ACTIONS AND USES 423 



Creolin, or cresols and hydrocarbons saponified with 

 resin and alkalies, is one of the most useful of the 

 benzol or aromatic carbon series. It is a dark-brown, oily 

 liquid, of a tar-like odour and an aromatic taste ; neutral 

 or slightly alkaline ; soluble in ether, chloroform, and in 

 ninety-five parts of strong alcohol ; mixed with forty or 

 more parts of water it forms an opaque milky emulsion. 



ACTIONS AND USES. Creolin is antiseptic, disinfectant, 

 deodorant, parasiticide, astringent, and styptic. Its anti- 

 septic power has been investigated by Frohner, Albrecht, 

 Eisenberg, and others. Bacteriological tests prove it to 

 be more prompt and effective than carbolic acid in the 

 destruction of the microbes of glanders, anthrax, fowl- 

 cholera, etc. A 1 per 1000 solution is stated to kill cholera 

 bacteria in ten minutes, and arrest development of typhus 

 bacilli in one hour ; while a 1 per 1000 solution of carbolic 

 acid requires four days to kill the microbes of cholera, and 

 had no effect on those of typhus in twenty-six days (Frohner). 

 In solutions of 3 to 5 per cent, creolin destroys nearly instan- 

 taneously the bacteria of glanders, anthrax, and mammitis, 

 as well as pyogenic organisms. The virulence of tubercle 

 bacilli is destroyed in a few minutes by a 3 per cent, solu- 

 tion, while a 5 per cent, solution is fatal to anthrax spores 

 in twenty-four hours. Kaufmann states that as a bacteri- 

 cide it is ten times as powerful as carbolic acid. It coagu- 

 lates albumin, but, unlike carbolic acid and creosote, 

 moderately strong solutions do not irritate the skin, or 

 the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose. It is quickly 

 absorbed, and large doses have been given to animals 

 without causing intoxication or serious injury. It rapidly 

 impregnates with its empyreumatic phenol odour the sweat, 

 milk, and urine, by which it is excreted, partly as naphtha- 

 lene, partly as sulphuric acid. It usually colours the urine 

 brown. 



Employed with ordinary care, creolin is not poisonous ; 

 but as the proportion of phenols and cresols in different 

 samples probably varies, caution should be exercised in 

 its administration. Horses have received in emulsion from 

 one and a half to three fluid ounces without ill effect, and 

 cattle still larger doses. A medium-sized dog had a drachm 



