A USEFUL DISCOVERY.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 469, 19 February 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

A USEFUL DISCOVERY.

A discovery, of the greatest use to miners, ironworkers, and engineers has just been made by Dr Thierry, of the Hospital de la Oharite, Paris, who found, cjuite accidentally, that superficial . burns may be cured almost instantaneously by a solution of picric acid. When engaged in surgical operations he was in the habit of using picric acid as an antisceptie, and consequently impregnated with this solution. One day, in lighting a match a piece of the ignited phosphorus fell on his hand ; but he felt no pain, as might be' expected. Upon another occasion,-' while sealing a letter, the melted wax fell ©h his hand, leaving a slight trace of burning, but causing no pain. During the last four years; at several hospitals in Paris., he *has treated burns with a saturated solution of picric acid, and obtained results which showed that all pain was instantly suppressed after bathing the injury in a solution of this harmless acid. No wounds were formed, not even , blisters, and a complete cure was obtained in four"or five days. Dr Thierry now advocates the practical application of this discovery in mines and works where burns are matters of frequent occurrence, and as picric acid is efficacious in proportion to the speed with which it is applied after the accident, he suggests that a supply of the solution should always be kept ready for ■use. ;.He observes that the safety of this composition, the facility with which it can be kept preserved ia

saturated solutions, arid the cheapness of the product, enables every employer to keep a sufficient,quantity to make <>aiioi>s. ot soliitioii. 1 If, tor instance, a lire-damp explosion should cover the .miner-with burns, he could be saved from a terribleamount of suffering by being bathed; in a quantity of such a solution.