NEW MEDICAL AGENTS. 
55 
by ordinary stablemen. It requires for the development of 
its valuable disinfectant properties some special conditions of 
cleanliness of the floor, walls, etc. A f ablespoonful of kresin 
to a quart or two of water is the strength ordinarily used. 
Other indications, pertaining to its antiseptic qualities, are 
also presented in the treatment of foul ulcers or wounds of 
an ugly nature. When used medicinally, the solution is made 
with warm or hot water. It is never used undiluted. 
A pamphlet in our possession contains the following state¬ 
ment : 
l 
By far the strongest bactericide substances among the in¬ 
numerable combinations containing carbon are the cresols, 
which belong to the class of the phenols. It has been shown 
by the investigations of Jaeger and Ohlmuller, of the Impe¬ 
rial Health Board in Berlin, and of Frankel, of the Berlin 
Hygienic Institute, that all the known bodies belonging to 
the aromatic series are superseded in regard to power of dis¬ 
infection by solutions of the cresols in acid. All the successes 
heretofore observed of the power of acting on the spores of 
the anthrax-bacillus have been eclipsed by these acid solutions 
of the cresols. 
Commercial crude carbolic acid, so-called, consists in 
greater part of these cresols, and therefore it would certainly 
be one of the best disinfectants, if it was as soluble in water 
as pure carbolic acid. But both crude carbolic acid and the 
cresols are almost insoluble in water, and according to La¬ 
place are almost worthless as disinfectants if used in this 
form. 
In conformity with the investigations of the excellent au¬ 
thorities above referred to, the Chemische Fabrik auf Ac- 
tien, formerly E. Schering, has produced a new article called 
kresin. This liquid contains twenty-five per cent, of cresol, 
the strong antiseptic and germicide, and, as a means for dis¬ 
solving it, an equal amount of sodium cresoxylacetate is added, 
a substance which has the same properties. 
Kresin is a brown liquid, smelling like cresol, entirely free 
from carbolic acid; it forms a clear neutral solution when 
mixed with water. 
