January 25, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



65 



disinfectant. In commenting on this article of Dr. Hills's, we said 

 that Dr. Hills's criticisms dealt, not with generalities, but with par- 

 ticular errors which he claimed the committee had made, and that 

 his criticisms put the committee on its defence. 



In an exceedingly able article published in the Boston Medical 

 and Sitrgical Journal of Jan. 3, 1889, Professor V. C. Vaughan, 

 of the University of Michigan, and a member of the committee on 

 disinfectants, meets the criticisms of Dr. Hills completely, and 

 places the report of the committee on more substantial ground than 

 ever. This reply of Professor Vaughan's we have deemed of suf- 

 ficient value to give in full. 



The report of the committee of the American Public Health As- 

 sociation on disinfectants, together with the experimental investiga- 

 tion of others, has given great prominence to the employment of 

 mercuric chloride as a germicide. Recently {Boston Medical and 

 Surgical Journal, Aug. 25, 1888) Dr. William B. Hills of Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., has criticised the above-mentioned report so far as it 

 recommends mercuric chloride. As this is a matter of great prac- 

 tical importance, I propose in this paper to notice the points raised 

 in this criticism. Dr. Hills does not seem to have made any bio- 

 logical or chemical tests himself, but founds his opinion upon what 

 he deems to be well-established facts. The critic uses severe lan- 

 guage with reference to the committee, and asserts that " it is not 

 creditable " that the committee should have made the recommenda- 

 tions referred to upon the experimental evidence presented. 



In the first place. Dr. Hills states that corrosive sublimate is 

 rendered insoluble when brought in contact with organic matter. 

 He says : " It is, however, a well-known chemical fact that the 

 corrosive sublimate is destroyed, or at least undergoes chemical 

 changes, when brought into contact with organic matter. It is 

 immediately converted by albumen to the insoluble albuminate of 

 mercury. For this reason, albumen is recognized as the most effi- 

 cient antidote in cases of poisoning by corrosive sublimate." 



Now, let us inquire into the well-known chemical fact referred to 

 by Dr. Hills. I endeavored to show in the report, which Dr. Hills 

 criticises, that the albuminate of mercury is soluble in solutions 

 containing organic matter, and that it does diffuse through such 

 solutions ; but, as Dr. Hills places his opinion against my experi- 

 ence, we will see what others say upon this point. Merck (Merck's 

 Bulletin, August. 1888) of Darmstadt says that the albuminate 

 of mercury, which he manufactures according to the formula of 

 Schneider {Pkarm. Centralblatt, 1888), is readily soluble in blood- 

 serum, meat-broth, sodium chloride, etc. Every physician knows 

 that the albuminate of mercury is used hypodermically on account 

 of its ready solubility and non-irritating properties. For the prep- 

 aration of this compound either egg-albumen, blood-serum, or 

 peptone is used. Merck uses egg-albumen, while Filehne (Cloet- 

 Ta's Lehrbicch der Arzneimittellehre, 1887, S. 134) recommends 

 the following formula : " 1 5 grams of dry peptones, 10 grams of 

 bichloride of mercury, 15 grams of ammonia chloride, and enough 

 water and glycerine so that each cubic centimetre of the solution 

 shall contain from two to four milligraras of mercuric chloride." 

 Other formulffi are given by other authors. In one place Dr. Hills 

 admits that the albuminate of mercury is "slightly soluble," but 

 he says " the amount redissolved is very small." Filehne's solution 

 contains more than two and a half drams of the bichloride. This 

 amount would hardly be called " very small." When Dr. Hills 

 says that albumen is recognized as the most efficient antidote in 

 cases of poisoning by corrosive sublimate on account of the insolu- 

 bility of the albuminate of mercury, he teaches a doctrine which, I 

 must admit, is wholly new to me. Mercuric bichloride owes its 

 corrosive properties to the avidity with which it combines with pro- 

 teids. In cases of poisoning by this salt, we give the albumen in 

 order to supply a proteid with which the poison can combine with- 

 out injury to the walls of the stomach, and then we hasten to give 

 an emetic. What would be the result if we should leave the albu- 

 minate of mercury in the stomach ? If this compound is so insol- 

 uble, why do we give the emetic .' The idea that the albuminate 

 of mercury would not be readily absorbed by the stomach, is, to use 

 some of Dr. Hills's vigorous English, " so absurd that it would not 

 deserve serious notice were it not for the fact " that it has been 

 suggested by one so eminent in the profession. If mercury forms 

 an inert compound with albumen and other proteids, how is it that 



we get constitutional effects by the administration of the com- 

 pounds of this base in the treatment of disease ? Are the contents- 

 of the stomach and intestines always free from proteids when the 

 medicine is administered .' The truth is, that the albuminate of 

 mercury is insoluble in water, but is freely soluble in excess of al- 

 bumen, in blood-serum, in meat-broth, in solution containing sodi- 

 um chloride, etc. Indeed, all the mercury given medicinally is- 

 said by leading therapeutists and physiological chemists to be con- 

 verted into the albuminate before it is absorbed. Filehne says- 

 concerning the absorption of mercury : " The salts of mercury- 

 soluble in water form first with albumen compounds, which, partly 

 in excess of albumen, partly from the action of other substances,, 

 as sodium chloride, hydrochloric acid, etc., are soluble, so that the 

 passage of these compounds into the blood as soluble albuminates 

 is undoubted. The compounds insoluble in water are, by the action 

 of sodium chloride and hydrochloric acid, converted into the subli- 

 mate, and this in turn into the albuminate." Nothnagel and Ross- 

 bach (//aMrt'fc<r/; der Arzneimittellehre, se.c\\s\.e Auflage, S. 194) 

 say that while the albuminate of mercury is insoluble in water, it is 

 freely soluble in excess of albumen and in sodium chloride. 



Dr. Hills again says : " Sternberg, in the Medical Record for 

 Aug. I, 1885, affirms positively that the albuminate (of mercury) is- 

 a potent germicide, but gives no facts in support of this statement. 

 Klein's experiments, however, suggest that its germicide power is 

 very slight at the most. Admitting, however, that it has such 

 power, the amount redissolved is very small, and this is likely to be 

 converted at once to the inert sulphide by the sulphuretted hydrogen 

 present." 



I have italicized the assertion to which I desire to give immediate 

 attention. Here Dr. Hills is again wrong. Sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen does not decompose the albuminate of mercury. Every toxi- 

 cologist knows this, and destroys the organic matter before he at- 

 tempts to precipitate mercury from solutions containing proteids. 

 In the report of the committee, where I show that the albuminate 

 of mercury is soluble, I state that the organic matter was destroyed 

 by potassium chlorate and hydrochloric acid, after which the mer- 

 ' cury was precipitated with sulphuretted hydrogen. Nothnagel and 

 Rossbach (loco citato) say that " from the albuminate of mercury 

 one cannot precipitate the metal with sulphuretted hydrogen until 

 the organic matter has been destroyed." If sulphuretted hydrogei> 

 precipitate mercury from proteid solutions, the mercury so precip- 

 itated is not combined with albumen, and the occurrence of such a 

 precipitation shows that the mercury exists in excess above that 

 taken up in the formation of the albuminate. The albuminate of 

 mercury is not easily decomposed. 



Again : Dr. Hills thinks that the alkalies formed in decomposing 

 matter would precipitate the mercury. Nothnagel and Rossbach 

 {loco citato) say that " if common salt be added to an alkaline 

 solution of albumen, mercuric chloride will then fail to produce any 

 precipitate." No one will question the existence of common salt 

 in privy-vaults. 



It is true that Klein's experiments suggest that the germicide 

 power of mercuric albuminate is very slight at most. Indeed, 

 Klein asserts (or rather did assert) that a one-per-cent solution of 

 mercuric chloride is no more a germicide than is vinegar. Cer- 

 tainly no one will now champion this statement, although vinegar 

 is not worthless as a germicide. Koch found that the spores of 

 the anthrax bacillus will not germinate in a proteid solution if there 

 be present one part of corrosive sublimate in three hundred thou- 

 sand. And yet Dr. Hills, without having made an experiment, con- 

 demns the committee for recommending a solution of corrosive 

 sublimate, one to five hundred, for the disinfection of the liquid 

 discharges of cholera, typhoid-fever, etc. 



Dr. Hills finds very strong language of condemnation for the re- 

 port of the committee in recommending that the amount of bichlo- 

 ride found necessary to sterilize broken-down beef-tea be multi- 

 plied by two, and used for the disinfection of the liquid discharges 

 from the bowels of patients with cholera, typhoid-fever, ad- 

 vanced tuberculosis, septic diarrhoea, etc. As he bases his con- 

 demnation upon the incompatibility (?) of mercuric chloride with 

 albumen, he must suppose that these stools contain a large amount 

 of soluble proteids. In this he is again wrong : such discharges do 

 not contain large amounts of albumen or other soluble proteids> 



