AS A SURGICAL DRESSING 299 



corrosive sublimate in such a way as to get the advantages without the dis- 

 advantages ? The question, for instance, suggested itself, Suppose the discharge 

 had been more considerable in this case, so as to soak thoroughly through 

 and through the dressings, what might then have been the result ? \Miat is 

 the action of the albumen of serum or blood upon corrosive sublimate ? How 

 do they act upon each other ? It is, I believe, a very general view in the 

 profession, not to say among professed chemists, that albumen forms, with 

 corrosive sublimate, an insoluble, or very sparingly soluble, albuminate ; and 

 that this albuminate is inert ; whence the efficacy of white of egg as an antidote 

 in corrosive sublimate poisoning. In the fourth edition of Miller's Chemistry, 

 it is distinctly stated that an albuminate of mercury is formed as a precipitate 

 when a solution of albumen is treated with corrosive sublimate. In the third 

 appendix to Watts's Dictionary of Chemistry, the albuminates are still spoken 

 of, and, in the intermediate appendices, there is nothing said to modifv the 

 view expressed in the original work, viz. ' Mercuric albuminate is a white sub- 

 stance obtained by precipitating corrosive sublimate with albuminate of sodium 

 (white of egg) '. If it were really true that the albumen acting in a certain 

 proportion on the corrosive sublimate would form with it an absolutely inactive 

 compound, this would be a very serious consideration for the use of corrosive 

 sublimate in surgical practice. The albuminous (proteid) constituents of the 

 blood are enormously abundant ; while the quantity of corrosive sublimate we 

 can use in our dressings cannot be very great. According to the most recent 

 views regarding albumen, its chemical equivalent is about six times that of 

 corrosive sublimate ; but the quantity of albuminous material in the serum 

 of the blood is very much more than this in proportion to the sublimate we 

 could think of employing. My first experiment upon this matter was as follows : 

 I made a solution of albumen from white of egg, and then introduced it into 

 some sublimate- wool, the quantitv of albumen used being double that which 

 would be requisite to neutralize the corrosive sublimate, according to the view 

 to which I have referred. After leaving the albuminous fluid in the wool for 

 a certain time, I squeezed the wool, and obtained a clear fluid, and I was sur- 

 prised to find that this clear fluid tasted strongly of corrosive sublimate — an 

 albuminous fluid, containing twice the quantity of albumen that was essential, 

 according to the views to which I have referred, for neutralizing the corrosive 

 sublimate, had picked up from the wool corrosive sublimate enough to give the 

 fluid that came out a strong taste of that substance. I mixed this liquid with 

 an equal part of milk obtained from a dairy, and the milk remained perfectly 

 free from souring, showing that the albuminous fluid which had come through 

 the wool had antiseptic qualities, as well as the taste of corrosive sublimate. 



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