EDITORIAL. 
643 
portant demonstration made by a celebrated surgeon, Dr. P. 
Louge, in the use of vapors of iodine in local therapeuty, which 
he describes under the qualification of “ Enfumage iode ” and 
which consists in the local application of the fumes of iodine, at 
the time of their formation, fumes which are obtained instan¬ 
taneously by the simple heating of iodoform powder of good 
quality. 
Round the end of a directory a small ball of wadding is rolled 
moderately snug and dipped into iodoform powder. With a 
match, or any other light, the wadding is lighted and in a few 
moments, while it burns, a thick cloud of handsome vapors, pur¬ 
ple-amethyst color, rolled upwards. They are rising vapors of 
iodine mixed with a small quantity of iohydric acid, fine penetrat¬ 
ing, active and powerfully bactericid, which can be applied on 
any part of the body with a therapeutic object. These fumes first 
rise in the air, but in cooling off, they soon drop, become brown- 
purplish in color and are deposited as small crystals, real sublima¬ 
tion of the iodine. The vapors thus produced in great quantity 
have the inconvenience of giving rise to strong, acrid odor and of 
-acting on steel and nickeled objects which then are quickly in¬ 
jured. 
The use of the little wadding pad is the simplest manner to 
produce the vapors. But the enfumage iode ” can be employed 
in other ways, the “ external,” which answers for the surface of 
the body; the “internal” is applied for cysts, abscesses, etc., and 
a third indication for “ cavities,” the vagina or fistulous tracts. 
There are several manners described by Dr. Louge besides 
the one mentioned, the burning of a ball of wadding covered with 
iodoform, held with a directory or pair of forceps. 
Again the vapors can be produced in a glass jar with double 
glass tubes. One to be connected with a rubber ball to blow air in 
and the other through which the iodine is directed on the proper 
region. A small quantity of iodoform is placed in the jar, which 
is held near a lamp, only sufficiently to obtain the formation of 
the fumes. 
Another mode is to resort to the thermocautery. The parts 
