Reports on the use of penicillin appear in increasing numbers in almost all fields of medicine. Certain properties of the substance explain the hope for its therapeutic effectiveness which is shared by all members of the medical profession : first, its bacteriostatic action in high dilutions against many species of organisms, especially pyogenic cocci, gonococci and clostridiums; then, its low tissue toxicity, and, last, the great solubility and diffusibility of the salts of the compound.
Because of these qualities it is not surprising that the first paper published by Florey and his co-workers1 on the practical use of penicillin in general included 4 cases of ophthalmic disease. In a second publication, Florey and Florey2 reported satisfactory results from treatment with penicillin of a series of infections of the lid border, the conjunctiva, the cornea and the tear sac. In a number of these cases, which were selected by Ida