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

This case illustrates the mode of treatment by the lunar caustic, of those terrible effects of punctured wounds which have been neglected in the beginning.

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

As might have been expected, silver was assigned to Luna or the moon, and in the modern pharmacopœia such terms as lunar caustic and lunar salts still have a place.

From The Seven Follies of Science [2nd ed.] A popular account of the most famous scientific impossibilities and the attempts which have been made to solve them. by John Phin

It appears scarcely necessary to describe the immediate and well known effects of the application of the lunar caustic to the surface of a wound or ulcer.

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

It is repeatedly stated hereafter, that the application of the lunar caustic is a means, in certain circumstances, of subduing external inflammation.

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

I applied the lunar caustic within the puncture, and directly a cold poultice to be worn over it; the arm was kept in a sling.

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