Sal Alembroth. Not Official. Ammonio-Mercuric Chloride. A double Mercury and Ammonium Chloride.

Source

Mix 271 parts of Corrosive Mercuric Chloride with 107 of Ammonium Chloride, both in solution, and evaporate.

Characters

Flattened rhombic prisms, freely soluble in water or glycerin. It contains one molecule of Corrosive Mercuric Chloride combined with two of Ammonium Chloride. Three grains .20 gm. of Sal Alembroth contain two grains .12 gm. of Corrosive Mercuric Chloride. It is a very powerful antiseptic, but does not combine with albumin so readily as Corrosive Mercuric Chloride, and is therefore less irritating.

Uses of Sal Alembroth.

Sal alembroth gauze (containing 1 per cent.) and sal alembroth wool (2 per cent.), both tinted with aniline blue, which is bleached by the discharge, so that it is easy to see if it has soaked through, are much used to dress wounds antiseptically.

Sal alembroth injections (1/3 gr.; .02 gm. in 10 minims, .60 c.c.; of water) are a convenient non-irritating form in which to use mercury subcutaneously in syphilis. The precautions mentioned below should be observed.