GERMICIDES AND ANTISEPTICS. 215 



" septicsemic blood" is spoken of, the blood of a 

 rabbit which has fallen a victim to this form of 

 septicaemia is meant. (Consult bibliography for 

 titles of papers by the writer relating to this form 

 of induced septicaemia in the rabbit.) 



Acetic Acid. This has the lowest preventive 

 power in Group II. the Organic Acids (Dougall). 



AlcoJwl ranks low as a germicide, but is not with- 

 out value as an antiseptic. Exposure to ninety- 

 five per cent alcohol for forty-eight hours did not 

 kill the bacteria in broken-down beef- tea (old 

 stock). The septic micrococcus was destroyed by 

 two hours' exposure to a twenty-four per cent 

 solution. The micrococcus of gonorrhoeal pus 

 required a forty per cent solution (S). 



"Pure or camphorated alcohol is largely used 

 by surgeons in France to wash their instruments, 

 but is evidently capable of giving only an illusory 

 safety against morbid germs. . . . When saturated 

 with camphor, alcohol does not destroy the virus 

 of symptomatic anthrax" (Arloing, Cornevin, and 

 Thomas). In the proportion of 1: 1.5, it destroys 

 the bacteria which cause the acid fermentation of 

 milk (Molke). 1: 1.18 destroys the bacteria of 

 broken-down beef-tea, and 1 : 20 prevents the de- 

 velopment of these bacteria in sterilized beef- 

 infusion (de la Croix). The micrococcus of pus 

 multiplies freely in a culture-fluid containing five 

 per cent of alcohol, but fails to multiply in a so- 

 lution containing ten per cent. Exposure for half 

 an hour to alcohol in the proportion of twelve per 



