IDEAL ANTISEPTIC

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9632, 12 April 1917, Page 2

IDEAL ANTISEPTIC

IMPORTANT DISCOVERY TO FIGHT BACTERIA. Speaking at a meeting of the governors of Middlesex Hospital, Dr C. H. Browning (Director of tho BlandSutton Institute) said that as the war had created by tens of thousands wounds infected with bacteria of sepsis, there had been a clamant need for chemical substances which should aid tho surgeon in his treatment of these terribly distressing oases. They were glad to be able to say that tho BlandSutton Institute had discovered an antiseptic, called Flavine, which afforded to the hands of the surgeon, in his fight against sepsis, what was in all probability the most powerful accessory weapon so far known. Before tho war all the potent antiseptics were also highly poisonous to tho living body, and many most distinguished surgeons despaired of the discovery of an ideal antiseptic which would kill tho bacteria without harming the tissues. With Flavine they had come very near to reaching this goal. The sum total of saving in individual suffering, as well as the economic gain to the nation, which was effected by cutting short sepsis in wounds, was a gain the magnitude of which could scarcely be realised. The possibilities which the discovery opened up were only at the beginning. The investigation of agents for the treatment of tuberculosis and other infective diseases had already been begun.