^i°Hir;xP879rir"}  Sodium  Ethylate,  or  Caustic  AlcohoL  195 
SODIUM  ETHYLATE,  OR  CAUSTIC  ALCOHOL. 
By  Benj.  W.  Richardson,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 
The  interest  taken  in  my  introduction  of  ethylate  of  sodium  into 
medical  and  surgical  practice  leads  me  to  think  that  the  following  brief 
essay  on  three  points — historical,  therapeutical,  pharmaceutical — relat- 
ing to  that  introduction  may  prove  acceptable  to  the  numerous  readers 
■of  the  "  Pharmaceutical  Journal  " 
I.  Historical. — I  brought  the  ethylates  of  sodium  and  potassium, 
with  some  other  of  the  ethylate  series,  originally  into  notice  for  prac- 
tical use  so  far  back  as  1870.  I  first  reported  on  them  to  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in  1870,  and  in  the  same 
year  I  made  them  the  subject  of  one  of  my  lectures  on  "  Experi- 
mental and  Practical  Medicine,"  upon  which  occasion  I  demonstrated 
the  mode  of  making  the  ethylates  of  sodium  and  potassium  and  per- 
formed several  experiments  on  blood,  serum  and  living  tissues,  with  the 
•sodium  ethylate.  In  the  same  year,  I  also  tested  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  what  had  been  suggested  to  me  by  experiment.  I  removed  by 
the  use  of  sodium  ethylate  a  large  naevus  from  a  child,  who  was  under 
the  care  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Gay,  at  the  Great  Northern  Hospital.  The 
naevus  had  previously  been  subjected  to  treatment  by  the  ligature  and 
by  other  methods,  including  the  free  use  of  nitric  acid,  without  success. 
I  supplied  in  this  year,  1870,  to  the  Great  Northern  Hospital  the 
specimen  of  the  ethylate  which  came  (fortunately)  into  the  hands  of 
Dr.  Brunton,  who  in  the  next  year  used  it  for  naevus  with  equal  success. 
Dr.  Brunton  stated  at  the  Medical  Society  of  London  that  a  house 
surgeon  of  the  Great  Northern  Hospital  gave  him  the  specimen  of  the 
ethylate  as  a  remedy  for  naevus  without  telling  him  of  what  it  was  com- 
posed. Dr.  Brunton,  who  had  missed  seeing  my  report,  had  therefore 
to  get  the  specimen  examined  by  a  chemical  friend  before  he  knew  to 
what  agent  he  was  indebted  for  his  success.  Afterwards,  through  the 
same  friend,  he  learned  that  the  ethylate  had  been  introduced  by  myself, 
and  he  was  so  kind  as  to  inform  me  of  the  circumstances.  If  the 
ethylates  should  come  into  use  in  medicine  and  pharmacy  these  facts 
from  me  will  fix  the  date  of  their  introduction  definitely,  viz.,  as  Sep- 
tember 1870,  at  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  held  at  Liverpool  under  the  presidency  of  Professor 
Huxley. 
