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Colloid chemistry has been defined as "the chemistry of the infinitely little." It can perhaps be better defined as the chemistry of films, surfaces, and interfaces, for the peculiar energies which are available for the reactions of colloid chemistry are those energies which are characteristic of surfaces and interfaces.For purposes of classification it has been rather generally agreed that particles which range from 1.0 mµ to 0.5 mµ lie within the colloid realm, and the reactions which such systems show can in the last analysis be traced to reactions which are induced by a decrease in the free energy

Under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, there has just appeared a report on the present status of colloid chemistry.8 The work has been recognized as sufficiently important to receive the endorsement of the government Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Of particular interest to physicians is the chapter on "Administration of Colloids in Disease" written by Alfred B. Searle, "consulting chemist, Sheffield." After a somewhat academic generalization of colloidal drugs, the "thesis" is devoted largely to the "Collosols"—proprietary preparations made by the Crookes Laboratories. The "scientific" evidence presented by Searle for colloids in medicine reads as if the advertising literature of the Crookes concern had been considered ample source of information. Thus: "Colloidal Manganese," besides having been "used with remarkable and surprising results in the treatment of coccogenic skin diseases,... gives excellent results [in impetigo, chronic seborrheic eczema and acute folliculitis] when employed