Catechu is a most valuable astringent.
It is _used externally_, when powdered, to promote the contraction of
flabby ulcers. As a local astringent it is useful in relaxed uvula, a
small piece being dissolved in the mouth; small, spotty ulcerations of
the mouth and throat, and bleeding gums, and for these two affections
it is used in the form of infusion to wash the parts.
It is _given internally_ in diarrhoea, dysentery, and hemorrhage from
the bowels.
_Dose_, of the _infusion_, from one to three ounces; of the
_tincture_, from one to four drachms; of the _powder_, from ten to
thirty grains.
_Caution_.--It must not be given with soda or any alkali; nor metallic
salts, albumen, or gelatine, as its property is destroyed by this
combination.