A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen.

Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of local therapeutics / edited by Harrison Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    73/554 (page 61)
    sur^, General Surgery—Sulphurous acid as a topical application in gery occupies but a small place, except for its germicidal properties when used in a gaseous state. Vallin, one of the highest authority on disinfectants and disinfection, regards sulphurous acid, obtained by the combustion of sulphur in free air, as occupying almost the first place among veritable disinfectants; this statement being made ten years ago. The use of this agent has come down to us from the most remote ages ; no other gaseous disin- fectant is so extensively used. (See in this connection Sternberg's Report to American Public Health Association, p. 52.) Thus, as can be seen, we have in sulphurous acid gas a cheap, reliable and easily applied disinfectant capable of destroying micro-organisms, but not their spores. As but few contagions contain spores, it is likely that sulphurous acid, when concentrated, is an efficient disinfectant if applied for sufficient time. Sternberg has proven by experiment that the gas acts much more freely when the air is loaded with moisture. In order to diffuse sulphurous acid through the air, it is well to secure a large iron pot, which is placed in the centre of the room upon a number of bricks, or, what is better still, in a tub containing from four to six inches of water, or in a box partially filled with wet ashes. When every- thing is in readiness the sulphur may be ignited after wetting with alcohol, or by dropping into the vessel a few live coals carried on a shovel from the kitchen range. In a few moments sulphurous acid gas is being rapidly evolved. The heat which is generated from the side of the pot vaporizes the water, and this keeps the air loaded with moisture all through the process. Should any of the molten sulphur boil over no harm will follow, as might happen if it fell on a board floor. The acid may be employed in a saturated solution for the purpose of destroying germs in the excretions of the sick ; but in corrosive sublimate we have a remedy so much more convenient and efficient, that it is seldom used for this purpose. The so-called sulphur cure, brought so prominently forward by Dewar, consists mainly of varied applications of this acid. Thus in Erysipelas he employs equal parts of sulphurous acid and glycerin, stating that it relieves the burning and arrests the spread of the inflammation. The same treatment, which he regards as much more efficient than that with carbolic acid, may be applied to Wounds and Ulcers. Diseases of the Skin.—Sulphurous acid is occasionally employed in the local treatment of the Vegetable Parasitic Diseases. In Tinea Circinata, particularly in that variety known as Burmese Ringworm, where the affection chiefly attacks the groins and insides of the thighs, lotions of sulphurous acid are often useful. Also in Tinea Versicolor the lotion of sulphurous acid is an excellent remedy.