The criticism may be raised that the number of cases and of injections is too small to permit the drawing of any just conclusions. Even should we grant it, the statistics certainly do not prove any marked superiority of any one of the preparations over the others. We wish to thank Dr. Sollmann for advising and directing us in this work, and Drs. Bailey, Bernstein, Markus and Reycraft for assistance in carrying it out.
Report of Dr. Albert Keidel
Twenty cases were chosen at random from the syphilitic patients attending the clinic. They were given intramuscular injections of the three solutions, in amounts varying from 1 to 2 c.c., at intervals (in most instances) of two days. The injections were invariably made into the gluteal muscles, at depths of from 2 to 21⁄2 inches, and ordinary care exercised to preserve asepsis. After injection the patient was allowed to depart, and the result was recorded at the succeeding visit. The result was determined from the patient’s statement and our examination. Some patients received injections of only one solution; some were treated with first one and later with another, and one patient received all three at different times. The solutions were never mixed for a single injection, of course.
TABLE 2.—REACTIONS IN TWENTY CASES REPORTED BY DR. KEIDEL
| Preparation | Reactions | Number of Injections | |||
 | |||||
| Severe | Mild | None | Undetermined | ||
| 1 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 39 |
| 2 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 5 | 41 |
| 3 | 7 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 37 |
| —— | |||||
| 117 | |||||
The solutions are understood to contain a 1 per cent. solution of red mercuric iodid in oil, two of them containing in addition 2.5 per cent. of guaiacol, one of these being a proprietary preparation. The solutions are designated as Preparations 1, 2 and 3, respectively, corresponding to the numbers on the labels of the bottles in which they were originally received. The local reactions are recorded as “severe” (S), “mild” (M), “none” (O) and “Undetermined” (U). By “severe” is meant very severe pain lasting for from several hours to several days; by “mild” is meant slight pain or numbness for several hours, or less than an hour; “none” indicates that there was no local reaction, and “undetermined,” that the patient has failed to return after the last injection.
In Table 3 all the details of the investigation are recorded. Under “Local Reaction,” the letters represent the type of reaction after each injection, in the order in which they were given; when two solutions were used in the same case, the letters represent the reactions following the solution opposite which they stand. In the fifth column the plus and minus symbols indicate the Wassermann reaction; plus indicates a completely positive, and minus a completely negative reaction. When there is only one sign, it refers to the reaction at the end of treatment; when there are two, to the reaction before and after. The seventh column shows the clinical result at the end of treatment; when no note is made, it means that there was no change noted. In the eighth column are noted any objective results observed at the time of examinations of the patients.
The injections were made and the result charted by Dr. E. L. Zimmermann, of my staff, under my directions and supervision.—(Abstracted in The Journal A. M. A., Feb. 24, 1917.)