Forty-third annual report of the Local Government Board, 1913-1914. Supplement containing the report of the Medical Officer for 1913-1914.

  • Great Britain. Local Government Board.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Forty-third annual report of the Local Government Board, 1913-1914. Supplement containing the report of the Medical Officer for 1913-1914. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    368/378 (page 232)
    Appendix B., No. 5. Some Experiments to test the value of Ether as an agent for the Purification of Vaccine Lymph; by Dr. t. B. Blaxall. In a paper, read before the International Congress of Medicine in London in the year 1913, and in communications* published Septem- ber and October, 1913, Dr. W. Fornet advocated the use of ether as a means of purifying lymph from the extraneous organisms whilst leaving its specific vitality unimpaired. In 1900 I had myself experimented with ether for this purpose without success, and in 1901 my then colleague, Dr. A. B. Green, also investigated its action, as to which he says of ether and some other substances that theyt “ eliminated the extraneous bacteria .... in varying degrees of rapidity and all in their higher stiengchs more quickly than the glycerine of their controls. But also they destroyed the potency of the specific organisms, in some cases in very short periods of time.” Subsequently, in 1907, I further experimented with the vapour of ether and its action on lymph, but again with no success. Hence I was greatly interested in Dr. Fornet’s communication, and at once endeavoured to repeat his experiments. Fornet’s method is to take crude lymph pulp, grind it in a triturator with a very little salt solution, then add ether, 20 ccs. to each gramme of pulp, place in a bottle, carefully seal the mouth and shake energetically for 20 hours, at the expiration of this time the extraneous germs will all have been destroyed, if not, farther shaking with ether is resorted to, for he says that the ether is incapable of destroying the specific organisms even if the operation is prolonged for 120 hours or more. In my experiments I followed this method as closely as possible, with the exception that I did not keep up the continuous shaking, but the etherized lymph during the time of the experiment, was frequently shaken by hand. _ Experiment I. Five grammes of pulp were ground up very finely in a mortar with 5 ccs. of physiological salt solution. The ground-up lymph was then placed in a well-stoppered bottle, and to it w as added 100 ccs. of methylated ether, sp. gr. ‘720. The stopper of the bottle was carefully sealed, and the contents shaken repeatedly during * Die Eeinkultur des Pockenerregers, Dr. W. Foruet. Wiener Naturforsckervers- ammlung, 24tk September, IS) 13. ...... , , Die Reinkultur des Pockenerregers, Dr. W. Fornet. W iener Medmmscke \\ ochen- schrift, No. 41, 1913. w , Dio Reinkultur des Pockenerregers, Dr. W. Fornet. Berliner Klimscke W ochen- sclirift, No. 40, 1913. . , , , La culture pure du Virus Vaccinal, Dr. W. Fornet. Revue Internationale de la Vaccine, September-October, 1913. .... + Report of Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, 1900-01, page 661. The Disinfectant action of Chloroform and various other substances, «xc., Dr. A.. B. Green.