The addition of a new agent to the long list of antiseptics that have been employed, and are now being used, in the various departments of medical and surgical practice is not advised without hesitation. Observations in hospital and private practice, extending through a period of eleven years, warrant me in endorsing all that I claimed for styrone when announcing the discovery of its antiseptic properties to the Boston Society for Medical Observation in 1879. The scarcity of the drug, owing to the expense of its production, has been prohibitory of its generaf use, until now it enters the market as a comparatively new product at a reasonable cost. The origin of styrone (from liquid storax and balsam of Peru) suggests the reason for the employment and the effectiveness of the balsams in antiquated and modern surgical dressings.
