Am.  Jonr.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1883. 
Disinfectants. 
23 
placed  iij,  suitable  nutritive  liquids^  even  wlien  added  to  serum  contain- 
ing J  per  cent,  zinc  chloride.  He  wonders  how  this  salt  could  ever 
have  been  regarded  as  an  antiseptic. 
Fr.  Boillat,  in  criticising  Koch's  article,  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  for  a  substance  to  be  an  antiseptic  it  is  not  necessary  for  it  actually 
to  destroy  germs.  In  the  antiseptic  treatment  of  wounds  it  would  be 
impossible  to  euiploy  such  violently  acting  substances  as  those  men- 
tioned by  Koch.  All  that  is  necessary  is  the  presence  of  substances 
capable  in  some  way  of  restraining  the  development  of  germs,  which 
hence  may  properly  be  called  antiseptics.  Many  antiseptics  have  the 
power  of  coagulating  proteids.  Boillat  prepared  such  coagula  from 
serum  and  egg  albumin  by  precipitating  with  phenol,  zinc  chloride, 
copper  sulphate,  and  mercuric  chloride.  These  albuminates,  after  being 
well  washed  to  remove  any  excess  of  the  precipitant,  were  mixed  with 
a  little  water  and  exposed  to  the  air.  Pure  serum  and  Koch's  gelatin 
served  to  control  the  experiments.  In  the  serum,  gelatin  and  phenol- 
albuminate,  bacteria  appeared  in  1,  1,  and  2  days  respectively,  and 
marked  putrefaction  in  2,  4,  and  6  days  respectively,  while  in  the  metal- 
albuminates  bacteria  did  not  appear  until  from  31  to  45  days,  and 
marked  putrefaction  in  from  46  to  60  days.  The  surprisingly  rapid 
putrefaction  of  the  phenol-albuminate  was  explained  when  it  w^as 
found  on  examination  to  contain  no  phenol.  Splenic  fever  spores 
were  found  to  develop  in  gelatin  in  1  day,  and  not  at  all  in  metal- 
albuminates.  According  to  Boillat,  Koch  did  not  add  enough  zinc 
chloride  to  his  serum  to  convert  all  the  proteids  into  the  harmless  but 
innutritions  zinc-albuminate,  and  the  spores  availed  themselves  of  the 
excess.  Applied  to  the  surface  of  a  wound,  zinc  chloride  forms  a 
superficial  coating  of  the  neutral  zinc  albuminate,  which  affords  no 
means  for  the  bacteria  to  develop,  and  protects  the  parts  under  it. 
Experiments  with  iodoform  (2  per  cent,  sol.)  :  carbon  tetra-chloride, 
■CCI4;  the  chlorides  C2CI4  and  C^Clg,  and  bromo-toluene  (liquid  and 
solid),  and  dimethyl-pyrogallol  (1  per  cent.  sol.  each),  as  restraining 
putrefaction  of  pancreas,  gave  negative  results,  and  paracresol  was 
active  only  in  solutions  of  at  least  ^  per  cent.,  and  even  then  did  not 
restrain  the  action  of  the  pancreatic  ferment. — Amer.  C/iem.  Jour., 
from  Journal  fur  praktische  Chemie  [2],  25,  300. 
