1872.) Notices of Books. | 
to the reality of phenomena which have been neglected only 
because they have been erroneously assumed to be delusions or 
impostures. Now that they are proved to be neither, but facts 
in Nature, they will be seriously examined by thousands, and 
by that examination truths of the utmost importance to physio- 
logical science cannot fail to be elicited. 
The Antiseptic System: a Treatise on Carbolic Acid and its Com- 
pounds ; with Inquiries into the Germ Theories of Fermenta- 
tion, Putrefaction, and Infection ; the Theory and Practice of 
Disinfection; and the Practical Applications of Antiseptics, 
especially in Medicine and Surgery. By ArtrHur ERNEST 
Sansom, M.D. Lond., M.R.C.P., &c. London: Henry 
Gillman. 1871. 
Dr. Sansom has succeeded in avoiding any display of that 
enthusiasm generally attached to the investigation of a single 
agent; the failures as well as the successes in the application of 
carbolic acid meet with due recognition. Considering the 
theories of fermentation, putrefaction, and infection that have 
been promulgated, Dr. Sansom, after much deliberate inde- 
pendent investigation, concludes that the germ theory, notwith- 
standing its formidable opponents, still holds its ground, if, 
indeed, it may not be considered to have taken an established 
position. He leans to the opinion that the active agents in 
. inducing the changes in fermenting masses are vegetable, not 
animal, structures. ‘The mobile bacteria and vibriones observed 
in the early stages of organic decomposition are considered to be 
non-essential to the processes of decomposition, while the 
fungoid elements play an essential part. In putrefaction the 
material affords a more fitting pabulum for forms of animal 
life, and the complications due to the appearance, vital acts, and 
mutual decompositions of animalcule, are superadded to make 
the process still more complex. But merely theorising is not 
Dr. Sansom’s aim ; he places in a light clear to all the numerous 
practical applications of carbolic acid in the destruction of 
noxious fungi and insects, and in preventing putrefaction; the 
action of carbolic acid on inoculable virus; on the poisons of 
infecting diseases, &c. The action of carbolic acid in surgical 
cases is treated in the most interesting manner, the details of 
each case being stated, while the pros and contras are carefully 
reasoned out. Dr. Sansom says of the action of carbolic acid 
on putrefactive decomposition that, ‘“‘ Abundant experimentation 
has proved that carbolic acid prevents the putrefaction of organic 
substances. A piece of meat soaked in a 1 per cent solution of 
carbolic acid for one hour entirely resists putrefaction. Gut, skin, 
&c., in like manner resist decomposition. Animal size and glue 
in solution mixed with small quantities of carbolic acid are 
