“The ideal surgical anti­sep­tic should ef­fect com­plete ster­il­iza­tion within its sphere of ac­tion with­out caus­ing any dam­age to ani­mal cells. At the mo­ment such a sub­stance does not ap­pear likely to be found, but on the other hand it is sur­pris­ing to see how lit­tle dam­age may be done to ani­mal tis­sues by some ac­tive anti­sep­tics. An im­por­tant me­thod of judg­ing of the in­juri­ous ac­tion of anti­sep­tics is to in­ves­ti­gate the con­di­tion of the leuco­cytes in wounds re­cent­ly treat­ed with the sub­stance under con­si­der­ation. In gener­al it appears from ex­peri­ments in vitro that, with the strength of anti­sep­tics com­mon­ly used in sur­gery, mer­cury salts and hypo­chlor­ites have rela­tive­ly lit­tle ef­fect on phago­cyt­osis as com­pared with phe­nol (Parry Morgan). It is a regu­lar phe­nom­enon to ob­serve ac­tivi­ty of the leuco­cytes ob­tained from wounds which have been re­cent­ly treat­ed with hypo­chlor­ites.

Ingenious methods for determin­ing the in­flu­ence in vivo of anti­sep­tics on the ac­tivi­ties of leuco­cytes have been worked out by Col. C. J. Bond.

“In addition to their dis­in­fect­ing ac­tion, the Chlorine anti­sep­tics are strong oxi­diz­ing agents and de­odor­ants and more­over pos­sess in high de­gree the pro­perty of de­com­pos­ing toxins. By the re­gu­lat­ed ac­tion of hypo­chlor­ous acid, Dean has pre­pared a non­toxic dys­entery vac­cine and it is a com­mon ob­ser­va­tion that the free use of hypo­chlor­ites may re­duce the con­sti­tu­tion­al symp­toms aris­ing from sep­tic pro­ces­ses and that they re­ap­pear on dis­con­tinu­ing the anti­sep­tic treat­ment.”

Chlorax

Chlorax is said to be “A stable CHLORINE solution for internal use,” in “Kidney Conditions,” “Diabetes,” “Acute Infections,” “Blood Dicrasias,” “Lithemias and Rheumatism,” and “Nervous Conditions.” It is claimed to have the same composition as that of Chloron with the addition of 0.016 per cent. of tincture of opium.

The A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory reported that the free chlorin in Chlorax was 0.01 gm. per hundred c.c. and the total amount of active (“available”) chlorin was 0.25 gm. per hundred c.c., or 125 per cent. of the amount claimed. The laboratory notes that though the chlorin content of Chloron and Chlorax is claimed to be the same, that of Chlorax actually is less. This is not surprising when the presence in Chlorax of reducing substances such as alcohol is borne in mind. The laboratory concludes that Chlorax is not of reliable composition.

The following is typical of the “case reports” submitted to show the value of Chlorax:

“In January last I used Chlorax on a case of Diabetes Mellitus and with excellent results.

“The patient had been suffering for about nine years and when first brought to my care Toxemia had set in, he was drowsy, irritable and unable to leave the house. I prescribed Chlorax in teaspoonful doses four times a day and am pleased to say that in one week he showed marked improvement. Soon after he was able to leave the house and attend to his business and after two months’ treatment resumed a normal diet and habits apparently without injurious effects.