TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY 405 



J. F. McCLENDON, in the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medi- 

 cine, August, 1917, discusses "The Relation of Physical Chemistry 

 to the Irrigation of Wounds." He emphasizes the importance of 

 protecting the tissues from the effects of prolonged diffusion. The 

 action of the antiseptics employed is oxidative. "Oxidizing sub- 

 stances are, however, reduced by cells and an ideal local antiseptic 

 would be one whose reduction product is indifferent. Hydrogen 

 peroxide falls in this class but is not a powerful oxidizing agent 

 and is decomposed by catalase so rapidly as to render a large per- 

 centage of it ineffective. It acts as a mechanical cleanser. If 

 infusoria are placed in a solution of H 2 02, the latter penetrates their 

 protoplasm and is decomposed on the inside with the liberation of 

 bubbles of oxygen which burst and destroy the cells. More useful 

 agents are iodin and chlorin, especially the latter since HC1 formed 

 on its reduction may be neutralized by NaHC0 3 that has been added, 

 and thus rendered indifferent. According to DAKIN and his col- 

 laborators, chlorin forms chloramines when it acts on protoplasm, and 

 these chloramines have an antiseptic action. It is true, however, 

 that chlorin oxidizes many organic compounds with the liberation 

 of HC1. Chlorin gas escapes rapidly from its solution in water, but 

 this may be retarded by the addition of a base transforming it into 

 hypochlorite. Its oxidizing power is impaired, however, if the 

 reaction is very alkaline, but may be restored by bubbling CC>2 

 through the solution." 



MCCLENDON emphasizes the importance of having the irrigating 

 fluid physiologically normal. It is not enough in his opinion that 

 the solution should contain the salts in the proper proportion but it 

 must have the correct hydrogen ion concentration (p n ). This may 

 be provided by bubbling CO 2 through the fluid and measuring the p H 

 with indicators. 



The most important new antiseptics are chloramine T or sodium 

 toluene sulphonchloramide soluble in water, and dichloramine T or 

 toluene-p-sulphone dichloramine soluble in organic solvents, and a 

 paraffin saturated with chlorin, called chlorocozane. See Handbook 

 of Antiseptics (DAKIN and DUNHAM). Tr.] 



The Method of Testing Disinfectants Considered in the Light 

 of Colloid Research. 



For testing disinfectants bacteria are usually dried on silk threads 

 or marbles. These are dipped in the disinfectant solution, and after 

 the solution is removed they are placed in bouillon or fluidified agar. 

 If the bacteria have been killed by the immersion, no germs develop. 



