Acidum Boricum

Boric Acid

Boric acid. Acide boracique, Fr.; Borsäure, Ger.

Properties

Boric acid occurs in glittering, white, scaly crystals. It is soluble in twenty-six parts of cold and in three parts of warm water, and is freely soluble in alcohol.

Glyceritum Boroglycerini

Boric acid, 310 grm.; glycerin to make 1,000 grm.

Actions and Uses

Boric acid possesses decided antiseptic and deodorant properties. It arrests fermentations and putrefactive decomposition, and is destructive of minute organisms—bacteria, vibrio, etc. Applied to wounds, it is free from irritating effects; it lessens suppuration, and prevents decomposition.

Boracic acid occupied an important place in Lister's antiseptic method. It appears to be as effective as carbolic acid, and is even less irritating to the tissues than salicylic acid. A saturated solution may be employed as a dressing to fresh wounds to prevent the action of atmospheric germs, or to arrest decomposition in gangrenous, sloughing, or ill-conditioned wounds. " Boracic lint" is made by steeping lint in a saturated solution of boracic acid at the boiling-point; and, after drying, it is found to hold a large quantity of the acid, weighing nearly twice as much as before being thus treated.

Mr. Lister's directions for the application of boracic-acid dressings to ulcers are as follows: "The first step is to cleanse the sore and the surrounding skin once for all from septic impurity. This is done by treating the surface of the sore freely with a solution of the chloride of zinc (forty grains to the ounce); and at the same time washing the integument with a strong watery solution of carbolic acid, which is used on account of its remarkable power of penetrating the epidermis, while for the sore itself the solution of the chloride appears to be more efficient. This preliminary step having been taken, the boracic dressing is at once employed as follows: A piece of oiled-silk protective, of sufficient size to cover the sore and slightly overlap the surrounding skin, is dipped in the boracic lotion (a saturated, watery solution) and applied, and over this a piece of boracic lint large enough to extend for an inch or more beyond the protective on all sides, the whole being retained in position with a bandage."

Mr. Lister has used boracic solutions with great success in pruritus ani, ulcers, skin-grafting, burns and scalds, eczema, in operations on the penis, etc. By Mr. Watson, these solutions have been employed with excellent results in the dermatophyta; for example, tinea tonsurans and t. circinata—especially "in that very troublesome form of the disease which affects the scrotum and inner side of the thigh."

Boracic ointment may be made as follows: "Take of boracic acid finely levigated, one part; white wax, one part; paraffin, two parts; almond-oil, two parts. Melt the wax and paraffin by heating them with the oil, and stir the mixture briskly along with the boracic-acid powder in a warm mortar until the mixture thickens." When required for use, this ointment should be rubbed up with a little glycerin to the proper consistence, and then spread on muslin or linen.

Boracic acid may be employed in all the various forms and combinations in which carbolic and salicylic acids are now used by the antiseptic method.

Borocitrate of magnesia, originally proposed by Becker, has been recently strongly urged by Madsen as a solvent of urinary calculi of the uric-acid variety. It may be extemporaneously prepared as follows: Rx Magnesii carbonat., 3 j; acid, citric, 3 ij; sodii biborat., 3 ij; aquae bul., oz viij. M. Sig.: A tablespoonful three or four times a day.

Tartraborate of potassium is, probably, a more generally useful remedy for the purpose above indicated, as the potash compounds of uric acid are more soluble than the soda compounds. As a solvent of uric-acid calculi, this salt is preferable. It is obtained by heating together four parts of cream of tartar, one part of boracic acid, and ten parts of water. It is a white powder, or occurs in transparent scales, has an acidulous taste, and dissolves in two parts of cold water. A scruple may be given three or four times a day in water, and the more largely diluted it is, the better when used for the solution of calculi.

Authorities referred to:

Husemann, Dr. Theodor. Handbuch der gesammten Arzneimittellehre, erster Band, p. 284.

Lister, Prof. Joseph. On Recent Improvements in the Details of Antiseptic Surgery, The Lancet, vol. i, 1875.

Watson, Mr. Indian Medical Gazette. The Lancet, vol. ii, 1875, p. 750.