52  Benzyl  Alcohol  for  Toothache.       { AjanJuaryPi92im' 
pox  is  to  be  superseded  by  a  dose  of  calf  lymph  taken  by  the 
mouth.  But  this  is  going  beyond  what  is  written.  Dr.  Besredka's 
researches  have  reference  exclusively  to  localized  infections,  and 
it  is  doubtful  whether  immunization  from  diseases  of  the  type  of 
small-pox — which  is  distinguished  by  general  constitutional  dis- 
turbance and  an  eruption  all  over  the  body — can  be  secured  by  in- 
gestion of  vaccine  lymph.  If  Dr.  Besredka's  conclusions  are  estab- 
lished they  will  not  invalidate  the  first  principles  upon  which  sero- 
therapy and  vaccine-therapy  are  founded,  and  his  method  has  the 
undoubted  advantage  of  simplifying  and  otherwise  improving  the 
technique  for  the  administration  of  prophylactics — microbic  in  their 
nature  or  origin. 
BENZYL  ALCOHOL  FOR  TOOTHACHE.** 
By  David  I.  Macht,  M.D., 
BALTIMORE,  MD. 
In  19 18,  I  2  announced  my  discovery  of  the  local  anesthetic 
properties  of  benzyl  alcohol,  or  phenmethylol,  and  published  both 
pharmacologic  and  clinical  data  on  the  subject.  I  found  that 
solutions  of  that  drug  in  concentrations  of  from  1  to  4  per  cent,  by 
volume,  in  physiologic  sodium  chloride  solution  or  in  distilled  water, 
furnished  a  satisfactory  local  anesthetic  for  general  surgical  work, ' 
on  the  one  hand,  and  that  benzyl  alcohol  was  at  least  forty  times  less 
toxic  than  cocaine,  on  the  other.  It  was  found  that  solutions  of 
phenmethylol  produced  efficient  anesthesia,  especially  when  in- 
filtrated in  the  tissues,  either  alone,  or,  still  better,  combined  with 
small  doses  of  epinephrine.  On  application  to  mucous  membranes, 
solutions  of  benzyl  alcohol  produced  also  a  distinct  anesthetic  effect, 
but  the  anesthesia  is  very  superficial  and  does  not  penetrate  into  the 
deeper  layers  of  the  tissues.  It  was  found  that  a  much  better 
anesthesia  of  mucous  or  skin  surfaces  could  be  produced  by  applica- 
tion of  pure  benzyl  alcohol.    Pure  benzyl  alcohol  cannot  be  injected 
*  From  Jour.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  October  30,  1920. 
1  Pharmacological  Laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
2  Macht,  D.  I.:  /.  Pharmacol.  &  Exper.  Therap.,  11:  263  (Apr.)  1918. 
