1 1 26 



CHEMOTHERAPY OF BACTERIAL DISEASES 



not without considerable academic as well as practical interest and especially in rela- 

 tion to the treatment of urethritis and other localized infections by the long-continued 

 application of silver, zinc, and other compounds. 



I have experimented with mercurial compounds and cultures of Staphylococcus 

 aureus and B. coli with the general result that after a prolonged series of transfers the 

 organisms could be rendered distinctly more resistant, and the same is probably true 

 of compounds of the heavy metals and most bacteria in general, but results in vitro 

 are obtained only after several months of patient work and I doubt if bacteria, like 

 the gonococcus, acquire sufi&cient resistance in vivo to the silver protein and other 

 bactericidal agents to reduce materially the bactericidal effects of these compounds. 



THE SELECTIVE BACTERIOSTASIS OF MERCURIAL AND OTHER COMPOUNDS 



In SO far as the ordinary organic and inorganic mercurial compounds are con- 

 cerned, it is my observation that they do not exhibit any noteworthy evidences of 



TABLE II 



Final Concentration Proving Completely Germicidal 

 After 24 Hours at 30° C. 



selective bactericidal activities except that as a class they seem to be slightly more 

 effective against gram positive than against gram negative organisms. But nearly all 

 the organic and inorganic salts possess a high degree of bactericidal activity for 

 practically all bacteria, and some like mercurochrome, for example, have been found 

 to influence B. coli infections as well as those produced by staphylococci, streptococci, 

 and gonococci. It is true that some organisms are more readily and rapidly killed in 

 vitro than others, but these variations are readily explained by factors other than 

 selective bacteriostasis. But mercurophen, however, does display a certain degree 

 of selective activity for the gram positive cocci (staphylococci, pneumococci, and 

 streptococci), and is likewise somewhat more active for gram positive bacilli (an- 

 thrax, subtilis, diphtheria, and tubercle bacilli) ; but this selective bacteriostasis is not 

 as specific or marked as shown by gentian violet for gram positive organisms. All of 

 the mercurials, and especially mercurophen, are likewise particularly bacteriostatic 

 for spores like those of B. anthracis and B. subtilis. Mercurochrome is also somewhat 

 more bactericidal for the gram positive staphylococcus than for the gram negative 

 colon bacillus, and metaphen (4-nitro-3, 5-bisacetoxymercuri-2-cresol), recently de- 

 scribed by Raiziss and Severac, has similar properties. 



i 



