Congenital ichthyosis in a child treated by washes of sodium borate. Sherwell (Jour. Cut. and Genito-Urin. Dis., Sept., In erysipelas Sevestre employs baths at 93.2° F. containing 16 ounces of so dium borate, which, he claims, lowers the temperature and tends to heal the eruption.
- , In 1S94 Ciaglinski and Hewelki de scribed a case of black tongue present ing a patch of mold extending as far back as the circumvallate papillie that contained black pigment and closely resembled the fungus known as Nucor rhizopodiformis. By means of borax washes the tongue became clean in a couple of days.
Both borax and boracic acid have been recommended as injections for an in flamed bowel, but their utility cannot be very pronounced.
In severe cases of infantile diarrhma daily irrigation of the larger bowel is most beneficial during the height of the disorder. I employ borax: 1 drachm to a pint of warm water. Carter (Pro vincial Med. Jour., May 1, '94).
That sodium borate has some action upon the central nervous system is ap parent, but this is so ill understood that it is impossible to formulate any definite physiological basis for its internal ad ministration. It has been empirically recommended for a multitude of dis eases, including locomotor ataxia, paral ysis agitans, cholera, etc.
Have used sodium borate with excel / lent results in paralysis agitans. Sacaze (Bull. de la, Soc. de Med. Mentale de Belgique, Mar., '94).
Borax in doses of SO to 90 grains daily is to be highly recommended as a. proph ylactic against cholera. During the epidemic in Italy during 1S64-65 none of the villagers employed in the borax works were affected, while in a village in close proximity one-third of the in habitants died. I opine that the drug kills the germs in the alimentary canal.
Cyon (Compt.-1-Zend. Acad. Sci., xcix, 149).
Looking at the drug from the stand point of the author last quoted, and admitting its mildly antiseptic property, —which are undoubted,—it is easy to discover the reasoning that has led to its use in septic diseases. So, too, the solvent action of the borates as regards uric acid, and their tendency to elimi nate urea, explain why borax often yields gratifying results when employed in uric-acid lithiasis; but it should always be most freely diluted with water. Another peculiarity of borax, also un defined, is its affinity for the genito urinary organs. In some cases it relieves
uterine hremorrhage with surprising promptness: an action that can only be explained by reflex through the nervous system.
But it is in epilepsy that borax has been most exploited in recent years though its use in this direction is by no means new; and for a brief period it was thought an absolute panacea had been discovered. But H. C. Wood, who tried it in a number of cases, succeeded only in inducing marked gastro-intesti nal irritation in every patient.
In order to avoid gastric and skin troubles by reason of large doses. I would suggest the borax be given with consid erable doses of naphthol or bismuth salic ylate. Fere (La Semaiue Med., Feb. 4. '92).
Of twenty-five cases one was cured and all relieved but six. Treatment was con tinued from one to seven months. Dijon(' (Lancet, July IS. '92).
Borate of soda is superior to potassium bromide in symptomatic epilepsy, but of less value in nervous epilepsy. Mariet (Le Frog. Med., Oct. 10, '92).
The prolonged exhibition of the salt may induce cutaneous troubles, consist ing principally of seborrliceie eczema of the scalp. The hair is shed. but grows again when the administration of the borax is stopped. Fere (Lancet, Dec. 23, '92).
Borax as a means of relief seems to have established for itself a fixed and permanent position. Gray, Pritchard, and Shultz (Annual of the Univ. Med. Sci., vol. ii, '94).
Borax is a useful remedy against con vulsive attacks of an epileptic character. Angelucci and Pieraccini (La Sperimen tale, No. I, '94).
Borax given alone is disappointing in some respects, but given with the bro mides its action is much better and the combination superior to either drug alone. Alexander (Liverpool Medico Chin Jour., July, '94).
On the whole, borax is of no value in epilepsy. Lui and Guicciardi (Revista Speri. di Fren. c di Med. Legale, etc., Sept., '95).
It may be imagined that under certain circumstances borism may give rise to accidents every whit as grave as those of bromism, with the difference that those arising in the kidneys are more insidious and more difficult to remove. This fact, more than all else, perhaps, has led to a very general abandonment of the drug, though a few still persist in its use, with more or less varying results that apparently depend upon the toler ance exhibited by the individual patient.