FURTHER PROGRESS IN THE STUDY OF THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF THE DIFFERENT MERCURIAL PREPARATIONS

The treatment of syphilis with the different mercurial preparations is still a haphazard affair, the rule being to give as much mercury as the patient will tolerate without salivation or diarrhea. Assuming that the amount of mercury eliminated in the urine during a given time would give a fair index of the amount in the circulation, Ramsey and Ziegler made some experiments, the report of which was read before this societyin 1918. 1 From this series of experiments we were able to draw the following conclusions: In infants and children, mercury, when given by the month, by inunction or intramuscularly, is excreted at least partly by the urine. In new-born infants and older children mercurial ointment when placed in contact with the skin, without any friction being used (protected and sealed by wax paper from being volatilized and inhaled), is taken up by the skin and excreted in the urine