306 
Current  Literature. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1918. 
or  six  injections  are  necessary  alternating  on  either  side  of  the  body. 
Eighty  cases  have  been  treated  this  way ;  twelve  have  died,  a  mor- 
tality of  fifteen  per  cent.  No  selection  of  the  cases  was  made,  they 
were  taken  just  as  they  came  into  the  hospital  and  many  of  them 
were  suffering  with  complications,  pneumonia,  bronchitis,  etc.  Dr. 
S.  K.  Johnson,  of  New  York,  is  using  the  compound  in  his  hospital 
with  like  good  results.  Equine  pneumonia,  also  yield  to  it.  Little 
says  it  is  the  best  and  most  powerful  medium  by  which  the  opsonic 
index  may  be  raised,  is  absolutely  non-toxic,  and  promises  to  be 
widely  used  in  many  febrile  diseases  of  the  respiratory  tract,  par- 
ticularly in  equine  influenza.  (George  W.  Little,  D.V.M.,  Chief 
Surgeon  of  the  American  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals,  New  York  City.  Am.  Jour.  Vet.  Med.,  12,  691  (Oct., 
1917)0 
J.  F.  C. 
Protective  Inoculation  against  Mumps. — The  blood  of  con- 
valescents from  mumps  was  used  as  a  prophylactic.  Six  to  eight 
mils  were  injected  intramuscularly  in  17  children  who  were  ex- 
posed to  the  disease.  None  of  the  inoculated  children  developed 
mumps,  while  one  third  to  one  half  of  those  not  inoculated  did  so. 
The  blood  was  taken  from  children  who  had  just  recovered  or  had 
been  well  for  ten  days.  (A.  F.  Hess,  Proc.  Soc.  Exper.  Biol,  Med., 
12,  144,  C.  A.,  11,  3325.) 
J.  F.  C. 
Solution  of  Soap  in  Treatment  of  Wounds. — R.  G.  Dixon 
and  H.  T.  Bates  have  used  this  dressing  in  368  cases.  During  the 
same  period  they  treated  similar  cases  with  other  antiseptics,  in- 
cluding eusol,  hydrogen  peroxid  and  bismuth  iodoform  petrolatum 
paste,  with  the  result  that  they  are  using  more  soap  and  less  of  the 
other  antiseptics.  A  sample  of  common  yellow  soap  was  analyzed 
and  found  to  contain,  per  cent. :  water,  24.6 ;  fatty  acids,  63 ;  com- 
bined alkali,  4.6;  free  alkali,  nil;  impurities,  7.8.  This  was  consid- 
ered suitable,  and  it  was  found  possible  to  make  a  2.5  per  cent,  solu- 
tion of  it.  Small  open  muscle  wounds  in  which  there  was  no  gas 
gangrene,  after  being  opened  up,  and  metal  and  cloth  removed, 
were  dressed  with  sterile  gauze  soaked  in  this  solution.  The  dress- 
ings were  left  undisturbed  for  two,  three  or  four  days,  provided 
there  was  no  rise  in  temperature.    At  the  first  dressing  the  most 
