a 
ON GOLLOLD CHEMISTRY AND ITS INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS. 169 
In many cases of rheumatism and neuritis and even in “ arthritis 
deformans ” relief has been rapidly obtained by its internal adminis- 
tration. In acute rheumatism, the intravenous injection of colloidal 
sulphur has proved beneficial. Colloidal sulphur has also been found 
to increase the tolerance to mercury in syphilis when administered 
orally, and has given relief in some cases of cancer when injected 
subcutaneously. 
Colloidal sulphur baths have been of service in rheumatic condi- 
tions and skin affections. The colloidal sulphur content in the bath 
is far greater than that of natural sulphur water, and as the bath 
contains no impurities or free sulphuretted hydrogen it is free from 
the many objections associated with the use of natural sulphur waters. 
Sir Malcolm Morris has found that among the affections in which 
colloidal?® sulphur is beneficial are various forms of acne (including 
acne rosacea and seborrhcea), generalised dermatitis, acute psoriasis 
and painful fibrositis, whether of connective tissue, of muscle, or of 
joints. Baths medicated with this colloid are, in his experience, at 
once soothing and quickly curative. 
Colloidal alumina (gel)** has shown excellent astringent effects 
in various kinds of diarrhoea and is less toxic than the bismuth 
compounds usually administered in such cases. 
Colloidal quinine (sol) appears to be free from the chief disadvan- 
tages of quinine salts, particularly in malaria. The fact that it is not 
so readily lost in the excretions is important as Hartmann and Zila” 
have found that less than one-third of the quinine salts ordinarily 
administered are retained by the body and that the amount found in 
the blood after oral administration did not exceed 3 per cent. of the 
dose taken. Further investigations are now being made on this 
colloid. 
Production of Colloidal Remedies. 
The production of colloidal solutions which are sufficiently stable 
to be used in medicine is largely a secret, few of the processes 
having been protected by Letters Patent. No single method either 
of peptisation or stabilisation is suitable for all the various sols 
required, and as prolonged and costly investigations are required 
before a really stable sol of high therapeutic value can be offered to 
the medical profession it is only natural that the manufacturers 
should keep the information to themselves. The general methods 
by which colloidal sols can be produced and rendered more or less 
stable are well known, and as a still larger number of substances is 
reduced to this state the number of methods used in their produc- 
tion will also increase, Of the methods which have been disclosed, 
the following are the most important, but it should be observed that 
none of these Patent Specifications have been taken out by the 
manufacturers of commercial available colloids used in medicine in 
this country and that they do not describe the methods used in 
producing the highly stable colloids which have yielded the results 
mentioned in the present report :-— 
No. 12,037/1911. EF. Arledter, Preparation of sols. 
No. 1219/1912. A. Dering, Preparation of Colloidal Mereury. 
18 Thid. 
*7 Eng. Pat. 104, 609. 
* Arch. f. exper. Path, u. Pharmakol. 1918, 83, 221. 
