FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE CYANIDE OF 



ZINC AND MERCURY 



Read before the Hunterian Society, November 27, 1889. 

 [Lancet, 1890, vol. i, p. i.] 



[On the 27th of November, 1889, Sir Joseph Lister described to the Medical 

 Society the operations he had done on two cases of long-standing dislocation 

 of both shoulders, and in concluding made the following observations on the 

 double cyanide of zinc and mercury.] 



Mr. President, I have hitherto felt considerable hesitation in publishing 

 cases in which the safety and success of an operation are essentially dependent 

 upon strict antiseptic management ; and my principal efforts for some years 

 past have been directed to an endeavour to procure, if possible, greater 

 simplicity and at the same time greater efficacy in our antiseptic methods. At 

 a recent meeting of the Medical Society ^ I brought forward a kind of dressing 

 which I believe will prove more satisfactory than any which has been hitherto 

 employed. For the successful antiseptic treatment of a wound two essential 

 points are of course necessary. In the first place, we should proceed so as to 

 leave nothing septic in the wound before we apply the dressing, and in the 

 second place we should put on such a dressing as we can thoroughly trust to 

 keep out septic mischief until that dressing shall be changed. I had intended 

 to bring before you this evening some points with regard to the former of these 

 objects — the means by which the wound can be kept aseptic till the conclusion 

 of the operation ; but since the communication that I made to the Medical 

 Society, I have been led to make further investigation into some matters 

 regarding the use of the materials I then described, which seem to me of sufficient 

 importance and interest to warrant me in taking this opportunity of bringing 

 them before you. The material, I may remind you, is a sort of double salt, 

 an amorphous powder, insoluble in water, composed of c^^anide of mercury in 

 combination with cyanide of zinc. It does not seem to be a true double cyanide, 

 inasmuch as the proportion of the mercurial element is considerably less than 

 that which should be in a true double salt ; nevertheless, the mercurial element, 

 as I have found, is of essential importance to the full antiseptic efficacy of the 

 material. It was necessary that this powder, if introduced into a gauze or 

 other fabric, should be fixed so as to prevent it from dusting out ; for it is highly 



' See Z,a«ce^, November 9, 1889 (page 309 of this volume). 



