TECHNICAL DRUG STUDIES. 



EXAMINATION OF HYDROGEN DIOXID SOLUTIONS. 



By L. F. KEBLER, L. E. WARREN, and E. A. RUDDIMAN. 

 HISTORICAL NOTE. 



Hydrogen peroxid was discovered by P. Thenard in 1818 by the 

 action of dilute acids on barium peroxid in the presence of water. 

 It occurs in minute quantities in the atmosphere and is formed by the 

 oxidation of many substances in the presence of water, for example, 

 phosphorus, zinc, cadmium, tin, bismuth, copper, turpentine, and 

 certain essential oils. It is also generated in appreciable quantities 

 in the metabolic processes of chlorophyll-bearing plants. Hydrogen 

 peroxid was considered a chemical curiosity for many years after its 

 discovery, but was finally introduced as a medicinal agent by B. W. 

 Richardson in 1856. It was believed for a long time by some to be a 

 specific in the treatment of diphtheria, but this is now known to be a 

 fallacy. Hydrogen dioxid is, however, known to be a most valuable 

 germicide and antiseptic and is probably used more generally by the 

 public and the several professions handling medicinal agents than 

 any other single germicide. Numerous investigations have been 

 made to devise methods that would yield a suitable product without 

 the use of preservatives, but the results have not been entirely satis- 

 factory. The experiments undertaken to find a preservative which 

 would minimize the rate of deterioration were apparently more 

 successful. 



Numerous reports have been made on the quality and stability 

 of the various brands on the market. The results obtained often 

 were not very favorable, to the regret not only of the manufacturers 

 but the members of the medical profession as well. Some of the 

 early unfavorable results may, however, have been due to the use of 

 new and untried analytical methods. In 1884 Carpenter and Nichol- 

 son carefully studied the action occurring between hydrogen per- 

 oxid and potassium permanganate in the presence of sulphuric acid. 

 The samples examined by these two workers were represented as 

 containing from 10 to 20 volumes of hydrogen peroxid. The exact 

 amounts of hydrogen peroxid present in the various samples examined 



a Analyst, 1884,9:36. 



