THE  AMERICAN 
•   JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JUNE,  1889., 
CHLOEINATED  OIL  AND  THE  CHLORINE  SUBSTI- 
TUTION IN  FAT  OILS. 
By  L.  Wolff,  M.D. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting^  May  16th. 
The  use  of  chlorine  gas,  in  the  form  of  chlorine  water,  in  chronic 
affections  of  the  skin,  is  by  no  means  of  recent  origin,  and  already 
Thenard  and  Cluzel  recommended  the  frequent  immersion  in  chlorine 
water  of  the  hands  of  those  afflicted  with  itch,  by  which  they  claimed 
to  have  obtained  most  excellent  and  rapid  results. 
About  fifteen  years  ago  I  had  cause  to  try  it,  and  had  a  most  excel- 
lent success  with  it;  though,  to  make  its  effect  more  lasting  and  emol- 
lient, I  experimented  with  a  liniment  composed  of  equal  parts  of  olive 
oil  and  chlorine  water.  The  efficacy  of  this  was  not  less  potent,  but 
the  absence  of  any  of  the  chracteristic  odor  of  the  gas  in  this  liniment 
struck  me  as  very  peculiar,  and  I  attributed  it  to  a  chemical  change 
taking  place.  As  a  part  of  this  latter  would  natui'ally  have  to  result 
in  the  formation  of  hydrochloric  acid,  the  question  arises,  if  it  is  the 
latter  or  the  chlorine  gas  which  had  combined  with  the  oil  that  gave 
the  beneficial  results.  As  the  free  chlorine  in  the  water,  however,  had 
proved  effective,  the  inference  is  that  the  chlorine  in  combination  with 
the  oil  had  given  the  curative  effect. 
To  test  this  matter,  I  was  urged  by  my  friend,  Dr.  J.  V.  Shoe- 
maker^ to  make  a  chlorine  compound  with  oil  free  from  hydrochloric 
acid,  which  in  the  course  of  therapeutic  experiments  proved  equally 
effective. 
To  prepare  it  I  induced  a  stream  of  dry  chlorine  gas,  generated  in 
the  usual  way,  into  a  (quantity  of  oil  equal  to  that  of  the  Avater  in 
making  the  chlorine  water  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  but,  to  my  surprise, 
found  that  I  was  unable  to  supersaturate  the  oil,  as  I  had  done  with. 
the  water,  no  free  chlorine  becoming  at  any  time  evident,  until  after 
many  days  of  experiment  I  ultimately  succeeded  in  my  purpose. 
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