Some years ago Ormsby1 proposed intravenous injection of sodium thiosulfate as a general desensitizing agent against various factors which were capable of causing contact dermatitis. The proposed technic consisted of five injections of an aqueous solution of the drug administered as follows: first injection, 71/2 grains (0.485 Gm.); second injection (twenty-four hours thereafter) 15 grains (0.97 Gm.); third, fourth and fifth injections (given at intervals of forty-eight hours), each 15 grains. The Suttons, commenting on this treatment in the tenth edition of their textbook, stated that they regarded it as being without value.
As numerous patients with contact dermatitis visited the clinic at the Skin and Cancer Hospital of Philadelphia, it was decided to give the treatment a trial. Twenty patients were selected for treatment by this method, and many of them were followed after their return to their work so as to be able to