The popularity of bismuth in the treatment for syphilis has tended to produce a host of preparations. Any new bismuth product should act according to some new principles in order to justify its existence. Most of the products available to the clinician contain the bismuth as cation or in basic form. It has been our experience that these commonly used bismuth preparations seldom penetrate the meninges. In order to secure greater permeability, a bismuth in anionic form seemed preferable, as anions penetrate into the spinal fluid more rapidly than cations. Of the anionic bismuth compounds known on their theoretical side only, sodium iodobismuthite was chosen. Six per cent of this compound was dissolved in ethylene glycol containing 12 per cent of sodium iodide. The name iodobismitol, indicating in abbreviated form the chemical composition and the solvent, was adopted for the product.
PROPERTIES OF THE COMPOUND
Sodium iodobismuthite has the chemical