January ll, 18/3. ] THE PHARMACEU r l 1CAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
557 
taining a solution of ammonio-chloride of silver to re¬ 
move any trace of chlorine. It lastly passes through a 
tube containing the ozone paper, which is now seen to 
he rapidly acted upon by the air. It is completely 
•changed in its character, and is now a powerful oxidizer; 
-and it is immaterial to our purpose how this has been 
brought about. It is now replenished, ready to do its 
•duty and fight the battle with the rafts of contagion ; 
-and if it only succeeds in further attenuating the effects 
of this poison by burning up a fraction, the “ disinfec¬ 
tant” has done some good. 
As regards antiseptic treatment in the blood, it is a 
-subject with which, I think, chemists are justified in 
dealing. Medicine may act simply by a certain portion 
of it getting into the circulation by diffusion, by some 
inherent virtue of its own upon other constituents of 
the body ; or it may act by virtue of a partial decom¬ 
position or oxidation occurring in the blood, and pro¬ 
ducing effects not directly from the operation, but from 
•an infinitesimal small amount of a new product being- 
liberated in the nascent condition in the blood. Thus in 
the case of chloral hydrate it is probable that it is but a 
fraction of the dose given that finds its way by diffusion 
into the circulation as chloral hydrate, but there it is 
also converted into nascent chloroform, and produces its 
well-marked effects; no dose of chloroform will, when 
taken internally, produce similar results. Such reac¬ 
tions as these are the most potent and valuable in 
medicine. 
Xylol’s action is said to be due to the fact that it be¬ 
comes an antiseptic in the blood. Now it is probable 
that if it does act as such, it is due to some product of 
•oxidation. That it is really rapidly oxidized there can 
be no doubt from the fact that a peculiar odour, distinct 
from xylol, can be perceived in the urine. It is worthy 
of note that this hydro-carbon xylol, C 8 II 10 , may be 
viewed as either dimethylbenzene C c H 4 (CH 3 ) 2 or ethyl¬ 
benzene Cgll^ (C 2 H s ). Now if either of these be its 
true composition, the residual molecule benzene is the 
hydride of phenyl, the radical of the so-called carbolic 
■acid. Thus if we act upon benzene by bromine, which 
is merely a convenient mode of oxidizing, hydrogen is 
given off', and we get bromide of the radical phenyl. 
1 henj 1 ^6^5 j 0 ~ Carbolic acid. 
From the reports of the medical men I should con¬ 
sider the efficacy of xylol as doubtful, but it is self- 
evident that it may not necessarily possess specific pro¬ 
perties to be an active medicine. It would require a 
lengthened experience of its capabilities at the bedside 
to determine its actual value in the human laboratory. 
Although its action may be generally prognosticated, it 
can never be proved in the test-tube. 
The ultimate oxidation products of carbolic acid would 
probably be oxalic acid and carbonic anhydride, and 
therefore the action of sulpho-carbolates of which some 
medical men speak very highly, is that the carbolic acid 
j per se acts as an antiseptic being diffused into the circu¬ 
lation. I have tried experiments upon dilute solution 
of albumen and vibrios, from whichjt would appear to 
me that the dilute solutions of carbolic acid destroy the 
activity of the vibrios before they coagulate the albu¬ 
men. The more diluted the solution of carbolic acid 
the more marked is this phenomenon. The sulpho-car- 
bonates being crystalloids are more suitable for diffusion 
than the carbolates, whilst the residual carbolic mole¬ 
cule acts as if uncombined. In addition to the sulpho- 
carbolates of iron and sodium, I should suggest the use 
of the potash salt, which, from its action upon the skin 
and kidneys, would probably be useful. It is readily 
prepared. The real colour of the sulpho-carbolate of 
iron is green or nearly white, but it is always found of a 
dark violet colour in commerce, and it is stated to be 
that colour in works upon chemistry. This, however, 
is due to the fact that as soon as there is a trace of ferric 
.salt formed; it reacts upon the carbolic acid molecule to 
produce a beautiful violet, which is characteristic of the 
molecule. 
In seeking for a remedy for internal disinfectives of 
the blood, it is evident, from my point of view, that we 
should try to search into the substances which will pro¬ 
duce in the blood the antiseptics slowly, but in a nascent 
condition. Carbolic acid is the most available antiseptic 
(for the production of sulphurous acid in the circula¬ 
tion would be out of the question), therefore on con¬ 
sideration, the first things that will present themselves 
are the methylsalicylates (C 8 H 7 M'0 3 ), or the salicylates. 
Methylsalicylates I find are slowly but perfectly decom¬ 
posed in the cold, and in alkaline solutions, such as the 
blood. Therefore it is theoretically immaterial which is 
used. Salicylic acid, if heated, is converted into carbolic 
acid and carbonic anhydride, and there seems to be a 
wonderful chemical relation between these two sub¬ 
stances, i.e., carbolic acid and salicylic acid ; thus either 
of them can with facility be formed from the other. 
The salicylates only require one equivalent of oxide 
to convert them into carbonates and carbolate of the 
metal. Thus:— 
Salicylate. Plienate. Carbonate. 
C 7 H 5 M , 0 3 + M 2 0 zz CgH-M'O + M 2 C0 3 
And if we use dilute solution, we get the same reaction 
with reagents. Thus ferric chloride gives the same 
beautiful violet reaction independently if we use a car¬ 
bolate, sulphophenate, or salicylate; it acting in each 
case upon the carbolic, or phenol residue. I am sorry 
that this paper is not more matured, and that I cannot 
give you the results of some practical experiments that 
some of my medical friends are trying, but the situation 
would not allow of my doing so. In concluding these 
rather disjointed remarks, I have to apologize to so 
learned a body as this for bringing before them a lot of 
matter, which will probably appear stale and unpro¬ 
fitable, and I have no doubt occasionally not very per¬ 
tinent ; but I could not do myself any justice if I did not 
put my views on paper in some manner of sequence, 
even at the risk of appearing loquacious. As I have 
studied the subject of disinfection and atmospheric dust 
with some care tor years, I thought that these observa¬ 
tions might be of use from the very fact of being tram¬ 
melled by the ideas of a chemist. Out of a great mix¬ 
ture often come good compounds. I almost feel that we 
are in a degree neglecting our duty in not constructing 
committees of investigation upon such occasions as the 
present visitation. To work with one object, and ap¬ 
proach it with the best intention of seeking truth and 
shutting out emulation. Such a work should run in no 
grooves, but should emanate from the biologist, phy¬ 
sician, and chemist; in fact, from science itself. 
The reading of the paper gave rise to the following 
discussion:— 
Dr. Cameron said, as he had recently read a paper on 
this subject he wished to make a few observations, more 
especially as he apprehended that the views Mr. Tich- 
borne had put forward might appear to clash with those 
which he had submitted to the Society. He did not at 
all doubt the efficacy of gaseous disinfection to a certain 
extent, but what he said was this—and he spoke from 
the results of his own experience—that gaseous disin¬ 
fection, as ordinarily carried out, was totally inefficacious 
as a means of wholly destroying germs in a room. He 
held that the recent experiments of Chauveau—who 
occupied the first position as an investigator in this de¬ 
partment of medical science—and moi'e recently the 
experiments of Dr. Burdon-Sanderson, one of the 
medical inspectors of the Privy Council and professor in 
the Brown Institution, rather indicated that as a rule 
the contagious matter of zymotic diseases was deposited 
on solid substances. The experiments of Burdon-San¬ 
derson proved that while the sporules of vegetables float 
freely around us in the air, and are deposited in solutions 
with great rapidity, causing the development of vege- 
