Natrium carbonicum

Volume III — Main text

NATRUM CARBONICUM.

Sodic carbonate^ NaCO,. loHjO.

1. PrTVtngs.^-i. Hahnemann, CArcffiV /);x^*7i«j part iv of origin vol. of translation. Contains 1082 symptoms from self and 5 otnen.

2. While large and continued doses induce anzmia and asthenia, small quantities, given for a moderate time, help to saponify fatty food, aid its oxidation and that of carbonaceous material generally, improve digestion and raise temperature. . - . The carbonate, according to the majority of observers, diminishes the excretion of uric acid ; and ai this acid results from insufficient oxidation, its diminished excretion implies improvement in oxidation. The reported increase of excretion of carbonic acid requires proof, but is rendered probable by the increase which follows injection of lactate of soda into the veins (Husemann). , . . Under daily 5 grm. doses of the bicarbonate urea is diminished, and anarmia ana prostration induced (Rabuteau). . . . According to Pavy, the carbonate not only increases the bile, but also the percentage of fat in the liver ; and when introduced into the portal system, causes the disappearance of hepatine, without formation of sugar {Guys Riptrtiy 1861 ; Proc. Roy. Soct x, x'l ; Me^. Times and Gaz,y 1865,1.) ' also the saccharine urine which commonly follows certain lesions of the sympathetic does not occur if much soda be previously introduced into the blood. ... It ia an important difference between potash and soda, that the former is an active cardiac depressant and poison, while latter has no definite effect on the heart-muscle or the circulation. Miinch found, in 5 subjects, when perspiration or diarrhoea did n occur, increased excretion of urine is the principal effect of 3 to 6 or 9 grm. doses of carbonate, but Rabuteau and Constant could not verify^ any increase with 5 grm. doses, given daily. (Phillips, op, cir.)

II. Poisonings, — i. It is well known that animals fed wholly upon sugar are subject, among other accidents, to a softening of the coma and destruction of the eye. It seems that soda produces similar effects on those engaged in its manufacture ; it appears to dissolve the fibrin of the blood and cause an excessive fluidity of it, produces a kind of leucoma, and finally ulceration of the cornea. The workmen who have to pound the crude article are the most exposed to its influence. All day long they arc covered with soda suspended in the atmosphere iii the form of a fine powder. It is among them that the greatest number of cases of keratitis with ulceration occur. The workmen engaged in drying the refined soda by agitating it continually on heated plates of iron, and those engaged in packing it, are also among those most exposed CO its action. The pernicious influence of the soda is usually manifested by the following general symptoms : earthy, wan complexion i slight puffiness of the face ; swelling (generally painful) of the glands of the throat and axilla; Gcdemaof lower extremities (seldom) ; anorexia; constipation or diarrhoea; sometimes palpitation^ and a well-marked bellows sound. As regards the ulcer of the cornea, it is always large and deep, and as often precedes as follows the other symptoms.