This section is from the book "Text-Book Of Materia Medica For Nurses", by Lavinia L. Dock. Also available from Amazon: Text-book of materia medica for nurses.
Saccharin is a substance produced by a very complicated chemical process from a coal-tar product called toluene. It is the sweetest of known substances, being between two hundred and three hundred times sweeter than sugar, but in chemical constitution it is an acid.
It is not a food, like sugar, nor a medicine, as it has no specific effect on the system. It may be used instead of sugar in diseases where sugar is forbidden, as diabetes.
It retards digestion. Average dose, gr. iii.-0.2 Gm.
 
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