DISINFECTING PROPERTIES OF CARBOLIC ACID. 
679 
made up to the present time, it may be affirmed that malleine in¬ 
oculations accomplished the purpose for which they were de¬ 
vised. The practitioner is not in a position to prepare his own 
lymph, generally speaking, but could, through the experiment 
stations or public laboratory, secure the lymph .—Monatschrift f 
ThierJieilkunde. 
THE DISINFECTING PROPERTIES OF CARBOLIC ACID.* 
By Dr. J. A Replogle. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Disinfectants are at present, and have been ever since the 
introduction of the germ theory, of vast importance to both 
the physician and surgeon. So common is their use that no 
modern surgeon will attempt to dress a wound, or perform an 
operation without the use of disinfectants. No wound of ulcer¬ 
ating or suppurating condition, or any trouble that may be 
accompanied with or caused by micro-organisms, is treated 
without the use of disinfectants. 
The physician, as well as the surgeon, finds it necessary to 
use disinfectants in treating or preventing all specific or con¬ 
tagious diseases. 
Without the use of disinfectants nothing would prevent an 
epidemic, when once started, from passing over an entire con¬ 
tinent, and perhaps the entire world, unless the micro-organ¬ 
isms would simply lose their virulence from age and other 
surrounding conditions. In fact, this class of drugs is alto¬ 
gether indispensable, and more especially so in surgical work 
where it is absolutely necessary to destroy any organisms that 
may drop into the wound during operation. But it is a ques¬ 
tion as to what drug will destroy organisms best with the 
least possible inconvenience from its use. Hence, I have en- 
*Paper read before the Iowa State Veterinary Medical Society. This paper 
represents work done in connection with a graduating thesis made under the 
direction of Dr. W. B. Niles at the Veterinary Department of the Iowa Agri¬ 
cultural College. 
