104

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

In the town of Port Louis I tested the value
of carbolic acid in more than twenty cases of inter-
mittent fever, with congestion of the spleen as a
prominent feature, but with no appreciable enlarge-
ment of the liver, as determined by percussion.

In all these cases the fever was truly paroxysmal,
but with different types, the quotidian and tertian,
however, being the most frequent.

One grain of pure medicinal acid in one ounce of
water, with a little brandy or bitter infusion, three
times a day, cured the fever, i.e., stopped the
paroxysms; and, as far as I could discover, the
relapses were not so frequent as after the adminis-
tration of quinine. In fact, in one case under my
immediate observation, the fever which used to
return every week has left the patient free for
four months.

I make special mention of pure carbolic acid for
medicinal purposes, as manufactured by McDougall;
the acid furnished by most of the druggists here is
mostly fit for disinfecting purposes, and in several
cases produced untoward symptoms which probably
would not have resulted had the drug been in a
state of purity.

It was chiefly in those cases when the fit was
ushered in by excessive vomiting that I found that
carbolic acid acted almost like magic; stopping at
once the distressing symptom and shortening the
duration of the fit in a remarkable manner.

Its value, therefore, as a therapeutical agent in
the treatment of intermittent fever, whether due to
a vegetable poison or to one of animal origin, seems
to be an established fact, and its introduction into
the general practice of this country cannot but
prove of great benefit.

In fact, in the constitutional diseases in which
animal or vegetable parasites play an important
part, such as scabies, and even leprosy, I have found
carbolic acid, internally and externally, remarkably
efficacious.

II. Having thus enumerated the advantages of
carbolic acid as a medicinal agent, I shall enter into
some considerations with regard to its value as a
disinfectant.

I may safely say that it fully bears out the high
encomium passed upon it in England, by not only
removing offensive smells but arresting decomposi-
tion; truly antiseptic, it renders putrescent matter
entirely innocuous, and by its volatile nature destroys
in the atmosphere the impurities which that matter
may generate in it. In other words, carbolic acid
attacks vitality in decomposing substances; puts a
stop to embryonic life, and prevents those myriads of
infusoria and microscopic animals and plants from
exerting their nefarious influences on the human
beings that live close to them.

The views which I express here are borne out by
numberless experiments, repeated on different occa-
sions, and which it would be too long to describe
here.

His Excellency will therefore appreciate the
motive which led me, but without success, to
recommend carbolic acid as the sole disinfectant
agent for the three Inodore Companies, for it was not
only to remove the offensive smell of the tubs, but
also with a view of disseminating that volatile agent
in the atmosphere of the town. By thus penetrating
into the miserable haunts of the poorer classes, as
well as in the dwellings of the rich, carbolic acid
would purify the air charged with miasmata, and no
doubt lead to the mitigation of fever during the
ensuing hot season.

I have, &c.,

A. R. BARRAUT, M.D.,
Acting General Sanitary Inspector.

TREATMENT BY HYPODERMIC INJECTION OF
CARBOLIC ACID.
Externus.

Internus.

• Being ill and unable to attend properly, this experiment ceased about
  19th and 20th July, and I have not since renewed it; but I will.

An extended account of the cases of intermittent
fever (marked cured or relieved in the paper to which
this is to be attached) treated by the hypodermic
injection of carbolic acid. The numbers and names
are identical with those mentioned on the list referred
to, which was handed by me to the Acting General
Sanitary Inspector on the 29th August, 1868.
692. Edmond La Caze, creole, æt. 31, came to the
dispensary on the 10th June, having been attacked