^'^  ilgnsl\%^: }     Colloid  Preparations  in  Medicine.  575 
COLLOIDAL  PREPARATIONS  IN  MEDICINE. 
The  June  number  of  The  Prescriber  is  devoted  almost  entirely 
to  a  presentation  of  the  use  of  colloids  in  medicine.  The  import- 
ance of  the  subject  and  likewise  the  excellence  of  its  treatment  leads 
us  to  present  to  our  readers  copious  abstracts  from  the  articles  ap- 
pearing in  this  esteemed  medical  cotemporary. 
CoiviyOiDS  IN  GbnERAi,  Practice. — Under  this  caption  editorial 
comment  is  made.  Colloid  therapy  is  not  only  new — it  is  still  very 
markedly  in  the  experimental  stage.  The  preparation  of  colloids 
is,  in  many  instances,  no  very  difficult  matter:  the  difficulty  begins 
in  the  attempt  to  make  them  therapeutically  valuable.  The  gen- 
eral practitioner  should  satisfy  himself  that  he  is  using  colloids  of 
the  right  strength,  whose  therapeutic  properties  are  sufficiently 
known,  which  are  suitable  for  internal  administration,  orally  or  by 
intravenous  injection. 
Speaking  generally,  a  colloid  is  a  solution  of  some  "insoluble" 
substance — generally  an  element.  For  example,  colloid  silver  is 
a  clear  red  liquid.  It  passes  through  a  filter  and,  to  all  simple  tests, 
answers  as  would  any  other  solution.  The  colloid  solution  referred 
to  is  unstable  and  readily  desposits  silver  as  a  precipitate.  When 
this  occurs  it  is,  of  course,  colloidal  no  longer,  and  any  value  it  pos- 
sesses as  a  colloid  disappears.  It  is  this  precipitation,  this  disap- 
pearance of  the  colloid  as  such,  which  has  to  be  in  some  way  obvia- 
ted before  any  colloidal  preparation  can  be  of  the  smallest  use  in 
medicine. 
The  importance  of  colloids  in  medicine  arises  from  the  fact  that 
most,  perhaps  all,  the  fluids  of  the  body  are  colloidal  in  character. 
It  is  not  then  to  be  wondered  at  that  some  astonishing  results  have 
been  obtained  from  the  use  of  colloids.  In  many  cases  it  would 
seem  as  if,  in  this  way,  all  the  advantages,  and  none  of  the  draw- 
backs of  the  particular  drug  used,  were  embodied  in  the  colloidal 
state.  Thus  colloidal  mercury  may  be  given  wherever  mercury  is 
indicated;  it  is  only  feebly  toxic  and  it  is  very  rapidly  absorbed — 
two  striking  advantages  over  the  salts  of  mercury.  Similarly  col- 
loidal sulphur  would  appear  to  be  the  best  possible  form  for  the 
administration  of  that  element.  Ordinary  sulphur  is  not  absorbed 
either  in  the  stomach  or  elsewhere,  whereas  colloidal  sulphur  com- 
bines with  protein,  is  rapidly  absorbed  and  is  carried  to  those  parts 
which  need  it.    Again,  no  colloid  has  been  used  with  greater  sue- 
