Report on the value of sodium silicofluoride as an antiseptic / by T. Jessopp Bokenham.

  • Bokenham, T. Jessopp.
Date:
[1890]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the value of sodium silicofluoride as an antiseptic / by T. Jessopp Bokenham. 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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    Reprinted for the Author from the British Medical Journal, Feb. 15,1890 EEPORT ON THE VALUE OF SODIUM SILICOFLUORIDE AS AN ANTISEPTIC.^ By T. JESSOPP BOKENHAM, M.E.C.S., L.E.C.P. Fob some years it has been an accepted idea among medical men that in antiseptics they would at length find the means of com- bating infective diseases (that is, those due to specific organisms). Experiments made by Dr. Theodore Cash, F.R.S.,- showed that corrosive sublimate, when administered to guinea pigs, would afford protection from anthrax, the animals under certain condi- tions living quite unaffected by the inoculation. The danger here lay, however, in the extremely poisonous nature of the antiseptic itself, and it has been a desideratum to find a less dangerous sub- stitute. Such, I thought, might be the silicofluoride of sodium which was introduced to my notice some months back by Messrs. Bur- roughs, Wellcome, and Co. With regard to this substance the following particulars may be interesting, as they formed the basis of my subsequent work. It was introduced by Mr. Wm. Thomson, F.R.8.E., who, in a paper before the British Association in 1888, claimed that it was a powerful antiseptic, non-volatile, colourless, sparingly soluble in water, neutral, and above all, non-poisonous. Its saturated aqueous solution, 0.61 per cent., was unirritating, although large doses of the solid acted as an emetic. However, as much as 7 grains had been taken as a dose, though perhaps it was tot desirable to take more than -| to 1 grain. Its antiseptic properties were demonstrated by adding the salt (1 to 700) to flour paste, or 1 to 200 to an infusion of chopped meat in water. The mixtures were placed in an incubator, and watched. After several days they were entirely free from either mould or decom- position. This was a more successful result than could be obtained with corrosive sublimate (1 to 500), The salt acted like alcohol in retarding the action of pepsin in albuminous bodies. Mr. Eobson, P.R.C.S.,'' used the drug as an antiseptic in a great variety of surgical cases, and considered it specially useful in those cases im which there might be risk from absorption, if mer- curic chloride were used. Dr. Conrad Berens^ found a solution of 1 to 1,000 strong enough to prevent all decomposition of vegetable and meat infusions, even when these were exposed for some weeks. He also found that a dose of 10 gr. in giv of water could be borne without incon- venience, taken on an empty stomach and repeated three times daily for seven days. After reading these accounts, I thought it would be interesting to undertake a series of experiments on the germicidal value of the substance given internally, working on the lines of Dr. Cash, 1 The expenses of this research were defrayed by the Therapeutic Committee of the British Medical Association. - Report on Certain Cliemical Disinfectants. Journal, May, 1S88. * Therap. Gaz., 1888, p. 44.S. ' Loc. cit.