The “bound” chlorin of chlorlyptus, being chemically inactive, would have no more practical significance than the bound chlorin in common salt. The “ozone” said to be used during the preparation, to expel the HCl, has also practically disappeared, to judge by the slowness with which iodin is liberated from potassium iodid.
ACID FORMATION
Some constituents of chlorlyptus hydrolyze slowly and to a slight degree with the liberation of a trace of free hydrochloric acid. According to the data of Hawk’s report, the free acidity, in term of HCl, is 1⁄12 per cent. On standing with water over night, this increases to 1⁄8 per cent.
On this basis, Hawk proposed a theory that the claimed antiseptic effects of chlorlyptus are due to the continuous liberation of hydrochloric acid.
Experiments by the referee show this to be untenable. The traces of acid are neutralized and absorbed by the tissues so rapidly that an acid reaction is not maintained. These experiments are described in the appendix.
They were submitted to the manufacturers, who in the name of Mr. Weeks (May 9, 1919) concede this conclusion and state that “there is no doubt that the referee’s statements as to action in mouth, contact with living tissue and improbability that the acidity is effectively antiseptic is correct, and I am willing to accept the referee’s statement as conclusive in this respect.”
BACTERIAL CULTURE EXPERIMENTS
Mr. Weeks submitted a statement by Hawk to the effect that chlorlyptus has a phenol coefficient of 2.6, determined by the standard Hygienic Laboratory procedure.
He also quotes Rockefeller War Hospital that chlorlyptus kills Staphylococcus aureus in concentra of 1 dram: 1 gallon (about 1:1,000), but not in more dilute solutions.
More recently, he presented a more comprehensive report by Rivas, which is reproduced in the appendix. The essential results are tabulated herewith. This tabulation shows that chlorlyptus fails to kill the organisms after an hour’s exposure of the following concentrations: