22 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 13,1872. 
benzine or carbolic acid, was placed upon a wound 
or granulating sore, after washing the surface with 
a lotion containing the same agent, although the 
volatile antiseptic left the cotton in about a day, the 
blood or pus still effused beneath the cotton re¬ 
mained free from putrefaction for an indefinite time, 
provided that the discharge was not sufficiently co¬ 
pious to soak through the cotton and appear at the sur¬ 
face, in which case as the meshes between the fibres 
afforded ample space for the microscopic organisms 
to develope in, putrefaction spread in a few hours 
throughout the moistened part of the mass. This 
circumstance greatly interfered with the practical 
utility of the dressing, and it has since been super¬ 
seded by the ‘ antiseptic gauze ’ (hereafter described); 
but the facts seemed to him important with regard to 
the germ theory. The cotton wool, though it lost its 
chemical antiseptic virtue in a day, yet kept out 
putrefaction for a month or more. It could not 
possibly keep out any atmospheric gas, which ivas 
necessarily diffused freely between its fibres, and 
got in for the same reason that the volatile anti¬ 
septic got out. That which it did exclude could only 
be the suspended particles of l ust. It followed, 
therefore, as a matter of certainty, that the cause of 
the putrefaction, through atmospheric influence, of 
blood or pus, or in other words, such materials as 
the surgeon has to deal with in treating wounds, are 
not the atmospheric gases, but dust. And the fact 
that this dust is deprived of its putrefactive energy 
by agents which are chemically so unlike as chlo¬ 
rine, sulphurous acid, benzine, and carbolic acid, but 
which agree in having a common hostility to animal 
and vegetable life confirms the view that the putre¬ 
factive particles are really organisms. Professor 
Lister used benzine because he knew that the ento¬ 
mologist employed its vapour to kill insects. 
Of the antiseptic agents used by Prof. Lister and 
others, none have given such general, almost univer¬ 
sal, satisfaction as carbolic acid. Its chemical pro¬ 
perties are such, that it possesses in an eminent 
degree the sine qua non for use in these dressings, 
—volatility; and it dissolves freely in such hetero¬ 
genous solvents as fixed oils and fats, melted resins, 
alcohol, ether, glycerine and water. Its action is 
decidedly antiputrefactive ; it checks the decomp osi 
tion of dead animal matter, and (what is of grea- 
importance to the comfort of patients in hospital 
wards where this system of treatment is pursued) 
it prevents the evolution of those foetid gases 
which arise from decomposition, and it keeps the 
surro undin g air sweet and healthy. The crystal¬ 
lized acid, which can now be had very pure, can be 
liquefied by immersing the vessel containing it in 
a liot-water bath; if then about six per cent, of 
water be added and agitated with it, it becomes 
hydrated, and when cooled will remain permanently 
liquid at ordinary temperatures. One fluid part of 
the hydrated acid will dissolve in twenty parts of 
water, forming a perfect solution. With a less 
quantity of water it forms an oily mixture, not a 
solution. 
Water holds the particles of acid very feebly, and 
therefore liberates them readily to act upon any 
other substance. Hence a watery solution, besides 
being a very cleanly lotion, is very potent in imme¬ 
diate action, but very transient,—exactly the pro¬ 
perties required of it for an application to a wound 
designed to kill once for all any septic organisms 
that may have got lodged upon it, and then leave 
the tissues free as possible from further irritation. 
Common resin, on the other hand, holds the acid 
with remarkable tenacity, and even at the tempera¬ 
ture of the bod} r gives it off very slowly ; so that a 
large proportion of the antiseptic may be kept 
stored up in the resin in a form wliich acts very 
mildly, but for a long period. These are the quali¬ 
ties required for an external dressing to guard 
against the penetration of putrefactive fermentation 
from without; while the insolubility of the resin in 
water prevents it from being washed away in the 
discharges. The fixed oils occupy an intermediate 
position as regards their hold upon carbolic acid, 
and there are circumstances in which they form a 
most convenient vehicle for it. Carbolic acid has 
also the advantage of being a local anaesthetic, exer¬ 
cising a soothing influence upon a raw surface to 
wliicli it is applied; while the disagreeable smell, 
which at one time was a serious objection to it, has 
been almost entirely removed by purifying it of the 
stinking compounds associated with it in the crude 
product. 
(To be continued.) 
THE GENUS EUCALYPTUS: ITS ACCLIMA¬ 
TIZATION AND USES. 
Perhaps one of the most remarkable successes in 
the science of acclimatization, and one that promises 
to produce important results in the industrial and 
sanitary history of many European countries, is that 
which has attended the attempts made during the 
last twenty years to introduce the various species of 
Eucalyptus. The subject has been taken up with 
great warmth by the Societe d’Acclimatation of 
Paris, and from an elaborate memoir, in which M. 
Haveret-Wattel recently presented to the members 
all the available information upon the subject,* we 
abstract the following particulars. 
For many years various species of Eucalyptus 
had figured in the botanical gardens of Europe, and 
travellers who had seen the gigantic trees in their 
native country had been unanimous in their praise 
of the elegance and rapid development of these mag¬ 
nificent representatives of the Australian flora. But 
it was not until 1854, wlienM. Hamel, being in Mel¬ 
bourne, had his attention called to the growth of a 
young blue gum tree (E. globulus) by Dr. Ferdinand 
Mueller, the indefatigable Director of the Botanical 
Gardens there, that any extensive attempt was made 
at its naturalization in other countries. M. Hamel 
was not content with admiring the tree. In 1856 
he sent some seeds to Paris, which w r ere followed in 
1857 and 1860 by other supplies. These were dis¬ 
tributed, and the tree is now propagated and natura¬ 
lized, not only throughout southern Europe, but in 
many localities in Asia, Africa, and America. 
The Eucalyptus globulus is the species that has 
up to the present time principally attracted the at¬ 
tention of the public, from the elegance and excep¬ 
tional vigour of the tree. But the greater portion of 
its numerous congeners are equally interesting from 
various points of view. Some produce resins, others 
yield oils susceptible of being employed in industry 
or therapeutics, and science is far from having said 
her last word respecting the part that may be played 
by these useful plants. 
* L’Eucalyptus : Rapport sur son Introduction, sa Culture, 
ses Proprieties, Usages, etc. Par Raveret-Watte]. Paris: 
Bulletin de la Societe d’Acclnnatation, 1871-1872. 
