228 ON RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE 



Boracic acid was then little more than a chemical curiosity. But I suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining in Edinburgh a sufficient quantity to enable me to test 

 its properties unmixed with other ingredients. A striking instance of its anti- 

 septic efficacy as well as of its therapeutic value was at once presented by a case 

 of pruritus ani of upwards of ten years' standing. The affected part was washed 

 with a saturated watery solution at bedtime, and a small piece of lint soaked 

 with the same lotion was applied and retained during the night. The result was 

 immediate relief from the accustomed irritation, and, what struck me as 

 extremely remarkable, the bit of lint, when removed next morning, was free 

 from smell. It was afterwards found that even the slight mechanical irritation 

 caused by the presence of the lint might be avoided ; for the mere application 

 of a few drops of the watery solution last thing at night, the part being left 

 moist with the liquid, proved completely efficacious ; and this simple treatment 

 being continued for a while, the obstinate tendency to irritation gradually dis- 

 appeared, while the thickening of the folds of skin, which had been of several 

 years' duration, entirely subsided. 



Another example of the usefulness of the new remedy was furnished about 

 the same time by a case of inveterate eczema of the ankles in a lady above the 

 middle period of life. The water dressing which she used being removed, a very 

 unusually fetid odour was exhaled from the moist scarlet surface, which, tender 

 as it was, she was impelled to scratch by an intolerable sense of itching. Thinking 

 that here, as in the case of pruritus, the irritation caused by putrefaction might 

 be a main element in the obstinacy and discomfort of the complaint, I gave 

 the boracic acid a trial, substituting a saturated watery solution for the water 

 in the dressing previously employed. The effect was at once to correct the 

 fetor, but in this case the application occasioned a good deal of persistent 

 uneasiness in the sensitive surface. The patient, however, persevered with the 

 treatment, and in a short time the ankles were both in a sound condition, which 

 I was lately glad to learn had proved permanent. 



But, striking as were these evidences of the antiseptic virtue of boracic 

 acid, I knew well that in the form in which I had hitherto tried it — namely, 

 in lint soaked with a watery solution — it could not answer for a permanent 

 antiseptic dressing under circumstances where there is at all a free discharge. 

 For the putrescible fluid soaking into the lint would drive the antiseptic before 

 it, and occupy its place, and as soon as this had occurred throughout the thick- 

 ness of the dressing at any one point, putrefactive fermentation would be free 

 to spread into the wound. In order that the dressing might be trustworthy 

 it was necessary that the boracic acid should be in some way stored up in it, as 

 carbolic acid is in the resin of the gauze, so that it could not be at once washed 



