362 
Germs  and  Disease. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm.. 
July,  1891. 
Glycero- Gelatin  is  prepared  in  three  forms :  Soft  (5  p.  c.  gelatin 
added),  hard  (10  p.  c.  gelatin  and  water)  and  hard  (10  p.  c.  gelatin 
without  water).  Before  using  the  preparation  is  liquefied  by  heat, 
and  in  this  condition  is  spread  on  to  the  part  affected  by  means  of 
a  brush  and  covered  with  mull. 
In  the  preparation  of  Ointment  and  Plaster  Mulls  Unna's  recom- 
mendation is  followed  to  substitute  lard  by  mutton  fat,  which 
renders  unnecessary  additions  of  paraffin  or  wax.  The  dressings  are 
dipped  into  the  melted  mass,  dried  and  rolled  up.  The  gutta-percha 
mull  is  considered  to  present  many  advantages. 
A  new  kind  of  dermatological  plaster  has  been  introduced,  the 
basis  of  which  consists  of  purified  india-rubber  and  anhydrous  lanolin 
worked  up  together  to  a  remarkably  adhesive  mass.  The  mixture 
is  medicated  with  various  substances  and  spread  upon  linen  and  is 
then  known  as  Collcmplastrum.  Among  the  advantages  claimed' 
for  this  kind  of  plaster  are  its  low  cost,  that  the  mass  does  not 
separate  from  the  linen,  that  while  possessing  the  adhesive  proper- 
ties of  india-rubber  plaster,  the  lanolin  favors  the  absorption  of  the 
added  medicament,  and  that  the  plaster  can  be  readily  removed 
without  leaving  portions  adherent  to  the  skin.  Besides  the  simple 
collemplastrum  adhsesivum,  others  are  used  containing  respectively 
10  to  20  p.  c.  salicylic  acid,  30  p.  c.  pyrogallic  acid,  60  p.  c.  mercury, 
60  p.  c.  mercury  and  5  p.  c.  carbolic  acid,  50  p.  c.  thiol,  40  p.  c.  zinc: 
oxide,  10  p.  c.  liquid  pitch,  etc. 
GERMS  AND  DISEASE. 
If  an  infusion  of  hay  or  any  vegetable  substance  be  kept  in  a 
warm  place  for  some  days  and  a  drop  be  then  examined  under  a 
microscope  it  will  be  found  to  swarm  with  bodies  which,  from  their 
power  of  movement,  appear  to  be  endowed  with  life.  An  infusion 
of  meat  under  similar  conditions  gives  the  same  result.  Some  of 
these  minute  living  bodies  belong  to  the  animal  world,  some  are 
classed  as  plants.  All  of  them  owe  their  origin  to  "  spores  "  or 
seeds  carried  to  the  infusion  by  the  air,  and  produced  by  pre-exist- 
ing plants  or  animals  of  the  same  species.  At  one  time  it  was  held 
by  some  scientists  of  repute  that  these  organisms  were  spontane- 
ously generated  from  the  decaying  matter  in  the  infusion.  The 
fallacy  of  the  experiments  on  which  this  theory  was  based  has,, 
however,  been  exposed — mainly  by  the  researches  of  Tyndall  and 
Dallinger. 
