Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1888. 
Note  on  Antipyretics. 
365 
largely  advertised,  but  in  competition  with  other  agents  which  have 
had  these  advantages,  it  has  not  come  very  largely  into  use.  It  appears 
to  be  a  very  active  agent  for  reducing  abnormal  temperatures. 
Antifebrin. — In  1853  Gerhardt  discovered  by  a  reaction  between 
aniline  and  acetic  acid  a  neutral  body  which  was  found  to  be  phenyl- 
acetamide,  or  acetanilide.  This  substance  was  recently  found  to  be 
an  active  antipyretic,  and  under  the  name  antifebrin  was,  in  1886, 
very  favorably  reported  by  Prof.  Kussmaul  of  Strassburg,  as  yield- 
ing very  satisfactory  results  in  comparison  with  antipyrin,  whilst  the 
cost  is  very  much  less,  and  the  effective  dose  very  much  smaller.  It 
is  not  patented,  although  the  name,  and  perhaps  a  special  quality  under 
the  name,  is  claimed  as  being  proprietary.  But  it  is  also  commonly 
sold  now  as  acetanilide,  of  quite  as  good  quality,  and  for  but  little 
over  one-half  the  price  it  brings  as  antifebrin.  That  is,  the  two  are 
identical  except  in  price,  and  both  are  cheap. 
Salol. — This  combination  of  about  60  per  cent,  of  salicylic  acid  and 
40  per  cent,  of  phenol  or  carbolic  acid,  was  first  produced  by  Prof,  von 
Nencki,  of  Berne,  and  investigated  by  Dr.  Sahli,  also  of  Berne — the 
report  of  the  latter  upon  the  compound  having  been  made  in  April, 
1886.  It  was  soon  patented  in  Germany  and  the  United  States,  and 
is  now  controlled  by  these  patents.  It  is  said  to  combine  the  proper- 
ties and  effects  of  its  two  constituents,  and  if  so  it  is  difficult  to  see 
why  they  should  not  be  extemporaneously  prescribed  with  the  advan- 
tage of  varying  the  proportion  of  ihe  elements  to  meet  the  special  re- 
quirements of  varying  cases. 
Antithermin. — This  is  one  of  the  two  most  recent  additions  to  the 
long  list  of  antipyretics.  The  systematic  name  given  for  it  is  phenyl- 
hydrazinlevulinic  acid,  and  with  such  a  constitution  it  is  evidently 
nearly  related  to  antipyrin. 
Acetyl-amidophenol  is  the  other  of  the  two  very  recent  antipyretics, 
and  as  yet  this  one  does  not  appear  to  have  received  a  common  short 
name ;  and  up  to  this  time  little  appears  to  have  been  said  in  regard 
to  these  new  agents. 
No  notice  of  prominent  antipyretics  should  omit  the  mention  of 
two  of  the  oldest  and  best,  although  these  may  now  be  temporarily 
put  aside  for  newer  claimants  to  professional  popularity.  These  two 
are  veratrum  viride  and  aconite. 
In  conclusion,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  add  a  list  of  prices  at  which 
