Alterative

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Alterative is a former categorisation of materia medica covering various substances, often metals or minerals used in the treatment of chronic conditions to alter the body's metabolic processes. [1] Substances included in this category included iron, mercury, phosphorus, manganese and arsenic, [2] as well as iodine. [3] In modern medicine these are categorised separately according to the biochemical nature of the change they bring about and their categorisation as "alteratives" has become obsolete. [2]

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References

  1. Samuel O. L. Potter (1889). A Compend of Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Prescription Writing. Phildelphia. p. 36 via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. 1 2 "Alterative". Encyclopaedia Britannica . Vol. 1 (14 ed.). 1930. p. 709.
  3. William Davis (February 1895). "Iodine and Its Compounds". Journal of Materia Medica. Vol. 36, no. 2. p. 25.