440 
Antiseptics. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1 918. 
Spence  constantly  used  it.  Our  problem  thus  reduced  itself  to 
getting  bleaching  powder  into  a  solution  or  powder  that  could  be 
applied  to  open  wounds  without  damaging  the  tissues  unduly. 
Following  our  original  method,  i.  e.,  with  infected  tissues,  and 
using  mixtures  of  varying  proportions  of  boric  acid  and  bleach- 
ing powder  with  small  quantities  of  water,  we  found  that  with  equal 
quantities  of  each  we  got  a  most  pungent  smelling  paste  which 
had  no  difficulty  in  sterilizing  the  tissue  and  on  the  other  hand,  apart 
from  bleaching,  did  not  seem  to  damage  it  as  much  as  was  ex- 
pected. We  also  found  that  the  gas  (hypochlorous  acid)  given  off 
by  this  mixture  was  capable  of  sterilizing  highly  infected  tissue, 
provided  it  was  allowed  to  act  long  enough ;  in  some  of  the  experi- 
ments two  hours  was  sufficient.  This  mixture  therefore  gave 
promise  of  high  value  as  a  wound  dressing,  and  I  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  refer  to  it  later.  Solutions  prepared  from  this  mixture 
were  next  tested  and  very  interesting  results  were  brought  out;  the 
bactericidal  efficiency  of  the  solution  was  greatly  increased;  instead 
of  3.5  per  cent,  available  chlorine,  as  in  liquor  calcis  chlorinatse,  one 
tenth  of  that  amount  gave  very  satisfactory  results,  the  free  hypo- 
chlorous  acid  proving  a  much  better  germicide  than  the  calcium  salt. 
Further  test  experiments  were  carried  out  with  anthrax  spores, 
one  of  the  most  virulent  and  resistant  of  pathogenic  organisms ; 
we  were  gratified  to  find  that  our  solution  in  a  strength  of  0.35 
per  cent,  available  chlorine  killed  the  spores  in  one  minute. 
Turning  next  to  the  action  on  living  tissues,  working  first  on 
rabbits,  then  on  ourselves,  then  on  the  patients  in  local  hospitals,  we 
were  soon  convinced  that  hypochlorous  acid  in  a  solution  such  as 
ours  could  be  applied  to  tissues  in  a  strength  hitherto  unsuspected. 
Large  quantities  of  the  solution  can  be  applied  to  extensive  wound 
surfaces,  and  may  be  freely  introduced  into  the  peritoneum  or 
pleural  cavity  without  producing  any  toxic  effect ;  indeed  the  mixed 
powders  may  be  introduced  into  wounds  and  even  into  the  peritoneal 
cavity  without  damaging  the  tissues ;  such  treatment  has  been  found 
very  effective  in  grossly  infected  wounds. 
Pure  hypochlorous  acid  in  aqueous  solution  always  contains  free 
hydrochloric  and  chloric  acids  due  to  spontaneous  decomposition, 
one  molecule  of  hypochlorous  acid  being  oxidized  to  chloric  acid  at 
the  expense  of  other  two  molecules  which  are  reduced  to  hydro- 
chloric acid.  Both  are  very  strong  acids  and  therefore  pure  hypo- 
chlorous acid  is  not  suitable  for  wound  treatment. 
