452 Biochemical News, Notes and Comment [June-September 



by Prof. Cohen should be tested bacteriologically by Dr. Dakin, and 

 that the most promising should be tried chnically by Dr. Carrel. 



" At about the same time, undertheauspicesof the EngUsh med. 

 research commit., a similar research by Prof. Lorrain Smith, with 

 the assistance of Prof. Drennan of the Univ. of Otago, N. Z., Dr. 

 Rettie, a chemical expert, and Lieut. W. Campbell of the British 

 army med. corps, was undertaken in the Univ. of Edinburgh. 

 Their results were reported in the British Med. Jour.^ The sub- 

 stance which they prepared was made by rubbing chlorinated lime 

 to a fine powder and mixing it with an equal weight of powdered 

 boric acid. The ideal antiseptic for the field, they concluded, was a 

 dry powder to be applied direct, which, it was believed, has advan- 

 tage over a sol. because it is more portable, and water is often not 

 procurable. 



" Chlorinated lime, the basis of the so-called new antiseptic prepa- 

 ration, is well known as a powerful disinfectant. Its alkalinity, 

 however, makes it destructive to living tissues except in dilute sol. 

 The same may be said of sol. of chlorinated potash (Javelle water), 

 which has been largely used by French surgeons in the present war, 

 and of sol. of chlorinated soda (Labarraque's sol.). The advan- 

 tage claimed for the new mixture is that the preparation, being 

 practically neutral and unirritating to the tissues, may be applied in 

 greater strength than that in which it is possible to use chlorinated 

 lime, Javelle water or Labarraque's sol. Experiments indicate also 

 that the germicidal activity of chlorinated lime is increased by such 

 treatment of the calcium hypochlorite as has been described. Such 

 increase in germicidal activity is generally attributed to the libera- 

 tion of hypochlorous acid. It has been found that the activity of 

 ordinary bleaching powder is greatly increased by passing through 

 it carbonic acid gas. Any other acid, as boric acid, will do as well. 



" From the ehem. point of view, therefore, there is nothing new in 

 this method. That the practical application of such a mixture is not 

 wholly new is proved by an earlier article published by Vincent. ^° 

 He suggested the application to ulcerating and gangrenous wounds 



^ Brit. Med. Jour., July 24, 1915, p. 129; abstr., Jour, Amer. Med. Assoc, 



Aug. 21, 191S, p. 744- 



10 Vincent: Presse med., 1914, xxii, No. 70; abstr., Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 



Nov. 28, 1914, p. 1986. 



