PHOSPHORUS, MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF. This elementary substance exists as an essential constituent both of vegetable and animal bodies; yet when applied in a concentrated and pure state to any organised structure, it acts upon it as a violent and corrosive poison. Into animal bodies it is introduced in a diluted and combined state, by which it is disarmed of its virulence, as an ingredient of many common articles of food. One of the chief sources of it is the starch of the cereal grains, such as wheat-flour, in the ashes of which, when burnt, it amounts to 23 per cent. (Trout's' Bridgewater Treatise,' book Hi.); also alliaceous plants, such as unions, in which it exists as a phosphate of iron; polygonous and other plants, in which it occurs as a phosphate of lime. It also exists not only in the bones and other hard parts of animals, but in many of the fluids, especially the excre tions. Thus it is found in the milts and roes of fishes, the substance of oysters, the yelk of eggs, in the liver, and also the brain, in which organ of the human being it amounts to from 2 to 24 per cent.
Phosphorus is of all stimulants the most powerful and diffusible, but, on account of its activity, highly dangerous. Its poisonous action scams to be connected with its strong affinity for by which it is converted into phosphorous and phosphoric acids. Hence when
brought into contact with the animal tissues, it abstracts oxygen from them, and produces an eachar, resembling a burn : the phosphorus in this way loses weight and is absorbed, so that the exhalation from the lungs and the cutaneous perspiration are impregnated with the vapour, and, under certain circumstances, luminous. A very small quantity of solid phosphorus, even one grain and a half, has proved fatal. Solu tions of phosphorus in oils, fixed or volatile, or in ethers, are still more active and dangerous. The vapour of phosphoius is of causing a peculiar affection of the jaw-bone in persons working much with it, such as manufacturers of congreve matches. This evil may be pre vented by wearing a sponge before the mouth and nostrils, and the observance of great cleanliness, especially using a solution of soda for washing the hands. Acetate of potash is useful in the dyauria which follows poisoning by phosphorus.
Little use is made of phosphorus or its oleaginous solutions in medical practice in Great Britain, though In cases of extreme prostra tion of the nervous system It is not without its value.
In the event of a poisonous dose being taken, bland mucilaginous, not oily, fluids should be freely administered, followed by magnesia or chalk in boiled water.