Am.  Jour.  Pliarni  ) 
Jan.,  1883.  / 
Action  of  Hydrogen  Peroxide, 
21 
ACTION  OF  HYDROGEN  PEROXIDE  ON  ORGANIC  MAT- 
TERS AND  FERMENTATIONS,  AND  ON  ITS  EMPLOY- 
MENT IN  SURGERY. 
MM.  Paul  Bert  and  P.  Regnard  have  studied  tlie  action  of  hydro- 
gen peroxide  upon  various  forms  of  organic  matter  and  upon  fermen- 
tatioiis,  and  find  that  it  possesses  very  remarkable  antiseptic  properties. 
All  fermentation  due  to  an  organized  ferment  is  immediately  and  defi- 
nitely arrested  by  liydrogen  peroxide,  the  ferment  is  killed,  and  even 
after  the  removal  of  the  hydrogen  peroxide  by  one  of  the  substances 
which  destroys  it  most  rapidly,  the  fermentation  does  not  recommence. 
The  yeast  of  beer  is  in  this  manner  killed  instantly,  although  it  pos- 
sesses itself  the  property  of  decomposing  hydrogen  peroxide.  Speci- 
mens of  wine,  urine,  and  milk,  eacli  containing  a  few  drops  of  hydrogen 
peroxide,  have  been  exposed  for  several  months  in  open  vessels  witliout 
exhibiting  the  least  sign  of  alteration,  while  other  specimens  of  the 
same  identical  liquids,  without  the  addition  of  hydrogen  peroxide, 
placed  beside  them,  were  in  a  state  of  complete  decomposition.  Although 
organized  ferments  are  destroyed  by  hydrogen  peroxide,  soluble  fer- 
ments do  not  seem  to  be  affected  by  it,  saliva,  diastase,  the  gastric  and 
pancreatic  fluids  continue  to  act  in  solutions  containing  hydrogen  per- 
oxide. MM.  Bert  and  Regnard  have  also  studied  the  action  of  hydro- 
gen peroxide  upon  various  organic  materials,  including  the  albuminoid 
substances,  and  all  the  tissues  composing  the  animal  body  in  a  healthy 
or  pathological  state.  The  results  of  their  investigations  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows  : 
1.  Hydrogen  peroxide,  even  when  very  dilute,  arrests  fermentations 
due  to  the  development  of  living  organisms,  and  the  putrefaction  of  all 
substances  which  do  not  decompose  it. 
2.  It  has  no  effect  upon  diastase  fermentations. 
?).  Dilute  hydrogen  peroxide  is  not  destroyed  by  fats,  starches,  solu- 
ble ferments,  egg  albumen,  casein,  the  peptones,  creatine,  creatinine  or 
urea. 
4.  It  is  rapidly  destroyed  by  nitrogenous  collagens,  by  musculin, 
fibrin  of  the  blood,  and  various  nitroo^enous  veo^etable  matters. 
5.  This  action  is  definitely  arrested  by  a  temperature  above  70°. 
Putrefaction,  however,  leaves  it  entirely  intact. 
As  it  appeared  from  the  powerful  antiseptic  properties  of  hydrogen 
peroxide  that  it  might  prove  of  value  in  surgery,  experiments  were 
