The element sulphur has had a long medical history, from its ancient rôle as a "spring tonic" to its modern scientific employment in baths and ointments for dermatologic conditions. Pharmacologists have denied that, taken internally, it has any other than a mild laxative action, which they attribute to the formation of small quantities of the irritating hydrogen sulphide. Sulphur applied to the skin is said to owe its effectiveness to the gradual production of hydrogen sulphide, which is poisonous to the infecting agent.
The injection of sulphur has a shorter history. As early as 1907, preparations of sulphur were made for subcutaneous injection by the French, chiefly Louis Bory,1 Delehaye and Piot,2 and Fleig.3 Strangely enough, in view of the recent use of injections of sulphur to produce fever, these authors claimed that it reduced the temperature in cases of bronchopneumonia and pulmonary tuberculosis.
In 1921, Meyer-Bisch