Antiseptics

Bodies which arrest or prevent putrefaction, especially those used in surgical practice and in the treatment of diseases caused by septic germs. Those most commonly employed are corrosive sublimate, carbolic acid, thymol, iodoform, iodol, iodol, naphthol, naphthalin, and a number of bodies similar to the last named, derived from coal-tar. See SURGERY and DisINFECTANTS. In engineering, substances which have the property of preventing the decay of timber, as chloride of zinc, bichloride of mercury, and creosote oil. Solutions of these are injected under pre ure into the timber, which becomes more or le saturated, and the albuminoid particles are surrounded by the antiseptic material, so that decomposition cannot arise.