On mycetoma, or, The fungus disease of India / by H. Vandyke Carter.

Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On mycetoma, or, The fungus disease of India / by H. Vandyke Carter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Sulphur—to be dusted on the plant. Hydro-sulphuret of lime (so termed; and made by boiling together in water, sulphur and caustic lime)— to be sprinkled freely. Penta.sulphide of calcium (so-called), &c. Aqueous solution of sulphurous acid ; strength 1 to 4—6 water. Charcoal. b. As regards the parasiticidal agents in common use for destroying Fungi which attack human hair, &c., they are numerous enough, and of some it is asserted that they are very efficacious. One advantage which attends their use outside—namely, that they can be thoroughly applied by means of friction—is necessarily wanting in the serious foot- disease ; and the defect is almost a fundamental one. The following is a list of some of these agents; those more likely to be beneficial are italicised, and suggestive formulse for their use in Mycetoma, may be found in standard works on skin diseases, &c. Acetic acid. Corrosive sublimate in aqueous solution. CarhoHc acid do. Sulphurous acid do. Sulphuret of potassium do. Hyposulphite of soda do. Borax do. Carbonate of copper do. Tinct. lodin. co. (diluted). Oil of juniper. Lime-water. Tar. Iodide of sulphur. Mercurial salts (galenical), to be introduced in semifluid forms, &c. Sulpho-cyanide of potassium, f oz. to viij oz. water, is said to be a powerful poison to vegetables, and not in the least poisonous to man as thus used ex- ternally. c. I have above suggested that the parasite of Mycetoma is either originally, or in one of its stages, naturally allied to the Schizo-mijcetes (de Bary), i. e. to Bacterium or Micrococcus ; and since there are known certain non-caustic drugs, which have the property of checking the development of these low organisms, one might hope some good to result from their use in this Eastern foot-disease. By experiment it has been shown (Baxter) that Quinia and the other alkaloids in Peruvian barks, in even weak solution, prevent the growth of Bacteria: Sulphate of Berberia is as efficacious as Quinia; Potassic picrate. Strychnia, Sodic sulpho-carbolate, also act decidedly in the same way, while Sodic sulphite and hyposulphite possess little or no effect of the kind. It seems to me that (taking suitable cases), there would be no objection to making fair trial of a solution of Quinia as an injection, to be forced into the sinuses of the foot affected with the ochroid variety of Mycetoma; the intention being to check the increase of the growth, or even to effect its destruction.^ As, however, the substances above named have avowedly no influence in preventing the development of moulds (as Penicillium), one could not anticipate any early good effect from their employment in the melanoid variety of the foot-disease. d. As alUed to the last series, I may mention the agents which are reputed to be antiseptics, as a group in which might be found remedies serviceable here. There exist * Dr Calvert found that in solutions of sulphate of Quinine vibrios appeared after twenty-six days, but no fungi during the entire period of the experiment. Pepper, &c , is stated to have the power of preventing the growth of fungi (loc. cit.).