Cataplasma Fermenti.—Yeast Poultice.
Related entries: Cerevisiae Fermentum.—Beer Yeast
SYNONYM: Yeast cataplasm.
Preparation.—To ½ pint of milk, tepid, add yeast, 2 fluid ounces, and fine slippery-elm bark, a sufficient quantity to form a cataplasm of the proper consistence (Beach's American Practice).
The British Pharmacopoeia directs that 6 fluid ounces of beer yeast be mixed with 6 fluid ounces of water (at 37.7° C. [100° F.]), after which 14 ounces of wheat flour is stirred into the yeast mixture, and the mixture placed near the fire until fermentation ensues, causing it to rise through the liberation of carbon dioxide.
Action and Medical Uses.—This is valuable as an antiseptic application. It will be found especially serviceable in gangrenous and phagedenic ulcerations; it destroys the fetor, often checks the sloughing, and assists the separation of the dead parts. It should be renewed 2 or 3 times a day. Five or 10 drops of carbolic acid stirred in this poultice, will augment its antiseptic virtues.
