Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
November,  1901.  J 
Digestive  Ferments. 
537 
to  offer  many  advantages  over  the  use  of  the  curette,  for,  while  it 
is  practically  impossible  to  remove  all  the  debris  from  a  wound  by 
mechanical  means,  without  injuring  and  scraping  away  much  of  the 
healthy  tissue,  we  can,  by  means  of  digestive  ferment,  remove  all 
foreign  or  dead  material,  without  injuring  the  vitality  of  the  sur- 
rounding living  cells,  but,  what  is  of  more  importance,  it  can  be 
done  without  causing  any  appreciable  amount  of  pain  or  discomfort. 
A  pepsin  solution  that  has  some  resemblance  to  at  least  one  of 
the  commercial  preparations,  has  been  in  use  in  the  out-patient  de- 
partment of  the  German  Hospital  for  some  time,  and  appears  to  be 
giving  very  good  satisfaction. 
Mixed  with  two  or  three  times  its  volume  of  water,  and  applied 
as  a  wet  dressing,  it  has  given  excellent  results  by  removing  the 
broken  down  granulations  and  other  septic  materials  from  old 
chronic  ulcers  and  abscesses,  leaving  a  healthy  granulating  surface 
•  that  may  be  treated  as  a  clean  wound  in  the  regular  way. 
Following  up  our  practice  of  giving  a  descriptive  title  or  name 
to  preparations  having  distinctive  characteristics,  we  have  chris- 
tened this  particular  solution  "  Physol,"  this  being  a  combination  of 
the  first  syllables  of  the  two  words  "  Physiological  Solvent  "  that 
describe  better  than  lengthy  phrases  what  the  solution  is  really 
intended  for,  and  what  it  will  do. 
The  formula  for  this  preparation,  as  used  by  us,  is  as  follows. 
Pepsin  (U.S.P.)   50* 
Menthol  =  .   0*5 
Eucalyptol   0-5 
Oil  of  wintergreen  .  .     0-5 
Alcohol  .  .  .   io' 
Glycerin   50" 
Diluted  hydrochloric  acid   20* 
Talcum                                                              -   50* 
Distilled  water  to  make   1000. 
Dissolve  the  pepsin  in  800  c.c.  of  distilled  water,  add  the  diluted 
acid  and  the  glycerin,  then  dissolve  the  menthol,  eucalyptol  and  oil 
of  wintergreen  in  the  alcohol  and  add  this  solution  to  the  pepsin 
mixture.  Add  sufficient  water  to  make  the  volume  of  the  solution 
IOOO  c.c,  add  the  talcum  and  shake  thoroughly,  then  filter  through 
paper,  returning  the  first  portions  until  the  filtrate  runs  perfectly 
clear. 
