Common name. Ichthyol. A fossil product obtained from a bituminous mineral found in Tyrol, supposed tom be fish deposits. Preparation. Alcoholic tincture.
GENERAL ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTICS.
The chief action of Ichthyol is upon the skin, mucous membranes, muscular tissues and the kidneys. On the skin it produces pruritus, acne and urticaria; on the mucous membranes it causes irritation, inflammation and ulceration; on the muscular tissues, rheumatic symptoms. On the kidneys, due to the irritant action of the drug, we find increased urination, increased solids and uric acid deposits. Ichthyol seems to act as a uterine stimulant and will probably prove of value in menstrual disturbances. Dr. Dieffenbach reports several cases of dysmenorrhoea as having yielded to the drug. It has been found useful in the uric acid dyscrasia and chronic rheumatism and gout. It has also been used internally in skin diseases, especially chronic urticaria; in haemorrhoids, hay fever, bronchitis, whooping cough, tonsillitis, and gonorrhoea.
Mind. Irritable and depressed.
Head. Dull, aching; better from cold and from pressure.
Eyes. Burn, red; worse from any change of temperature.
Nose. Bland coryza (Euphr.); stuffed feeling (Nux v.); feels sore inside.
Stomach. Disagreeable taste; burning sensation; very thirsty. Nausea. Increased appetite.
Abdomen. Disposition to soft shapeless stools.
Urinary Organs. Increased in quantity and frequency. Increase in solids. Uric acid (Radium.).
Female Organs. Fulness in lower abdomen. Nausea at time of menses.
Respiratory Organs. Coryza; dry, teasing cough. Bronchiectasis and phthisis. Bronchitis, especially of the aged; winter coughs.
Skin. Heat and irritation; itching. Scaly and itching eczema. Crops of boils. Pruritus of pregnancy. Urticaria.
Compare. Hepar, Calcarea, Silica, Sulphur, Arsenicum, Petrol.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).