Sodium carbonate may be used for the same purposes as the bicarbonate, though probably inferior to it in all cases save infantile eczema capitis, in which condition it is a most valuable remedy for softening the eczematous crusts.

Prepared chalk is an ingredient of many ointments used in the treatment of erysipelas and subacute eczema. Lime water, mixed with equal parts of linseed or olive oil, is highly prized as a dressing for burns, and the efficiency of the "black" and "yellow" washes in the treatment of veneral sores is too well known to require further testimony in their favor. These calcium preparations also make excellent applications in acute eczema. Lime water may sometimes be used with advantage in leukorrhea and vaginitis.

Magnesium carbonate makes an efficient dusting powder in dermatitis and irritable conditions of the skin. Ammonium carbonate mixed with lanolin readily dissolves the epidermic scales of psoriasis, and the aromatic spirit of ammonia is a grateful application to the scalp in pityriasis.

Internally. - Digestive System. - The carbonates and bicarbon-ates, when given before meals, serve to increase the flow of gastric juice. They act as sedatives to the stomach, particularly in painful conditions arising from a deficient secretion of gastric juice. As antacids, when given after meals, they are very useful in counteracting excessive acidity of the stomach. The acidity due to the formation of fatty acids, the result of defective digestion, is not relieved by the administration of these salts after meals, but if taken before meals they are valuable in correcting the deficiency of gastric secretion, to which the disordered digestion is due. In atonic dyspepsia these preparations administered with vegetable bitters serve a useful purpose.

The bicarbonates and the salts of the vegetable acids are of some value in gout, possibly from changes in the composition of the blood, possibly by reason of the copious diuresis set up by the water and salt action. They are also of benefit occasionally in the treatment of acute rheumatism. Butler is of the opinion that in the treatment of acute rheumatic arthritis alkalies are far superior to any other drugs, salicylic acid not excepted.

While it is admitted that the treatment of acute rheumatism by-alkalies alone will not shorten the course of the disease so readily as the employment of salicylates, he believes there is certainly less danger of heart-complications, the period of convalescence is reduced, and the tendency to relapse lessened by the use of alkaline remedies.

The acetates, bitartrates, and citrates are efficient diuretics, cathartics, and diaphoretics, the first-named salts being superior diuretics, the potassium bitartrate a reliable cathartic, and the citrates active diaphoretics.

In chronic Bright's disease the acetates and citrates are frequently indicated for their diuretic action, while potassium bitartrate is one of the most effective cathartics and diuretics in acute fiephritis and cardiac dropsy.

Lime water is a useful remedy for vomiting - whether due to irritability, gastic ulcer, or cancer - and is also valuable in checking this symptom in pulmonary tuberculosis. It is an important adjunct to milk, in preventing the formation of curds and relieving infantile vomiting.

In the acute mycotic diarrhea of children, characterized by acid gastro-intestinal fermentation, the lime water is extremely useful. The symptoms also of chronic diarrhea and dysentery are often mitigated by this simple remedy.

Lime water is without doubt a very efficient remedy in diabetes insipidus, and may also exert a favorable influence in chronic bronchitis by checking and otherwise modifying the mucous secretion. It should be remembered that this preparation is a valuable antidote in arsenical poisoning. The syrup of lime is a very inferior remedy, the sugar which it contains neutralizing the beneficial action which the lime alone might exert.

Prepared chalk, or chalk mixture, is useful in relieving the premoiiitory diarrhea of cholera, and simple diarrheas of children, with greenish acid stools and flatulent distention of the abdomen, are greatly benefited by this preparation. It is very necessary, however, that the chalk mixture be freshly prepared, the cinnamon water it contains being liable with age to fungoid contamination, and the propagation of micro-organisms, which might seriously aggravate the condition for which the remedy is given, occasioning vomiting etc. This old standby is being superseded, however, in later-day pediatrics by the use of mild salines and intestinal antiseptics. Chalk mixture is still useful, however, in diarrheas not due to bacterial causes.

Magnesia is an invaluble antacid in gastric disorders, and especially in aphtha attending infantile diarrhea.

The ammonium preparations are useful antacids, being particularly efficacious in the dyspepsia of drunkards to allay nausea and vomiting, render the mucus less viscid, and act as stimulants to the circulation. Their excitant qualities, together with their property of modifying the mucous secretion, render them also of value in appropriate cases of subacute and chronic bronchitis. In cardiac therapy the ammonium compounds are valuable as quick diffusible stimulants.

In conclusion, it may be well to mention the values of alkalies in aiding the digestion of fats, and as efficient remedies in the dyspepsia and indigestion from which obese, gouty, and rheumatic subjects frequently suffer.

The virtue and uses of mineral waters will be fully discussed in the group devoted to the subject. The use of many of the alkaline salines is further discussed under the heading Cathartics.

Administration. - The alkalies should invariably be administered largely diluted, thus favoring absorption and preventing their irritant action upon the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane. The time of administration - whether before or after meals - will depend entirely upon the effect desired, a thorough knowledge of their action as above given being necessary to an intelligent and proper use of the various preparations.