DIAPHTHOL, OR QUINASEPTOL.— This occurs in yellowish-white crystals, soluble in 35 parts of boiling water, and slightly soluble in cold water. It has antiseptic and antifermentative properties and is used in solution to disinfect the urinary tract. It prevents the decomposition of urine better than salol. It is slightly toxic, but does not give rise to gastric or intestinal irritation. Diaphthol is elimi nated unchanged by the kidneys. PHENOSALYL.—ThiS is a mixture of carbolic acid, 90 parts; salicylic acid, 10 parts; lactic acid, 20 parts; and menthol, 1 part, mixed with heat. It has been used externally in solution, in conjunc tivitis (in 0.2 to 0.4 per cent.), in eczema (in 1 per cent.), and in purulent cystitis (in 2 per cent.).
Phenosalyl possesses antiseptic powers superior to the antiseptics usually em ployed, with the exception of corrosive sublimate. A solution of 1 per cent. suffices to kill the most resisting mi crobes in one minute. It has the great advantage of being non-toxic, experi ments showing it to be four times less so than carbolic acid and a hundred times less than corrosive sublimate.
Clinical experiments with the drug were made at the in Paris, in the service of Cornil, upon more than one hundred patients, mostly affected with genitourinary troubles, as endo metritis, erosions of the cervix, vaginitis, and urethritis. In every case, even in
veterate ones, its use was followed by rapid recovery. In several cases of puer peral infection it caused the fever and other symptoms rapidly to disappear. For surgical use, injections, irrigations, etc., phenosalyl is employed in aqueous solutions of from '/, to 1 per cent. This does not injure the instruments nor irri tate the skin. It may easily be used for antiseptic gauze and cotton, and for the preservation of silk and hair, sponges, etc. Duloroy (These de in Faculte de Paris, '93).
SAPROL.—This is a mixture of coal tar constituents, proposed as a cheap dis infectant. It occurs as a dark-brown, oily fluid. When added to water it floats. In 1-per-cent. solution it is well adapted for the disinfection of dejecta in barracks, prisons, and schools.
Of all disinfectants advocated for ren dering infected stools and cesspools in nocuous, saprol most nearly answers all requirements. It forms no inefficacious compound on admixture, and readily diffuses itself among the excreta. Scheurlen (Archly f. Hyg., B. 4, '93).