282 ANTISEPTICS FOR WOUNDS. 



stances which have since been separated, and are now 

 employed in a purer form. 



The value of coal tar in restraining suppuration has 

 been long known. Demeaux, and afterwards Lemaire, 

 employed this substance as early as 1859. Dr. Wolfe, 

 of Aberdeen, who used carbolic acid in the treatment of 

 wounds in 1864, advanced the opinion that it interfered 

 directly with the pus forming process. Lemaire enter- 

 tained a similar view, but of late a very different 

 explanation of the action of carbolic acid has been 

 given by Professor Lister, and widely taught. Lister's 

 views have been very generally received, and his prac- 

 tice has been adopted by many distinguished surgeons 

 in this country and abroad. Before Lister -advocated 

 the use of carbolic acid in the treatment of wounds, 

 various other substances had been employed. For 

 many years past Mr. De Morgan has used chloride of 

 zinc in the proportion of forty grains to the ounce of 

 water. The surface of the wound being repeatedly 

 washed, a firm coagulum is formed, which resists 

 putrefactive change. Beneath this the healing process 

 usually proceeds without the occurrence of suppura- 

 tion. Perchloride of iron is another very valuable 

 antiseptic application. Equal parts of the tinct. ferri 

 perchlor. and glycerine is one of the most useful pre- 

 parations for the treatment of superficial ulcers about 

 the mouth, throat, and parts about the fauces. Tincture 

 of iron has been much used in the treatment of wounds 

 by the late Mr. Nunneley,' of Leeds (Brit. Med. Journ., 



