250 
Iodoform  as  an  Antiseptic. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I       May,  1887. 
a  series  of  micro-organisms — pneumococcus,  staphylococcus  aureus, 
bacillus  subtilis,  and  a  micrococcus  from  the  pus  of  a  rat — and  found 
all  growing  freely  on  the  third  day.  Olive  oil  containing  four  per 
cent,  of  iodoform  had  no  influence  on  the  growth  of  bacillus  subtilis 
and  staphylococcus  aureus,  either  at  ordinary  temperatures  or  at  blood 
heat,  and  both  grew  after  two  days  in  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  this 
oil  and  calf's  serum.  In  iodoform  spray  they  demonstrated,  they 
think,  the  presence  of  numerous  micro-organisms  ;  and  a  plug  of  iodo- 
form gauze  retained  in  the  vagina  for  two  hours,  though  odorless, 
was  shown  by  cultivation  experiments  to  contain  bacteria, 
Heyn  and  Rosving  record  a  series  of  experiments  on  animals,  which 
they  assert  support  their  view  that  iodoform  does  not  possess  antiseptic 
properties.  In  one  case  a  cultivation  of  staphylococcus  aureus  was 
mixed  with  iodoform  powder,  and  after  ten  days  injected  into  the  knee 
joint  of  a  rabbit.  Next  day  the  rabbit  was  evidently  ill,  and  the  joint 
was  swollen.  On  the  third  day  some  pus  was  drawn  from  the  joint, 
and  from  this,  characteristic  pure  cultures  of  staphylococcus  aureus 
were  eventually  obtained.  The  Danish  observers  conclude  from  their 
experiments — 
(1)  That  iodoform  is  valueless  in  surgery  as  an  antiseptic,  even 
though  it  may  possess  other  useful  properties. 
(2)  That  as  iodoform  preparations  themselves  may  contain  patho- 
genous micro-organisms,  they  cannot  be  used  without  some  danger. 
(3)  That  even  though  iodoform  be  pure  there  is  danger  in  using  it, 
unless  care  be  taken  that  the  apparatus  (brushes,  sprays,  &c.)  by  which 
it  is  applied  are  free  from  infective  germs,  for  the  iodoform  will  not 
kill  these.  In  support  of  this  view  they  bring  forward  a  case  record- 
ed by  Lesser,  where  a  brush,  with  which  a  soft  sore  had  been  painted 
with  iodoform,  was  applied  next  day  to  dust  with  iodoform  a  gran- 
ulating wound,  and  a  soft  sore  formed  on  the  wound  in  consequence. 
In  a  recent  number  of  the  Wien.  med.  Woch.,  the  paper  of  Heyn 
and  Rosving  is  subjected  to  criticism  which  is  unnecessarily  abusive. 
The  conclusions  arrived  at  as  to  the  uselessness  and  even  danger  of 
iodoform  dressing  may  not  be  fully  warranted  by  the  results  of  their 
experiments,  but  they  have  done  good  service  by  drawing  attention  to 
the  subject.  If  their  results  are  confirmed,  we  must  hesitate  before 
accepting  some  of  the  clinical  inferences  which  we  are  apt  to  draw  from 
experimental  work  on  the  destruction  of  micro-organisms  by  various 
agents. — Med.  Chronicle,  March  1887. 
