an infant, aged 10 months, guaiacol was rubbed gently into abdomen or chest wall 76 times, and temperature was thereby reduced about 70 times. The re duction was most often 2 degrees, but at times was as much as 4 degrees.
The skin never became sore, even after 76 applications. No symptoms of col lapse were observed, but rather the op posite. Stanley (Australasian AIed. Gaz, Dec. 25, '99).