lunar caustic
nounEtymology From lunar (“[alchemical] silver”) + caustic.
1
Chemistry, Medicine, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Obsolete Silver nitrate fused into a stick and used for cauterizing and as a disinfectant before modern antibiotics.
- However, the doctor soon relieved his sufferings, though the treatment was severe; nothing short of an application of lunar caustic allayed the inflammation.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 78: