De l'emploi des chlorures d'oxide de sodium et de chaux. by LABARRAQUE, Antoine Germain (1777-1850) - 1825

[Paris]:: (Madame Huzard, 1825)., 1825. 196 x 127 mm. 8vo. 48 pp. Tears at page 47 repaired with only minor loss of text, some staining and spotting on various leaves. Modern marbled wrappers. Housed in a cloth clam-shell box, red gilt-stamped leather label on spine of box. Bookplate of Haskell Norman. INSCRIBED by the author to Pierre Adolph Piorry. Very good. SCARCE. FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY FROM THE AUTHOR TO PIERRE ADOLPHE PIORRY. The first disinfecting agent. Privately printed account of Labarraque's use of alkali hypochlorite as a disinfectant, using sodium hypochlorite solution ("Labarraque's liquid"). After Scheele isolated chlorine in 1774, French chemists sought to find practical applications for hypochlorite. Labarraque, a pharmacist, introduced the use of alkali hypochlorite as a disinfectant, using sodium hypochlorite solution in 1822. Three years later, after publishing accounts of the liquid's use in the Archives generales de medecine and an 1823 pamphlet entitled Prefecture de police, Labarraque issued this privately printed memoir. Labarraque's solution was the first disinfecting agent, and its application represents the first use of antisepsis in surgery. English translation 1825. Apparently all copies were issued without a title-page. PROVENANCE: Inscribed on the first page: "A Mr. Piorry Dr. Medn. de la part de l'auteur." Pierre Adolph Piorry (1794-1879) introduced the percussor and the pleximeter in 1826. See: Garrison and Morton 2675. Garrison and Morton 5633; Haskell Norman Library 1245; Partington, History of chemistry, III, p. 509; Wangensteen & Wangensteen, Rise of surgery, p. 319; Wellcome, III, p. 422 (shows a printed cover not present here).