ANTISEPTICS 



487 



body, applied as a lotion externally, and used in the preparation of lint 

 gauze, cotton, and other antiseptic dressings. For disinfecting purposes, 

 the strength recommended is from 1 in 1500 to 1 in 10,000 parts. Four 

 grains in a quart of distilled water is the proportion commonly employed 

 for washing the hands and appliances to be used in operations. 



It was largely due to Dr. Koch that this agent to a great extent sup- 

 planted carbolic acid, as that eminent bacteriologist made the most exhaustive 

 experiments upon the anthrax bacillus 

 and other deadly organisms, and found 

 it to be the most efficient of the many 

 antiseptics then in use. It may, how- 

 ever, be stated here that Lister, the 

 father of antiseptic surgery, has gone 

 back to his first love, and recently 

 declared his preference for carbolic 

 acid as a surgical dressing. 



Eucalyptus. An essential oil 

 from the blue gum-tree, is regarded as 

 an antiseptic, and is in favour where 

 insanitary conditions predispose horses 

 to fever and impart an unhealthy 

 condition to wounds. Septicaemia, 

 strangles, influenza, and purpura are 

 among the diseases in which euca- 

 lyptus is advantageously employed 

 for disinfecting purposes, both by 

 inhalation and as an outward appli- 

 cation. 



Thymol is a crystalline substance 

 derived from oil of thyme, but has not been used to any extent in 

 veterinary medicine. 



Menthol is another concrete volatile oil but seldom found in the 

 veterinarian's pharmacy. It is, however, a powerful antiseptic, and may 

 be substituted for iodoform where the odour of that drug is particularly 

 objectionable. 



Sanitas, so much appreciated in great studs and horse repositories 

 where a disinfectant and deodorizer are both in request, is a proprietary 

 preparation, its properties being due to eucalyptus and a species of pine oil. 



Chlorine Gas is one of the oldest and most efficient of disinfectants, 

 which has been displaced by changing fashion rather than from any failure 

 to serve its purpose. In the convenient form of supersaturated lime-chloride, 



Fig. 436. -Eucalyptus globulus 



1, Section of unopened flower. 2, Anthers. 

 3, Section of fruit. 



