Antiseptic inhalation, and the best method of conducting it : a paper read before the West London Medico-Chirurgical Society / by Robert J. Lee.

  • Lee, Robert James, 1841-1924.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Antiseptic inhalation, and the best method of conducting it : a paper read before the West London Medico-Chirurgical Society / by Robert J. Lee. 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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    great number of us, it will depend on our own personal observations and our own experiments; and however reasonable it may be in theory, we should soon cease to adopt it if, after a few trials, we met with doubtful or negative results. It matters very little to the majority of our profession whether the bacillus theory of tubercle be decided one way or the other, and only those few can feel much interest in the question who are competent to exa- mine it for themselves. But the majority of our profes- sion cannot do this. The knowledge and skill required to test microscopically or otherwise the nature of a bacillus or bacterium are very considerable; and the most experienced microscopical examiners are the most aware of the difficulties of this kind of investigation. But we can put to the test the value of the antiseptic principle in practice, and it is not only our duty to do so, each one for himself, but the promise held out of benefit to those that suffer is so great that our liveliest interest must be excited by it. The question, therefore, that we must first decide is briefly this. The antiseptic agent which we propose to employ must be in the form of vapour, and not of fluid. This vapour must be tested in some way, and shown to be reliable. It must be tested just as we should test a fluid before using it. It will not do to be making experi- ments with an agent the qualities of which we are igno- rant of, for self-evident reasons ; but particularly because we could not bring into harmony with our own observa- tions those of others who had obtained different results. We must at the very outset settle this question first, and when we are agreed on the plan we intend to follow, we shall soon be able to establish conclusions. You would imagine that this preliminary question must have beeu