On the relative powers of various substances in preventing the generation of animalcule or the development of their germs : with special reference to the germ theory of putrefaction / by John Dougall.

  • Dougall, John
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the relative powers of various substances in preventing the generation of animalcule or the development of their germs : with special reference to the germ theory of putrefaction / by John Dougall. 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.

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    of each of the various substances combined. This acid seems to be the germicide “ par excellence,” stifling life amid putrefaction. Picric acid, in its group, ranks next to hydrocyanic acid in the albumen column. It is easily obtained by mixing nitric and carbolic acids, when evolution of nitrous fumes ensues, with the formation of a tarry-looking residue—crude picric acid. It has an excessively bitter taste, a strong peculiar odour, and a yellow colour so singularly intense that it gives a perceptible tint to a million parts of water. Its modus operandi as a preventive agent is not very clear. We now come to consider a substance which has recently risen to great importance, viz., “carbolic acid.” Highly as I esteem my former teacher. Professor Lister, and greatly as I admire his patient, arduous research, and fertility of resource, all of which I had abundant opportunities of witnessing and profiting by while he was developing his theory of the “anti- septic system; ” and satisfied as I am of the comparatively “ marvellous results” which he and others have obtained, and are obtaining, with this substance, yet, the conclusion is irresistible from the experiments, that, if these results are to be attributed solely to the germ-killing or preventive powers of carbolic acid, then it must yield the palm to many superiors. If, as is alleged, germs are the source of putrefaction, then the strongest preventives must be the best antiseptics, and vice versa. Now, as seen in the table, carbolic acid occupies a veiy mediocre place as a preventive, therefore it is legitimate to conclude that it stands no higher as an antiseptic. But if it does not check putrefaction by killing germs, or directly preventing their multiplication, how, then, does it act ] Although rmable to formulate the change that takes place when it unites, in large proportion, with oi’ganic bodies, for which it has a strong affinity, still the result of such change certainly is the formation of a compound capable of resisting the attacks of oxygen, of water, and, consequently, of germs. In other words, a compound is formed which is proof against putrefactive tendencies.