Tertschinsky gave boracic acid in 240 cases of enteric fever in doses of from 12 to 15 grains three or four times daily, with only 9 resulting fatalities. Kee gan also successfully employed it in a considerable number of cases.
Ammonium Borate.
This may be prepared by dissolving 1 part of boracic acid in 3 parts of hot liquor ammonia of a specific gravity of 0.960, and cooling to crystallization. It appears as white or transparent eight sided crystals, with strong ammoniacal odor; soluble in the ratio of 1 to 12 in cold water. It is employed both topically and internally in cystitis, and internally in renal diseases, where, in either case, there is an excess of acid or earthy phos phates. The value of the remedy, how ever, is doubtful, though in some few instances it appears to afford slight re lief. It has been tried in epilepsy also, but with negative results.
Sodium Biborate; Sodium Borate; Borax.
This, the best known and most gen erally employed internally of all the borate salts, has for many centuries been alternately lauded and condemned by the medical profession, though it has always retained a status in domestic pharmacy and therapeutics. As found in the shops, it appears in colorless transparent monoclinic prisms, shining, odorless, and effervescent in dry air. It is soluble in half its weight of boiling water, 1 to 16 in cold water; insoluble in alcohol, but very soluble in glycerin and fats.
The addition of a small amount of sugar greatly increases the solubility of borax; it will also rapidly liquefy a solution of gum arabie which has be come gelatinous from the presence of borax. Editorial (Amer. Medico-Surgical Bulletin, Oct. 25, '97).
It also has a faint, sweetish taste and alkaline reaction; in solution it absorbs carbonic acid and dissolves fibrin, albu min, casein, and uric acid.
As a general rule, sodium borate be haves like the alkalies, and, therefore, it should not be associated with the salts of the alkaloids. In mixtures of this kind the patient is likely to take most of the alkaloid in the last dose, with harmful effect. A. Dujardin (Union du Nord-est, Nov., '91).
Therapeutics. — As an application to mucous membranes, because of its mildly antiseptic and soothing effects, borax in solution is almost without a peer; many maladies make most happy recoveries under its use that with other remedies of more pronounced astringent or irri tant character prove most vexatious.
Especially is this true of some of the lesser diseases of the eye and naso pharynx, the milder forms of conjunc tivitis, certain forms of rhinitis, ulcer ative stomatitis, etc. Sodium borate in camphor-water secures a pleasant, harm less, and grateful collyrium that may advantageously be employed, either alone or in connection with other remedies, in most inflammatory conditions of the eyes.
In ulcerative stomatitis, swab with water acidulated with a few drops of acetic acid and follow by painting with borax (1 part) dissolved in glycerin (S parts). Garrigues (Med. News, Oct. 1, '92).
In atrophic rhinitis solution of so dium borate in glycerin, sufficiently diluted with water, may be sprayed into cavities; glycerin prevents formation of crusts; sodium borate prevents decom position of exudation. Musehold (Revue Inter. de MCd. et de Chir., Apr. 25, '95).
There can be no doubt of the value of boracic acid and borax as local applica tions in aphthous ulcerations, diphtheria, and other inflammations of the mouth, in which the crystals of the sodium salt may be permitted to slowly dissolve on the tongue. H. C. Wood ("Therapeutics: its Principles and Practice," ninth ed.).
Sodium borate is frequently employed against stomatitis and against aphthous ulcerations of the mouth, as in ptyalism, glossitis, anginas, etc. It is evident that the antizymotic property of sodium borate is the deterring influence. Von Renterghem and Laura ( Dosimetric Med. Review, Dec., '97).
The last authors quoted very justly believe that this medicament offers cer tain advantages in the treatment of some skin diseases, since it may be employed topically to dissolve the pellicles of the epidermis joined together by sebaceous matter, thereby acting as a detergent; in pruriginous or eczematous eruptions due to the accumulation of products of the sudoriparous glands the salt is often most effective.