Am'jJa0i^yiSo.arm'}  Antiseptic  Value  of  Chemical  Preparations.  31 
in  a  proper  proportion  of  water,  has  the  property  of  absorbing  energy 
by  exposure  to  light,  very  much  like  that  possessed  by  the  green 
leaves  of  plants. 
ON  THE  ANTISEPTIC  VALUE  OF  CHEMICAL  PREPA- 
RATIONS, WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO 
SOME  OF  THE  SALTS  OF  MERCURY.1 
By  Dr.  Behring. 
Last  year  there  was  a  good  deal  of  writing  and  disputing  about 
the  value  of  antiseptics,  especially  of  iodoform,  carbolic  acid,  pre- 
parations of  mercury,  and  creolin.  With  regard  to  iodoform,  the 
dispute  was  keenest.  Surgeons  had  used  it  profusely,  with  the  best 
results,  and  maintained  vigorously  that,  practically,  it  was  a  valu- 
able antiseptic,  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  some  experimenters,  bring- 
ing it  into  close  contact  with  the  germs,  made  out  that  it  had  actually 
no  powers  as  a  germicide.  Both  sides,  as  was  natural  to  suppose, 
were  partly  in  the  right ;  those  were,  however,  most  in  the  right 
who  had  practically  proved  its  value.  Iodoform,  it  seems,  acts  as 
a  disinfectant  only  when  it  is  being  decomposed.  In  discharging 
wounds,  especially  ivhen  the  discharge  is  foul,  the  iodoform  gets  slowly 
broken  up  into  iodine  and  hydrogen,  and  these  change  stinking  pus 
into  scentless,  diminish  the  amount  of  secretion,  and  limit  the  growth 
of  the  bacteria  that  cause  it.  It  is,  however,  a  mistake  to  think  that 
.any  fluid  coming  from  a  wound  will  have  this  effect;  the  reducing 
powers  of  the  living  germs  are  necessary  ;  that  which  causes  a  wound 
to  foul  is  what  breaks  up  the  iodoform.  The  iodoform  thus  resembles 
a  good  waiter,  it  acts  only  when  its  services  are  required. 
Germs  with  but  slight  decomposing  power,  such  as  charbon  germs, 
suffer  but  little  from  iodoform,  because  they  cannot  decompose  it 
sufficiently  quickly  to  destroy  themselves  in  the  process  by  releasing 
the  iodine.  On  the  other  hand,  the  comma  bacilli  of  Asiatic  cholera 
decompose  iodoform  quickly,  and  the  result  is  that  these  germs  are 
not  only  hindered  in  their  growth,  but  killed,  and  that  quickly. 
All  the  anaerobia  Dr.  Behring  has  investigated,  e.  g.,  the  bacilli  of 
tetanus  and  of  malignant  oedema,  are  strong  decomposers,  and  hence 
controlled  by  iodoform.    Two  years  ago  he, showed  that  the  addition 
1  Deutsche  medicinische  Wochensclirift,  Oct.  10,  1889 ;  transtrated  and  abstracted 
by  W.  A.  Stewart ;  reprinted  from  the  Medical  Chronicle,  December. 
