December 16,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
487 
NOTES ON CARBOLIC ACID. 
BY WILLIAM C. BAKES. 
Ecw substances hare acquired greater popularity, and 
..given such general satisfaction as carbolic acid. For a 
long time it was exclusively used by the medical profes¬ 
sion, but the public having heard of its antiseptic and 
disinfectant properties have adopted it in various forms 
as one of their household requisites. 
Its use as a remedial agent dates from 1859, when 
M. Le Beuf, of Bayonne, France, employed the then 
*crude carbolic acid in the form of a saponaceous emul- 
••sion. He assisted in the work of M. Lemaire, of Paris, 
who has made it the foundation of a laborious research. 
'The two investigators sent to the Academy of Medicine 
•a paper on the value of the emulsion as an application 
to gangrenous ulcers. M. Lemaire continued his inves¬ 
tigation, and published an elaborate treatise in 1863, in 
which he narrated a series of experiments in which car¬ 
bolic acid was employed as a means for the destruction 
of low forms of animal and vegetable life, as a preven¬ 
tive of fermentation and putrefaction, as an external 
application in cases of ulcerating and suppurating sur¬ 
faces, as well as an internal remedy in zymotic and 
other diseases. While carbolic acid was attracting 
•attention as a disinfecting agent, experiments were be¬ 
ing made as to its use in the arts. Laurent, in 1841, 
after a series of investigations, produced picric acid by 
the action of nitric acid upon carbolic acid. Picric acid 
is used as a yellow dye, and from it are derived picramic 
■acid and isopurpurate of ammonium, yielding rich brown 
and garnet hues. 
In 1865 Professor Lister began the use of carbolic 
acid in surgical cases attended with suppuration, and 
gave the result of his investigations in several commu¬ 
nications to the Lancet , in the March and July numbers 
of 1867. 
To the pharmaceutist the preparations of carbolic acid 
are of some interest, and demands are often made for 
the various combinations without any definite formula. 
A valuable work of 356 pages has recently been pub¬ 
lished, entitled ‘ The Antiseptic System: a Treatise on 
Carbolic Acid and its Compounds,’ etc., by A. E. San- 
som, M.D., of London, which contains much useful 
information, relating not only to the chemistry of car¬ 
bolic acid, but to its general employment in medicine. 
In the appendix a series of formulie are given as fol¬ 
lows :— 
1. Liquefied Carbolic Acid. — A. Calvert’s purest (No. 1) 
acid, liquefied by placing the bottle containing it in hot 
water, 9 parts ; water, 1 part. Mix well.— Calvert. 
B. Pure carbolic acid, 15 parts; alcohol, 1 part. Mix 
well. This keeps fluid at all ordinary temperatures.— 
£'ansom. 
For many purposes, especially for dispensing, it is 
•convenient to keep the acid in a liquid form, otherwise 
the crystals must be melted by heat each time that the 
acid is employed. 
2. Solution of Carbolic Acid in Water. —To obtain uni¬ 
form solution, it is better to slake the carbolic acid with 
four times its bulk of hot water, and then to add a suffi¬ 
ciency of cold water; or the carbolic acid may be first 
mingled with alcohol, which causes more ready solu¬ 
bility, before the addition of cold water. Water will 
not dissolve more than one-twentieth of its bulk of car¬ 
bolic acid. 
3. Alcoholized Carbolic Acid (Acide Phenique Alcoolise ) 
•—Alcohol (90°), crystallized carbolic acid, equal parts. 
Mix, and keep in a well-stoppered bottle. Used for 
making carbolized solutions, etc. Being more fluid than 
•carbolic acid, it more readily penetrates the tissues. 
Useful in poisoned wounds, for application to smallpox 
pustules, etc.— Lemaire. 
4. Etherized Carbolic Acid (Ether Phenique).—Sul¬ 
phuric ether, 100 parts; carbolic acid, 1 part. Used for 
insufflation in catarrh of Eustachian tube.— Lemaire. 
5. Carbolized Vinegar (Vinaigre Phenique).—Ordinary 
: vinegar, 4 parts; carbolic acid, 1 part. Mix. For use, 
! instead of aromatic vinegar, as a disinfectant, etc.— 
i Quesnevillc. 
6. Glycerinum Acidi Carbolici. —Carbolic acid, 1 ounce; 
glycerine, 4 fluid ounces. Rub them together in a mor¬ 
tar until the acid is dissolved.— British Pharmacopoeia. 
7. Carbolized Glycerine (Glycerine Pheniquee).—Pure 
glycerine, 100 parts; carbolic acid, 1 part. Mix. For 
impetigo, chronic eczema, lichen, prurigo and pemphi¬ 
gus.— Lemaire. 
8. Syrup of Carbolic Acid (Sirop d’Acide Phenique).— 
Simple syrup, 100 parts; carbolic acid, crystallized, 1 
part. Mix.— Chaumelle. 
9. Carbolic Acid Liniment. —For counter-irritation. 
A. Alcohol, 50 parts; carbolic acid, 1 part. Mix.— 
Lemaire. 
B. Olive oil, 7 parts ; carbolic acid, 1 part. Mix. — 
Sansom. 
10. Compound Disinfectant Solution. —Water, 1000 
parts; carbolic acid, 10 parts; sulphate of zinc or sul¬ 
phate of iron, 3 parts. Mix. Carbolic acid has no 
chemical action on sulphuretted hydrogen or carbonate 
of ammonium. When it is employed alone as a disin¬ 
fectant, deodorization does not take place until the gases 
have disappeared by diffusion. The sulphates change 
the sulphuretted hydrogen into sulphides, and the car¬ 
bonate of ammonium into metallic carbonate and ammo¬ 
nium sulphate,—all inodorous compounds.— Lemaire. 
11. The Silvern Deodorant. —Good quicklime, 1J 
bushels, put in a cask, slaked, and well stirred; coal tar, 
10 lb. Mix thoroughly, then add magnesium chloride, 
15 lb., dissolved in hot water. Mix again, and add hot 
water until the mass is liquid enough to drop slowly 
from a stick plunged into it, and then withdrawn. The 
magnesium chloride forms deliquescent calcium chloride. 
Magnesia being liberated, this prevents caking and ad¬ 
herence to pipes, which is a defect when lime alone is 
used.— Parkes. 
12. Carbolized Earth (Terre Coaltaree).—Common 
loam, passed through a sieve, 100 parts; coal tar, 2 
parts. Mix intimately. Disinfectant for crops and for 
destruction of noxious insects.— Lemaire. 
13. Solution of Carbolic Acid for the Toilette. —Crystal¬ 
lized carbolic acid, 10 parts; essence of millefiour, 1 
part; tincture of Quillaya saponaria, 50 parts; water, 
1000 parts. Mix. The saponin replaces soap with 
advantage. The above should be employed, diluted 
with ten times its bulk of water, for disinfecting the 
skin, for washing the hands after any risk of contagion 
or inoculation, etc.— Lemaire. 
14. Tincture of Saponin , as used in the foregoing 
preparation, is thus made : Bark of Quillaya saponaria , 
1 part; alcohol (90°), 4 parts. Heat to ebullition, and 
filter.— Le Beuf. 
15. Carbolized Water for the Teeth. —Water, 1000 parts; 
essence of meat, 2 parts ; tincture of saponin, 50 parts; 
pure carbolic acid, 10 parts. Mix. A dessertspoonful in 
a quarter of a tumblerful of water, serves as an excel¬ 
lent preparation for cleansing and preserving the teeth. 
16. Carbolized Ointment. —Purified lard, 100 parts; 
carbolic acid, 1 part. Mix. Considered of some service in 
skin affections; but, modified as it is by the fat, it cannot 
replace the aqueous solution of carbolic acid.— Lemaire. 
17. Carbolized Amylaceous Ointment. —Pure starch, 3 
parts; hot water, 20 parts. Mix, in the _ ordinary way 
(the starch being made first into a paste with cold water, 
and then hot water added), to a stiff consistence; then 
add olive oil 1 part, glycerine 3 parts, carbolic acid 
1 part, and thoroughly mix in a mortar. When cool 
this is a soft jelly, which can easily be applied as ordi¬ 
nary ointment. It is much more efficacious than one 
the basis of which is entirely fat, and it is an agreeably 
cool application.— Sansom. 
18. Carbolized Oil.—A. Crystallized carbolic acid, I 
part; boiled linseed oil, 4 parts. Dissolve.— Lister. 
