Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 May 2009
In the present work it is suggested that the sterilization of bacterial suspensions by mercurial antiseptics is a reflexion of a possible stoichiometrical relation between the mercuric compound and the thiol receptors in the bacterial cells.
This has been verified experimentally by studying the times of survival of suspensions of B. typhosum mixed with multiples and submultiples of the quantity of antiseptic theoretically equivalent to the thiol content of the suspension, as estimated by iodometric titration.
The considerable differences observed in the time of survival of suspensions mixed respectively with more and with less than the thiol equivalent of antiseptic, and the absence of any marked effect of dilution of the mixture, show that there is a quantitative relationship between the amounts of substrate and the quantity of antiseptic capable of sterilizing it.