lunar caustic

American  

noun

Medicine/Medical, Chemistry.

1. silver nitrate, AgNO 3 , especially in a sticklike mold, used to cauterize tissues.

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lunar caustic British  

noun

1. silver nitrate fused into sticks, which were formerly used in cauterizing

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Etymology

Origin of lunar caustic

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lunar caustic

Treatment.—They may be twisted off with a pair of small tweezers or cut off with a pair of scissors, and the seat burned with a pencil of lunar caustic.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry

Dissolve a couple of drachms of lunar caustic, and half an ounce of gum arabic, in a gill of rain water.

From The American Housewife Containing the Most Valuable and Original Receipts in all the Various Branches of Cookery; and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner by Anonymous

The danger of these last mentioned accidents may, according to Mr. H., be completely arrested by the prompt and free application of the lunar caustic.

From North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 by Franklin Bache

Since the lunar caustic supposedly had a moon quantity, therefore it would be good for moon-struck people—the lunatics of the old time and of our own time.

From Psychotherapy by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh

I applied the lunar caustic over both wounds and covered the eschar with gold-beater's skin to prevent the contact of the stocking.

From An Essay on the Application of the Lunar Caustic in the Cure of Certain Wounds and Ulcers by John Higginbottom