172 
Liquid  Soaps. 
Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
April,  1902. 
Since  tuberculosis  is  a  disease  so  common  amongst  cooks  and 
bakers,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  much  of  our  bread  and  pastry 
is  polluted  in  this  manner;  but  fortunately  for  us,  these  foods  are 
later  heated  to  a  degree  sufficient  to  kill  the  tubercle  bacilli. 
In  the  light  of  our  present  knowledge  it  appears  reasonable  to 
presume  that  most  cases  of  "  so-called  "  inherited  tuberculosis 
develop  in  persons  who  contracted  the  disease  by  constant  expos- 
ure to  the  bacilli  in  this  manner  while  the  diseased  parent  was 
living.  Such  infection  is  usually  combated  by  the  child  and  held  in 
abeyance  until  during  later  life,  when,  from  some  cause  or  other,  the 
general  vitality  is  reduced  and  this  previously  inert  nucleus  of  infec- 
tion is  permitted  to  develop  with  flaming  rapidity. 
LIQUID  SOAPS  FOR  SURGICAL  AND  TOILET  PURPOSES. 
By  M.  I.  W113ERT, 
Apothecary  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
Fashions  change  !  This  truism  holds  good  even  with  medicines 
and  medicinal  preparations.  About  two  years  ago  we  reported 
through  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  a  number  of  formulas 
for  preparations  of  soap.  Among  these  was  one  for  a  liquid  anti- 
septic soap  that  had  been  in  use  at  the  German  Hospital  for  several 
years,  as  a  substitute  for  antiseptic  cake  soaps  in  the  operating- 
room,  and  was  also  used  in  place  of  the  ordinary  green  or  soft-soap 
in  preparing  the  patient  for  operation. 
But  as  a  thing  is  good  only  so  long  as  there  is  nothing  better  to 
take  its  place,  we  found  that  the  popularity  of  our  antiseptic  soap 
had  been  suddenly  eclipsed  by  the  supposed  advantages  of  a  com- 
mercial liquid  soap  that  had  been  purchased  for  trial  and  comparison. 
One  of  the  apparent  advantages,  and  probably  the  greatest,  was 
the  fact  that  a  copious  lather  was  readily  produced,  with  very  little 
exertion ;  this,  it  was  thought,  would  facilitate  the  removal  of  dirt 
and  microorganisms  by  mechanical  means,  the  theory  being  that 
the  particles  of  dirt  would  be  picked  up  by  the  foaming  bubbles  of 
soap  and  carried  away  from  their  natural  lodging-places ;  enveloped 
in  the  resulting  mass  of  lather,  they  would  readily  be  washed  away 
in  the  subsequent  rinsing  in  clear  water. 
The  new  soap  was  also  distinctly  alkaline.  This  was  thought  to  be 
an  advantage  in  loosening  or  liberating  the  dead  epithelial  cells,  and 
