Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 263

=TE'Ta.n.u.s.= Spasm with rigidity. When it affects the under jaw, it is called TRISMUS, or locked-jaw; when the body is drawn backward by the contraction of the muscles, it is called OPISTHOTONOS; when the body is bent forward, EMPROSTHOTONOS; and when the body is drawn to one side, PLEUROSTHOTONOS.

The cause of teta.n.u.s, in temperate climates, is generally irritation of the nerves, arising from local injuries, especially punctured or lacerated wounds. Of these the most trivial are occasionally sufficient to produce locked-jaw. In hot climates the disease is occasionally produced by exposure to cold, or by suddenly suppressed perspiration. The last variety is curable; the former one scarcely ever so. The proper treatment is a matter still undetermined. Sedatives, antispasmodics, and powerful stimulants, have each had their advocates. Large doses of wine and spirits, in conjunction with opium, have occasionally been administered with success. Electricity and the vapour bath have also proved useful. In all cases the bowels should be moved by active aperients, either by the mouth or per anum. Dr Shrimpton[231] recommends the Chinese mode of treating teta.n.u.s, which is as follows:--From four to five grains of solid opium are mixed with tea-leaves, or dried roses, and carefully beaten together with mola.s.ses. The patient smokes this mixture, and endeavours to draw the smoke into the lungs, leaving off when the narcotic effects are produced. These last generally from three to four hours. The same operation should be repeated whenever there are any signs of returning spasms.

[Footnote 231: 'Lancet,' 1871, vol. ii, page 547.]

=TET'TERS.= The popular name of several cutaneous diseases, the treatment of which can only be properly undertaken by the experienced medical man.

=THAL'LIUM.= Tl. [Eng., L.] A heavy metal, belonging to the mercury, silver, and lead group, discovered by Crookes in the early part of 1861, and displayed by him as "a new metallic element" at the opening of the International Exhibition, on the 1st of May, 1862. Thallium is a widely-diffused metal, being found in many minerals, particularly in iron- and copper-pyrites and native sulphur. It has recently been obtained in comparatively large quant.i.ties from the dust of the flues leading to sulphuric acid chambers. The spectrum of thallium consists of a single most characteristic line of a beautiful green colour. The spectrum produced when the metal is burnt in the electric arc is, however, more complicated, and consists of several green, blue, and other lines.

Thallium melts at 550 Fahr., and at a less heat may be readily welded, a property that has. .h.i.therto been regarded as peculiar to iron and platinum.

Its specific gravity varies from 118 to 119, according to the mode of preparation. When freshly cut it has a dull white colour, dest.i.tute of the brilliancy of polished silver. Exposed to the air, it tarnishes rapidly, a straw-coloured oxide making its appearance on the surface. The oxide is alkaline and caustic to the taste, and much more soluble than the oxides of silver and lead. The metal is remarkable for its strongly marked diamagnetic characters, resembling bis.m.u.th in this respect. The alloys of thallium are very remarkable. Copper, alloyed with only one half per cent, of thallium, becomes quite brittle; but the alloy with tin is malleable.

Mr Crookes has prepared a great number of the salts of this interesting metal. These need not be described here, as they have not yet been applied to any use in the arts. See SULPHURIC ACID.

=THALLOGENS.= Thallogens or Thallogenous plants are structurally the simplest of the acotyledonous, or flowerless plants, consisting simply of a collection of cellular tissue, called a _thallus_. They are entirely dest.i.tute of woody fibre. The _Algae_, _Characeae_, _Fungi_, and Lichens are thallogenous plants.

=THEBA'INE.= C_{19}H_{21}NO_{3}. _Syn._ THEBAIA, PARAMORPHIA. A crystalline substance obtained by Thibourmery from an infusion of opium that has had its morphia extracted by acting on it by an excess of lime.

=THE'INE.= C_{8}H_{10}N_{4}O_{2}. _Syn._ THEINA. An alkaloid extracted from tea. It is identical with caffeine, and may be obtained from tea in the same manner as that substance is from coffee. The best 'gunpowder tea'

contains fully 6% of theine, about one half of which is lost in the present careless mode of making infusion of tea for the table.

Mr Lewis Thompson, M.R.C.S., in a contribution to the 'Medical Times and Gazette' for 1871, directs attention to the value of theine as a therapeutic agent, as well as gives an easy method for its preparation. He writes as follows:--"I wish to direct the attention of the medical profession to a valuable agent which has. .h.i.therto escaped notice, although its powers are most unquestionable, and its cost price very trivial. The article to which I allude is theine, a substance existing in tea and coffee, and, as I believe, in many other vegetable products.

"As a medicine, theine is powerfully tonic and stimulant, and appears to possess the tonic virtues of the disulphate of quinia united to the stimulating power of wine, but with this difference, that the stimulus from theine is not followed by depression, as in the case of wine and alcohol.

"Theine seems to act chiefly on the great sympathetic or ganglionic system of nerves, and but slightly on the brain. I have used it in doses of from 1 to 5 grams, with very marked advantage, in the low stage of typhoid fevers, confluent smallpox, and that form of mortification of the toes which is so singularly fatal to old people. But, in addition to this, different medical friends of mine have found it useful in hemicrania, neuralgia, and what has been called relapsing fever; and in the case of an overdose of opium, it appeared to relieve the narcotic symptoms speedily.

"With regard to the cost of this medicine, I have discovered that in the ordinary process of roasting coffee, the whole of the theine is driven off before the torrefaction of the coffee is completed; and thus theine may be cheaply collected by making the axis of the coffee roaster tubular. If, instead of a solid axis, we employ at one end of the roasters a tube pa.s.sing away to the distance of about three feet, the theine is condensed in this tube by the refrigerating power of the atmosphere, and may afterwards be easily dissolved out by a little water, and purified in the manner about to be indicated.

"As the result of much experience, I have obtained on an average, 75 grains of theine from the roasting of 1 lb. of raw coffee; and when we reflect that in Great Britain alone, there are more than 13,000 tons of coffee roasted annually, we see that about 140 tons of theine are wasted and lost every year by sheer ignorance. It may, perhaps, be thought that the saving of the theine will damage the flavour of the coffee, but from experience I know that it has no such effect; and, in point of fact, it is an advantage to the flavour of the coffee to make both the axes of the roaster tubular, and to cause a gentle current of air to pa.s.s through the apparatus during the roasting of the coffee, so as to expel the empyreumatic products that are formed. I will now relate the fact upon which the purification of theine depends, and when this is once clearly understood, the manufacture of theine from either tea or coffee becomes an extremely simple matter. Theine is absolutely insoluble in a concentrated solution of the carbonate of potash, and thus we may precipitate it from its admixture with sugar, mucilage, and vegetable extract. If, then, by means of the subacetate of lead, we have removed from a vegetable infusion the tannin, malic acid, &c., we have only to evaporate the filtered solution to a small bulk, and add to it its own weight of dry carbonate of potash, and the whole of the theine becomes at once insoluble; so that having collected this insoluble product, and boiled it in rectified spirits of wine, we have a solution of pure theine, which, after distilling off the spirit, furnishes crystals fit for immediate use. In conclusion, I will merely mention a distinctive test for theine, sufficiently delicate to detect the one thousandth of a grain of that substance. Dissolve the theine in a small quant.i.ty of water, and pa.s.s through this a stream of euchlorine, then allow the fluid to evaporate at a steam heat; a blood-coloured substance will remain, which, on the application of a few drops of cold water, forms a beautiful scarlet solution like red ink. It is, I apprehend, almost unnecessary for me to say that euchlorine gas is formed by the action of hydrochloric acid upon the chlorate of potash.

"I ought, perhaps, to add that theine collected as a waste product of coffee, and purified by myself, has cost me less than threepence per ounce troy."

=THENARD'S BLUE.= See ULTRAMARINE (Cobaltic).

=THEOBROMae OLEUM.= _Syn._ CACAO b.u.t.tER. A concrete oil, obtained by expression and heat from the ground seeds of _Theobroma Cacao_. Occurs in cakes of a yellowish colour, of a pleasant cacao odour. Does not become rancid from exposure to air. Contained in all the suppositories.

_Not official._--The following form good bases for suppositories:--Theobroma oil, when melted, begins to solidify at 72 Fahr.; stearine of cocoa-nut oil at 75 Fahr.; 4 of stearine and 2 of mutton fat at 77 Fahr.; 4 of stearine and 1 spermaceti at 80 Fahr.

Stearine alone is, perhaps, a better substance than cacao b.u.t.ter for making suppositories. It begins to solidify at 78 Fahr., but there is stearine that solidifies at 120 Fahr.; this will not answer for suppositories.

=THEOBRO'MINE.= A peculiar principle, closely resembling caffeine or theine, found by Woskresensky in the seed of the _Theobroma Cacao_, or the nuts from which chocolate is prepared. Its form is that of a light, white, crystalline powder, which is rather less soluble than caffeine. It is obtained like caffeine. See COCOA.

=THERI'ACA.= A name given in ancient pharmacy to various compound medicines, chiefly electuaries or confections, employed as antidotes to poisons or infection. The THERIACA ANDROMACHI, Ph. L. 1746, contained above 60 ingredients. Mithridate and Venice treacle are examples of this cla.s.s. See TREACLE.

=THERMOM'ETERS.= FAHRENHEIT'S scale is the one generally employed in England, while that of CELSIUS, or the CENTIGRADE scale, is princ.i.p.ally used on the Continent. REAUMUR'S is another scale occasionally employed.

DE LISLE'S thermometer was formerly used in Russia, and some other parts of the north of Europe. As references to these scales are frequently met with in books, it is useful to know their relative value, and the method of reducing the one to the other. The boiling point of water is indicated by 212 on Fahrenheit's scale, 100 on the Centigrade scale, 80 on that of Reaumur, and O on that of De Lisle; the freezing point of water marks 32 Fahrenheit, and 0, or zero, on the Centigrade and Reaumur, and 150 on the scale of De Lisle. The 0, or zero of Fahrenheit, is 32 below the freezing point of water.

1. To reduce Centigrade degrees to those of Fahrenheit, multiply them by 9, divide the product by 5, and to the quotient add 32; that is--

Cent. 9 / 5 + 32 = Fahr.

2. To reduce Fahrenheit's degrees to Centigrade:

(Fahr. - 32) 5 / 9 = Cent.

3. To reduce Reaumur's to Fahrenheit's:

Reau. 9 / 4 + 32 = Fahr.

4. To convert Fahrenheit's to Reaumur's:--

(Fahr. - 32) 4 / 9 = Reaumur.

Thermometers intended to register extreme degrees of heat are called PYROMETERS (which _see_)

=THIBANT'S BALSAM.= FOR WOUNDS. Digest flowers of St John's wort, one handful in 1/2 pint of rectified spirit; then express the liquor, and dissolve in it myrrh, aloes, and dragon's blood, of each 1 dr., with Canada balsam, 1/2 oz.

=THO'RIUM.= Th. _Syn._ THORINUM. A very rare element, belonging to the group of earthy metals. Metallic base of thoria. It is obtained by the action of pota.s.sium on the chloride of thorium, and was.h.i.+ng the resulting ma.s.s in water.

=THORN-APPLE.= See DATURA.

=THROAT AFFECTIONS.= We intend here only to allude to those arising from exposure or cold. The list is, therefore, a short one. CROUP, one of the most important, has been already briefly noticed.

QUINSY, or INFLAMMATORY SORE THROAT, commonly commences with stiffness and pain on one side of the throat, and swelling of the tonsils, attended by febrile symptoms, which increase as tumefaction advances, and sometimes become extreme. There is great restlessness and anxiety, considerable difficulty in swallowing even liquids, the respiration is painful and laborious, and the speech obstructed. When the inflammation is not resolved, these symptoms rapidly increase in severity, the patient suffers the greatest misery, the tumour suppurates rapidly, the abscess bursts, and with the rupture comes almost immediate relief. It occasionally happens that the other side of the throat then becomes affected, and goes through the same stages; but in general this is not the case, and the patient rapidly recovers, a few detergent gargles and a light nutritious diet being all that is required. Sometimes, at the very commencement of the attack, the inflammation may be resolved by the patient sucking a lozenge or powder, every hour or two, containing 1/4 or 1/2 grain of tartarised antimony carefully triturated with about 20 gr. of lump sugar, so as to keep up a constant state of nausea or vomiting for hours.

MALIGNANT SORE THROAT is marked by the inflammation of the tonsils being more superficial; but no sooner does it occur than it pa.s.ses into small ulcers of varied colours and appearance, extending to the pharynx, and spreading over the whole fauces into the nostrils, and even around the glottis and down the sophagus. These ulcers rapidly slough, and the febrile symptoms of a typhoid character, which are present throughout, become more or less severe. In this way the disease often hastens to a fatal termination, and, being highly contagious, often extends itself to all, or nearly all, the members of a family. The treatment must be similar to that adopted for typhus fever. Stimulating gargles, containing capsic.u.m, the mineral acids, or port wine, are useful local remedies. See DIPHTHERIA.

=THRUSH.= _Syn._ APHTHA, L. A disease of infancy, which, in its common form, is marked by small white ulcers upon the tongue, palate, and gums.

In some cases it extends through the whole course of the alimentary ca.n.a.l, and, a.s.suming a malignant form, proves fatal. The treatment consists of a gentle emetic of ipecacuanha wine, followed by an occasional dose of rhubarb and magnesia, to keep the bowels clear, and to arrest diarrha.

The ulcerations may be touched with a little honey or borax; and if they a.s.sume a dark colour, or there be much debility, astringents and tonics should be had recourse to. In all cases the diet should be light, but supporting, as imperfect nutrition is a common cause of the disease.

_In Animals._ Topical applications of alum or borax, glycerine, Condy's fluid; laxatives. The food should be cooling and digestible.

=THYMOL.= _Syn._ THYMIC ACID, C_{10}H_{14}O. This substance is the oxygenated const.i.tuent of the essential oils of thyme (_Thymus vulgaris_), horse mint (_Monarda punctata_), and (_Ptychotis ajowan_) a common umbelliferous plant growing in India. Thymol is isomeric with cymilic alcohol, and h.o.m.ologous with phenyl.

Thymol may be procured from either of the above sources by treatment with caustic potash or soda, as described below, or by submitting the essential oils to a low temperature for some days. When prepared by the first process thymol occurs as an oily fluid; and when by the second, as a crystalline solid.

The following are the details of the preparation of the liquid variety of thymol as given by the Paris Pharmaceutical Society in their formulae for new remedies published in 1877:--

"Treat essential oil of thyme with an equal volume of an aqueous solution of potash or soda, and shake several times to facilitate combination. The thymol dissolves, forming a soluble compound, whilst the thymene, a carbide of hydrogen, that accompanies it in the essence, does not combine with the alkali and separates. Filter the solution obtained and treat with an acid--hydrochloric acid, for example--which sets free the thymol. The product should be purified by was.h.i.+ng, dried, and distilled. Thymol was obtained in fine tubular crystals by Fluckiger and Hanbury, who exposed oil of ajowan to a temperature of 0 C.; the oil so treated yielded 35 per cent. of its weight of crystallised thymol. Mr Gerrard says it is stated that oil of thyme yields as much as 50 per cent.

"As found in commerce, thymol consists of irregular broken crystals, nearly transparent and colourless; the taste is burning and aromatic, sp.

gr. 1028, but lighter than water when fused; its melting point is about 44 C. When once completely fused and allowed to cool to the ordinary temperature, it will maintain itself in the fluid condition for several days, but the contact of a crystal will at once cause it to crystallise.

It is freely soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, benzol, carbon bisulphide, fats, and oils, and but sparingly in water and glycerin. The alkaline hydrates of potash and soda are powerful solvents of thymol; ammonia dissolves it but sparingly.

"The potash and soda solutions are spoken of by some authors as chemical combinations; but the following test will demonstrate them otherwise. When shaken with ether the thymol can be entirely removed, and obtained as a neutral volatile residue."[232]

[Footnote 232: "Thymol and its Pharmacy," by A. W. Gerrard, F.C.S., 'Ph.

Journ.,' vol. viii, 3rd series, 645.]