[General surgery].

stantly being made and added to the list of agents in other departments of surgery. Old drugs are discarded( and it becomes quite a difficult matter for practitioners to decide and depend upon any particular remedy. In this connection it is interesting to observe that the reviewer of the recent edition (1893) of John Ashhurst, jun.'s, excellent work, "The Principles and Practice of Surgery, calls1 attention to the statement by the author " that while recognising many advantages in the methods of modem aseptic and antiseptic surgery, he has not found any marked diminution in mortality resulting from their use." In order to ascertain the best disinfectant for dental purposes, viz.: for diseased condition of the oral cavity, alveolar abscess, putrid pulp, 0. Stewart2 has carried out a series of experiments showing the relative quickness of action of bichloride of mercury, oil of peppermint, permanganate of potash, chlorophenique, Listerine, saccharine, and some of the other products of coal tar distillation upon staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, andalbus, the germs most often found in the mouth. Lysol more nearly answered the true definition of a dental disinfectant