The treatment of the exanthemata by so-called antiseptic inunction : with observations on the period of incubation and the duration of infectiveness in scarlet fever : a paper read before the Association on June 27, 1894 / by H.G. Armstrong.

  • Armstrong, Henry George.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of the exanthemata by so-called antiseptic inunction : with observations on the period of incubation and the duration of infectiveness in scarlet fever : a paper read before the Association on June 27, 1894 / by H.G. Armstrong. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    18/22 (page 16)
    This is inaccurate, even as it applies to evaporation from a smooth surface, such as glass, as is illustrated h} this glass slide, from which some oleusaban has been evaporated. You will see there is a considerable residue of some crystalline and sticky material, forming an impermeable covering or varnish ; but it is still less accurate when the material is applied to a rough and absorbent surface. This you will find to he the case if some is rubbed on the hand, both by the feeling produced and also by the fact that the smell of the oils remains for some time even after washing. Further, you will find that oleusaban will make a fairly good varnish for fixing the smoked paper on which syhygmographic tracings are generally taken. The follow- ing observations were kindly made for me by Mr. Fitzgerald in the laboratory at Wellington College with this material: — (1) A piece of filter paper weighed after drying 1*210 grms. Soaked in oil, and again dried at 100°, weighed ... ... ... .. ... 1*24 ,, (2) A piece of pa]3er, dried, weighed ... ... 1*22 ,, Do. soaked and dried roughly, weighed ... ... ... 1*85 ,, Do. dried still more, weighed ... 1*58 ,, (3) A piece of cloth w^eighed ... ... ... 2*700 ,, Do., soaked in oil, weighed .. ... 6 630 ,, Do. do. dried for two days, weighed 3*785 ,, Do. do. dried further in vacuo, weighed ... ... ... 3*770 ,, It will thus be seen that a very considerable quantity (even after careful drying) of the compound was retained in the article to which it was applied, being, in the last experiment, as much as 25 per cent. Mr. Curgenven seems to me to be guilty of a contradic- tion on this point; for on the same page on which he says that the eucalyptus disinfectant evaporates rapidly and completely, he also says that it is absorbed into the inter- cellular spaces of the cuticle. Surely this is a paradox, that a substance which completely evaporates is also