Am™JotLr-  pha0rm> )  Current  Literature.  217 
March,  191 8.     }  * 1 1 
Chloramine  Surgical  Powder. — An  absorbent,  antiseptic, 
slightly  astringent  surgical  powder  may  be  prepared  from  the  fol- 
lowing formula,  which  is  the  advertised  composition  of  "  chlorazene 
powder,"  an  American  specialty : 
Chloramine-T 
Zinc  stearate  . . . 
Sodium  stearate 
From  The  Prescriber. 
Fifty  Cases  Treated  by  Flavine. — Since  June,  191 7,  Bashford 
and  his  associates  have  investigated  the  clinical  results  of  the  appli- 
cation of  flavine  to  war  wounds'.  At  the  same  time  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  interpret  these  results  with  the  help  of  histologic  and 
bacteriologic  methods.  The  flavine  used  has  been  for  the  most  part 
"  acriflavine  "  sent  out  by  the  Medical  Research  Committee,  but  lat- 
terly samples  of  proflavine  from  the  same  source  were  substituted. 
The  results  were  substantially  the  same  with  both.  On  account  of 
the  experimental  nature  of  the  treatment,  the  cases  were  carefully 
arranged  in  a  series  of  gradually  increasing  severity.  The  wounds, 
taken  as  a  whole,  were  not  of  great  gravity,  and  this  fact  was  con- 
sidered in  estimating  the  value  of  the  treatment.  Almost  all  had 
been  treated  previously  at  the  front  by  the  Carrel-Dakin  method 
within  twenty-four  hours  of  being  wounded,  and,  in  the  majority 
of  instances,  very  efficiently.  No  wounds  involving  the  cavities  of 
the  head,  chest,  or  abdomen  were  included.  The  patients  reached 
the  wards  at  periods  varying  from  one  to  six  days  from  the  date  of 
reception  of  the  wound,  and  the  flavine  treatment  was  then  sub- 
stituted for  that  of  Carrel-Dakin.  It  was  carried  on  continuously 
until  either  the  wound  became  ready  for  secondary  suture,  or  until, 
after  three  weeks'  treatment,  it  had  definitely  failed  to  attain  the 
necessary  standard  for  closure.  In  a  few  cases  the  treatment  was 
stopped  in  the  patient's  interest  before  the  three  weeks  had  elapsed. 
Every  attempt  was  made  to  eliminate  the  possibility  of  personal 
bias.  In  wounds  treated  by  the  Carrel-Dakin  method  it  is  the  cocci 
which  are  usually  the  last  to  disappear  from  an  infected  wound  sur- 
face. In  those  wounds  treated  by  flavine  the  commonest  type  of 
organism  to  outlive  others  on  the  wound  surface  was  a  gram- 
negative  bacillus. 
This  study  showed,  in  brief,  that  a  solution  of  1  : 1,000,  far  from  - 
1  per  cent. 
10   "  " 
89   "  " 
