THYMIC AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PHENIC ACID. 
401 
gave them an elaborate analysis some eight or ten years ago. But all these 
put together yielded next to no quantity of the substance which the author 
proposed as a substitute for carbolic acid. 
Dr. Redwood did not think it would be quite fair to discourage the inquiry 
that appeared to have been made by the author of the paper, and the suggestion 
he threw out for attempting to find some substitute for carbolic acid, especially 
on the grounds which had been urged. In reference to the author’s having, in 
seeking a substitute for carbolic acid, sought among the homologues of carbolic 
acid,—surely there was nothing unreasonable in that! If Dr. Attfield had 
been seeking a substitute for acetic acid, he would most likely have looked 
among the class of acids which were homologous, and not amongst the class of 
alkaloids or salts. He would have looked amongst bodies analogous in constitu¬ 
tion. But the author of the paper was not influenced in adopting thymic acid as 
a remedy by the mere fact that it was ahomologue of the body for which he re¬ 
quired a substitute. He took this, and very fairly submitting it to experiment, 
ascertained what its physiological properties were, and, finding those to coincide 
with carbolic acid, surely he could not have pursued a more correct method of 
investigation, or one more likely to bring him to a satisfactory result! And if 
they took the statement as given by the author,—and they had nothing else to 
guide them,—they must admit that, so far as properties were concerned, he had 
found a substance which appeared to answer the purpose of carbolic acid. And 
then, with reference to the supply, it was suggested that there was no proba¬ 
bility of there being any adequate supply of this thymic acid. But they must 
not judge too hastily. Even admitting that they would find a great difficulty in 
getting any quantity of oil of thyme in this country, as they found it difficult 
to get any quantity of true oil of rosemary, it did not follow that the same 
difficulty would be experienced elsewhere. If it could be shown that the oil of 
thyme, or the acid which might be separated from it, possessed some decided 
advantage over another substance which they were now using, and if a demand 
were once created for it, he was not at all sure that the means of supplying 
it would not be provided. On the Continent oil of thyme was produced much 
more abundantly than it was in this country; and he believed that if the 
demand were increased, the supply would take place to a much greater extent. 
But they were not limited to that, for, as Dr. Attfield had stated, the oil of 
ajowan yielded exactly the same product; and he did not know—perhaps 
Mr. Ilanbury could tell them—to what extent that was now produced in the 
East Indies. They must not too readily condemn and discourage what a gentle¬ 
man had attempted to do in proposing a substitute for a substance which did 
possess some decided objections in regard to its physical qualities as applied in 
medicine. 
Mr. Hanbury said that when he first heard this paper read, he felt the same 
objections as those stated by Dr. Attfield. But he could only suppose that the 
writer of the paper meant to imply that thymic acid might be prepared and 
used in a few rare cases where the odour of carbolic acid might be an objection. 
Under these circumstances, he thought there would be no difficulty in obtaining 
a sufficient supply; because, although all the oil of thyme in the world were a 
mere nothing compared with the present demand for carbolic acid, yet there 
was a sufficient quantity of it for the small amount that might be used in 
medicine. Oil of thyme was produced to a considerable extent, comparatively, 
in certain districts of the South of France, where the barren hills were entirely 
covered with our common garden thyme, and the oil was sold in this country 
for 2s. or 3 s. per pound. With regard to the ajowan, that was an exceedingly 
common product in India : the seeds were used by the natives, and no doubt 
the oil could be produced in .considerable quantities and imported into this 
country, but at present there was no demand for it. 
