Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/145

 HYPOPIIOSPHITES HYPOSULPHATES 137 seat of hypochondria: one is that it is an irritation of the nervous system which presides over the digestive organs, with or without gas- tro-intestinal inflammation ; and the other that it is a cerebral neurosis, a kind of melancholy, as proved by the constancy of the cerebral symptoms and the efficacy of moral methods of treatment. Some modify the latter opinion by tracing it to a disturbance of the intellectual powers, which acts upon and impedes the func- tions of all the organs by concentrating the whole nervous energy in turn upon each sys- tem, organic lesions following upon the neurosis and displaying the morbid symptoms peculiar to each. As a general rule the disease is of far less moment than the formidable array of symp- toms, the complaints of the patient, and the expression of suffering would indicate ; some- times deceitful, and tlieir feelings misinterpret- ed both by themselves and the physician, irrita- ble, suspicions, and versatile, hypochondriacs are exceedingly troublesome and unsatisfactory patients. Children of hypochondriac parents, if they show any signs of uncommon nervous susceptibility, should be educated in a manner calculated to diminish the preponderance of the nervous element, and to increase the physi- cal strength, as by avoiding excess of study and all excitement, cultivating the generous sentiments, and by gymnastic exercises; in this way the ranks of hypochondriacs would be much lessened. Attention to the causes, when these can be ascertained, and their re- moval as far as possible, the observance of hygienic rules adapted to circumstances and constitutions, avoidance of excess in eating and drinking, and perhaps an occasional laxative or a tonic course, are probably all that can be done in the way of treatment. But in order to be of any benefit to his patient, the physi- cian must secure his confidence, and accustom him to the belief that his affection is under- stood, his feelings appreciated, his sufferings commiserated, and his complaints attentively listened to ; having inspired this confidence, it is not difficult to lead even the most confirmed hypochondriac to change his stereotyped way of regarding men and things, to interest him in new enterprises and modes of thought, and by judicious management to put him in the way of a return to health by following the dictates of his own feelings and common sense. HYPOPHOSPHITES. The salts formed by hy- pophosphorons acid with lime, soda, potash, and ammonia were proposed, mainly on theo- retical grounds, as remedies for phthisis, by Dr. Churchill of Paris. They have been extensively used, and are so still to a much less degree. Although possibly useful as tonics in some cases, they are as far as all other drugs from being specifics for consumption. Their chief thera- peutic value is to be found in cases where the phosphates of the system are morbidly deficient. This occasionally occurs in the debility that sometimes follows prolonged lactation, in some forms of dyspepsia and anasmia, and now and then in the disturbance or fever of dentition. The hypophosphites of soda and lime are the most useful agents, medicinally, of this class. They are best given in combination with a bitter or aromatic tincture or infusion. The dose of each of them is from 2 to 12 grains, according to age and other circumstances. HYPOSULPHITES, and Hyposulphites, com- pounds, the one of hyposulphuric and the other of hyposulphurous acid, with bases. Of these salts the only one of much interest is the hyposulphite of soda, which possesses the property of readily dissolving the chloride, bromide, and iodide of silver. It has been of great service in the preparation of daguerreo- types and photographs, being used to dissolve the sensitive salt of silver which remains un- changed after its exposure in the dark cham- ber of the camera. In chemical analysis also it is employed to distinguish between the earths strontia and baryta, precipitating the latter from its solutions, but not the former. It has moreover been adopted as a medicine, and been found beneficial in cutaneous affec- tions, in visceral obstructions, and in disease of the stomach attended with yeasty vomiting. The salt is prepared as follows: A pound of dry carbonate of soda, finely pulverized, is mixed with five ounces of flowers of sulphur, and the mixture is slowly heated until the sul- phur melts. By constant stirring exposed to the air the sulphide of sodium, which first forms, is converted into sulphite of soda. This is dis- solved in water and filtered. The hot solution, concentrated by boiling, is then saturated with sulphur and allowed to cool, when it deposits large transparent crystals, which are the hy- posulphite of soda, of composition represented by the formula NanS 2 Os+5HjO. These are soluble in water, but not in alcohol. The hyposulphite of soda is the anti-chlor employed by paper makers for removing the last traces of chlorine from the bleached pulp. A deli- cate test for the presence of hyposulphurons acid is the brown red color produced by a few drops of perchloride of iron. The hyposul- phites, and especially the hyposulphite of soda, have been used in medicine for the destruc- tion of animal and vegetable parasites and the arrest of fermentation. The diseases to which they have been applied are not only those which are demonstrably connected with parasitic growth or fermentation, as yeasty vomiting and parasitic affections of the mouth and skin, but also those where similar process- es may be supposed to be essential factors; such are intermittent and other forms of ma- larial fevers, typhoid, purulent infection, glan- ders, cholera, and the contagions exanthemata. Although favorable reports have been made of their action, general experience does not as yet appear to justify the hopes founded on theory, or the confident expectations of the physician most widely known as the originator of the treatment, Dr. Polli of Milan. No harm, how- ever, has resulted from them, and the presump-