Magnesium carbonicum

Volume III — Main text

MAGNESIA.

Magnesia carbonica. — Magnesic carbonate (MgCogjgMgO. 5H,0.

1. Provings, — i. Hahvemanw, CAr^w/V Z)«/flWj, part ivof original, vol. of translation. Contains 890 symptoms from self, Nenning, and

2 others.

1. In full doses it acts as a laxative; but it occasions very little serous discharge. (Pereira, op. cit.)

2. a. It is very rarely that it causes nausea ; and the stools it excites are not, in general, accompanied or preceded by more than slight griping. They arc fjcculent, not serous as with the sulphate. They are slow to appear, rarely before 6 h. after ingestion, sometimes delaying 16 — 36 h., and the laxative effect is often prolonged for some time.

h. if M. be given several d. in succession, it sets up a true inflammatory condition, as proved by the mucous evacuations, sometimes stained with blood, and by the tenesmus which does not fail to follow. (Trousseau and Pidoux, op. cit.)

1. Some observers have attributed to M. an alterative action, and Grange, Bouchardat, and others state that its habitual use, as in drinlcing water, will cause goitre. Some support is given to this idea by the fact that enlargement of the thyroid gland in mice has followed after mixing magnesia with their food (Gubler). (Phillips, op. ctt.)