On the use of the oil of Eucalyptus globulus combined with other antiseptics, in the treatment of scarlet fever and all infectious diseases / by J. Brendon Curgenven.

  • Curgenven, J. Brendon (John Brendon), 1831-1903.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of the oil of Eucalyptus globulus combined with other antiseptics, in the treatment of scarlet fever and all infectious diseases / by J. Brendon Curgenven. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tricts. In California thousands of acres have been planted, and the Americans are yearly extending their plantations, surrounding their houses and locations with the trees. It is easy to foresee that our chief supply of the oil of eucalyptus glolDulus, which is the only tree of the species they plant, Avill in future be derived from that country rather than from its native habiiat, Australia. The Australians having the native forests for their supply, do not feel the stimulus to plant, and their supply will diminish. It is more than twenty years since that Dr. Budd pub- lished a pamphlet advocating the use of olive oil for inunction in scarlet fever, not with the view of destroying the infective germs, but of saturating the cuticle and preventing it from being diffused through the air. The use of the oil was attended by great inconvenience, in that it soiled the linen and became rapidly rancid by the high temperature of the patient. Since that time I have sought some method of disinfection by inunction that would destroy all the infective germs stored in the cuticle, so as to render it when cast off perfectly innocuous. There were many disinfectants—car- bolic acid, permanganate of potash, creolin (Jeyes' fluid), sani- tas, etc., but none of these were suitable. Carbolic acid must be dissolved in water, oil, or fat. A watery solution of a dis- infectant would not do to apply to the whole surface of the skin of a child in the first stage of scarlet fever with a temperature of 103° to 105°, and the carbolic acid could not be used strong enough to destroy the infection owing to its caustic nature. For the above reason Jeyes' fluid, sanitas, and other watery solutions were unsuitable. Antiseptics mixed with fixed oils or fat were attended by several objec- tions. The oil or fat applied to the whole surface would interfere materially with the action of the skin, and the oil or fat wovild weaken their power. Spirituous solutions were also unsuitable, and the alcohol weakened their action. Corporeal disinfection by inunction has been tried by medical men at various times. One recommended thymol mixed with vaseline, but the unctious nature of the latter was disagreeable to the patient, and if applied to large sur- faces of the body interfered with transpiration. No one would be surprised that the trial was a failure. In June last there was published, in the Medical Record, a method of disinfection proposed by Dr. L. Mervin Mans. He says : Sponge the patient thoroughly, morning and evening, with a tepid solution of .corrosive sublimate, 4 to 1,000, as soon as the eruption makes its appearance. The hair and the secretions are also to be disinfected with the same. As