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CREOSOTE, CREASOTE

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 410 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CREOSOTE, CREASOTE Or KREASOTE (from Gr. apEas, flesh, and o•c'4"ecv, to preserve), a product of the See also:distillation of See also:coal, See also:bone oil, shale oil, and See also:wood-See also:tar (more especially that made from See also:beech-wood). The creosote is extracted from the distillate by means of See also:alkali, separated from the filtered alkaline See also:solution by sulphuric See also:acid, and then distilled with dilute alkali; the distillate is again treated with alkali and acid, till its See also:purification is effected; it is then redistilled at 200° C., and dried by means of See also:calcium chloride. It is a highly refractive, colourless, oily liquid, and was first obtained in 1832 by K. See also:Reichenbach from beech-wood tar. It consists mainly of a mixture of phenol, cresol, guaiacol, creosol, xylenol, dimethyl guaiacol, See also:ethyl guaiacol, and various methyl See also:ethers of See also:pyrogallol. Creosote has a strong odour and hot See also:taste, and See also:burns with a smoky See also:flame. It dissolves See also:sulphur, See also:phosphorus, resins, and many acids and colouring matters; and is soluble in See also:alcohol, See also:ether, and See also:carbon disulphide, and in 8o parts by See also:volume of See also:water. It is distinguished from carbolic acid by the following properties: it rotates the See also:plane of polarized See also:light to the right, forms with See also:collodion a transparent fluid, and is nearly insoluble in See also:glycerin; whereas carbolic acid has no effect on polarized light, gives with about two-thirds of its volume of collodion a gelatinous See also:mass, and is soluble in all proportions in glycerin; further, alcohol and ferric chloride produce with creosote a See also:green solution, turned See also:brown by water, with carbolic acid a brown, and on the addition of water a See also:blue solution. Creosote, like carbolic acid, is a powerful antiseptic, and readily coagulates albuminous See also:matter; wood-See also:smoke and pyroligneous acid or wood-See also:vinegar owe to its presence their efficacy in preserving See also:animal and See also:vegetable sub-stances from putrefaction. Creosote oil is the name generally applied to the fraction of the coal tar distillate which boils between zoo° and 300° C. (see COAT. TAR).

It is a greenish-yellow fluorescent liquid, usually containing phenol, cresol, See also:

naphthalene, See also:anthracene, See also:pyridine, See also:quinoline, See also:acridine and other substances. Its See also:chief use is for the preservation of See also:timber. See also:Pharmacology and See also:Therapeutics.—Creosote derived from wood-tar is given medicinally in doses of from one to five minims, either suspended in See also:mucilage, or in capsules. It should always be administered after a See also:meal, when the gastric contents dilute it and prevent irritation. Creosote and carbolic acid (q.v.) have a very similar pharmacology; but there is one conspicuous exception. Beech-wood creosote alone should be used in See also:medicine, as its See also:composition renders it much more valuable than other creosotes. Its constituents circulate unchanged in the See also:blood and are excreted by the lungs. Although carbolic acid has no value in See also:phthisis (pulmonary See also:tuberculosis) or in any other bacterial See also:condition of the lungs, creosote, having volatile constituents which are excreted in the expired See also:air and which are powerfully antiseptic, may well be of much value in these''conditions. In phthisis creosote is now superseded by both its carbonate (creosotal)—given in the same doses—which causes less gastric disturbance, and by guaiacol itself, which may be given in doses up to See also:thirty minims in capsules. The phosphate (phosote or phosphote), phosphite (phosphotal), and valerianate (eosote) also find application. Similarly the carbonate of guaiacol may be given in doses even as large as a drachm. Creosote may also be used as an inhalation with a See also:steam atomizer.

It is applicable not only in phthisis but in See also:

bronchiectasis, See also:bronchitis, broncho-See also:pneumonia, lobar pneumonia and all other bacterial See also:lung diseases. Like carbolic acid, creosote may be used in toothache, and the See also:local antiseptic and anaesthetic See also:action which it shares with that substance is often of value in relieving gastric See also:pain due to See also:simple See also:ulcer or See also:cancer, and in those forms of vomiting which are due to gastric irritation. For the determination and separation of the various constituents of creosote see F. Tiemann, Ber. (1881), 14, p. 2005; A. See also:Baal and C. Choay, Comptes rendus (1893), 116, p. 197; and L. F. Kebler, Amer. Jour.

Pharm. (1899), p. 409.

End of Article: CREOSOTE, CREASOTE

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