From ACE to ACENO: How America's Munson added Harley's British mixture to nitrous oxide.

An Ohio dentist, Corydon Munson, patented a gasometer with an attachment for vaporizing trace amounts of volatile general anesthetics or their mixtures into unoxygenated nitrous oxide. After vaporizing a variant of George Harley's ACE mixture into nitrous oxide, Munson branded his own novel anesthetic combination as ACENO.

[History of studies of alcohol toxicology]. / Historia badan nad toksykologia alkoholu.

The early history of forensic alcohology was presented, based on writings from the beginning of the 20th century and numerous forensic medical protocols from autopsies performed in Institute of Forensic Medicine in Cracow in the 19th and 20th century. Ethanol has not been considered a poison for a long time. Suspicion of its toxic effect resulted from cases of deaths as a results of people betting who can drink more alcohol. In case of alcohol poisoning, autopsy does not show any typical changes, so the poisonings have not been recognized for many years. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first chemical tests appeared. They were able to detect the presence of alcohol in tissues. A method for measuring the amount of alcohol in blood was also developed. The majority of methods were based on distillation of blood and inspection of the resultant distillate by physical methods (interferometry, colorimetry, refractometry, gravimetry, measuring thermal expansion and electrical conduction) or chemical methods using different reactions (oxidation of alcohol to acetic acid, reducing potassium dichromate by alcohol, alkylation of iodine by alcohol) and marking the amount of products of reaction by titration. Distillation of blood samples required complicated chemical devices and was very time consuming. Erik Widmark suggested a certain method in 1920, in which distillation of a blood sample took place in the same container, in which titration was performed earlier--the so-called Widmark's Flask. It allowed for distilling many samples in an incubator at the same time and dramatically shortened the time of research. Widmark's method was applied to testing drivers and people who committed crimes and was used in the whole world for many following years.

History of methyl phosphoric esters: Hall, Weger, and Lossen.

Williamson serendipitously discovered (1851) a new and efficient way to produce ethers using ethyl iodide and potassium salts and in doing so elucidated the molecular mechanism behind ether formation. Before Williamson, the direct reaction between alcohol and acids was the only method of generating the elusive "ethers". This tedious and low yield approach eventually led to Voegeli's synthesis of the first organophosphate ever, triethyl phosphate (TEP) in 1848. Based on the landmark work of Williamson, however, over the next thirty years or so numerous chemists managed to produce TEP and tetraethyl pyrophosphate (TEPP) using synthetic pathways of increasingly higher yield. With the "wood spirit" (methyl-alcohol) easily available attempts were also made during the same period to synthesize methyl ester analogues (TMP and TMPP). The synthesis of TMP was reported 1887 by Hall in a paper dealing with vanadium esters; he acknowledges his inability to synthesize methyl vanadate and states that "methyl phosphate had not been described" and goes on to briefly mention the synthesis of methyl phosphate by the Wiliamson method. Hall was however mistaken; the synthesis of TMP had previously been reported by Weger in 1883 and achieved even earlier by Lossen. Tetramethyl pyrophosphate (TMPP) was only recently (1949) synthesized by Toy. This report attempts to identify the pharmacists and chemists involved in the quest for phosphoric and pyrophosphoric acid methyl esters.

[Acceptance of van Swieten's liquor in Japan].

Carl Peter Thunberg, a Swedish medical doctor and botanist who visited Japan in 1775 as a medical doctor attached to the Dutch Trade House in Dejima, Nagasaki, taught the treatment of syphilis using mercury water to Japanese doctors and interpreters. This therapy is based on the oral administration of a 0.014% solution of mercuric chloride and was published in 1754 by Gerard van Swieten in Vienna, who questioned the utility of the conventional salivation therapy. The dose was set taking safety into account. Kogyu Yoshio, a Japanese-Dutch interpreter, had already read about it in a book written by J. J. Plenck, when he was taught about the therapy by Thunberg. He recorded Thunberg's teachings in his book "Komohijiki", presenting details of various formulations, including a high-dose formulation. The mercury therapy was subsequently spread across the country by medical doctors who learned Western medicine through the Dutch. In the 1820's, Genshin Udagawa, who read a number of Western medical books, published books on Western drugs. In these books, G. Udagawa included precise information on "Swieten Yakushu-hu (medicated alcohol)", including information on the dosage, formulation, mode of usage, and precautions for use. The maximum dose of mercuric chloride established chloride established by van Swieten was included in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia up to its 5th edition.

Historical perspective on the use of otic antimicrobial agents.

Treatment of otorrhea has been described in the literature since 1500 BC. A multitude of therapeutic options have been described, including the use of astringents, antiseptics, alcohol, benzoin and various powders. Since the middle of the 20th century, antibiotic usage has been promoted as the most effective means of therapy. Until recently none of the agents that were used was found to be safe for middle ear use. Since 1990 there have been publications describing the safety and efficacy of fluoroquinolone drops for acute and chronic otorrhea. This article details the transition from treatment of otorrhea with nonspecific means to an era of antimicrobial therapy based on sound scientific evidence.

Is it time for brushless scrubbing with an alcohol-based agent?

The practice of surgical scrubbing in perioperative settings is changing rapidly. This article presents information about eliminating the traditional scrub brush technique and using an alcohol formulation for surgical hand scrubs. Also covered are antimicrobial agents, relevant US Food and Drug Administration classifications, skin and fingernail care, and implementation of changes. The article challenges surgical team members to evaluate a new and different approach to surgical hand scrubbing.

[Camphor in the Edo era - camphor and borneol for medicines].

Since borneol was frequently importe to Japan by way of China for a long time, many names have been introduced from China together with it. As technical terms for camphor were not introduced because Japan was a country that manufactured camphor and exported it, the terms were not affected by the Chinese language either. Regarding the medical use of camphor and borneol, there was not remarkable difference between medical treatment in Japan and China because such treatment was influenced by China in the Edo period. But as an industry for manufacturing drugs was developed and the business became prosperous after the 17th century in Japan, medical practitioners found their own usages for medicines incorporating borneol nad camphor.

Medical declarations on temperance.

As early as 1736, the Royal College of Physicians submitted to Parliament a representation concerning the excessive consumption of spirituous liquors. No further authoritative statement was made for nearly a century, by which time the first Temperance and Total Abstinence societies had been formed. Many medical men were happy to support the call for moderation and a number of societies issued declarations signed by local practitioners; however, fear of losing patients meant that few doctors supported total abstinence. In addition, alcohol was widely used as a therapeutic agent. In spite of this, declarations were issued in 1839 and in 1847 which were essentially "teetotal" in tone. Most of the declarations were reported only in the temperance journals. That of 1871 was entirely different; it was circulated to every doctor on the medical register and publicised in full in all the national newspapers. It was signed by the Presidents of the Royal Colleges and by 233 others; it condemns the "inconsiderate prescription" of alcohol and questions its value as a food or as a medicine. The therapeutic arguments and the impact of the volte face of the medical establishment in supporting the declaration are examined, as is the reaction of the lay press.

[Not Available]. / Uber "Gährung" und "gährende Pflänzchen": aus den Anfängen der Gärungsforschung im 19. Jahrhundert. (Berliner Botaniker in der Geschichte der Phytochemie und Biochemie)

The cultural history of alcoholic fermentation goes back to very early periods of human being. But only in the 19th century the nature of the biological production of alcohol was discovered. In that time chemistry and botany had a different, complementary view to alcoholic fermentation. While the positions of chemists are well-known and much discussed in the historiography of science the contribution of botanists to fermentation research is almost entirely forgotten nowadays. The work of the mycologist Oscar Brefeld, who studied yeast fermentation from 1873 to 1876, illustrates the special botanical view to the ontogenetical side of alcoholic fermentation, to morphlogical and physiological differences between growing and dying, fermenting and fermented yeast cells, and to the energetic and ecological role of fermentation as well as its universality in vegetable kingdom.

'Special units for common problems': the birth of alcohol treatment units in England.

In 1962 the Ministry of Health issued a memorandum entitled The Hospital Treatment of Alcoholism. The memorandum was the first official statement specifically regarding the treatment of alcoholism within the National Health Service. It marked the end of an era characterized by Ministry of Health rejection of the need to review policies regarding alcohol consumption and alcoholism treatment and the entry of the Ministry into the emerging alcohol arena. This paper uses documentary sources and interview material to examine the events leading up to the memorandum and its recommendation to Regional Health Authorities to establish specialist alcoholism treatment units. The development of such units was not supported by everyone in the alcohol field at that time and the paper discusses the pressures on Department of Health officials which appear to have influenced policy choices. The fact that pressures come from different sources, some advocating different policy options, raises the question: did medical perspectives and evidence for the specialist treatment approach influence policy or did policy makers select the option best fitted to existing Departmental interests?

From prohibition to regulation: lessons from alcohol policy for drug policy.

Like current drug prohibition, alcohol prohibition in the 1920s produced a large criminalized industry. Post-repeal alcohol regulation, which tended to limit overall consumption, suggests that the legal regulated sale of currently illicit substances is technically practical and reasonable. However, no such radical change in drug policy will be politically feasible until well into the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, the failures and costs of the War on Drugs make moderate reform a more promising prospect.