Iodine, the 53rd Element... 1938

detail, dow iodine ad, 1938

Another fine Dow Chemical Co ad for iodine... I find it interesting that we have Dow chemical to thank for many of the brominated compounds we are deluged with... in fact, that's how Herbert Henry Dow began his career, by formulating a new process for extracting bromide from brine wells in Michigan(part of the "goiter belt"). But I digress...

Without further ado, an ad from Fortune Magazine, 1938. It seems that even as late as 1938 many of the other medical uses for iodine were known. What, exactly, happened to this knowledge?

I also find it interesting that the visuals in this ad focus on iodine's antiseptic/ topical usage, the tincture of iodine, with the word "poison" clearly visible, even though the use of iodine in lead poisoning , asthma, etc is much more profound than applying it to scrapes, in my opinion...

another Dow chemical iodine ad, 1950. Note that iodine's role  as a medicine is underplayed...:
                                                                 http://iodinehistory.blogspot.com/2013/01/iodine-good-soldier.html

detail, dow iodine ad, 1938

detail, dow iodine ad, 1938

Dow iodine ad, 1938, Fortune Magazine

And, just for the heck of it, a photograph of a first-day cover of a stamp honoring the American Chemical Society. Dow Chemical has brought much devastation to our planet. I suppose that I'm glad that they extracted some iodine as well, along the way, although in true scientific fashion I am sure that they were not happy leaving my favorite element alone...

First day cover, american chemical society stamp, Dow cachet

Iodism and eliminative function

Another article on syphilis. Good advice, though on how to avoid "iodism".

The general hygienic management of syphilis is of fundamental importance. In many instances mercury and iodides act badly, simply because the patient's eliminative areas are not functionating with their normal activity. Injurious results from the drug specifics occur under such circumstances, and are explained by that explanation which does not explain, "idiosyncrasy." Ptyalism and iodism may both be avoided in many cases by attention to the eliminative functions. The ingestion of large quantities of water, with the concomitant increased functional activity of the skin, kidneys and bowels, is very useful in syphilis. This point is too frequently neglected. In giving iodides it is best, as is generally known, to administer them simultaneously with considerable quantities of water. It is impossible, however, without resulting stomachic disturbance, to give a sufficient quantity of water in this way to perfect elimination by the kidneys in certain cases in which the renal function is inadequate. It is in just such cases that iodism from so-called idiosyncrasy is liable to occur.

The best method of giving the iodide under such circumstances is to mix the daily dose of the drug with a given quantity of pure water, say from two quarts to a gallon, and instruct the patient to drink the entire amount, a glassful at a time, at intervals during the twenty-four hours,  have succeeded in avoiding iodism in this way in patients in whom the smallest quantity of iodide given by the ordinary method produced iodism.

Hot baths are a very useful adjuvant to the treatment of syphilis. They increase tissue metamorphosis, favor; elimination, and necessarily enhance the therapeutic action of the mercury and iodide, while limiting any possible injurious effects of the drugs. In many instances hot baths alone will prevent injurious effects from mercury and iodide. A very hot bath of short duration, taken daily and followed by a cold shower or cold tub, is perhaps the best method of administration for the average patient. The ideal method, however, where its application is practicable, is the Turkish or Russian bath. The patient should drink large quantities of hot water while in the bath. Much of the efficacy of the Hot Springs treatment of syphilis is dependent upon the free ingestion of hot water while the hot bath is being given.
Attention to the bowels is very important in the treatment of syphilis. Ptyalism not infrequently results as a consequence of constipation. Obviously, the simpler forms of laxatives are best. The saline aperients taken hot in the morning are excellent. 

Ptyalism~ an excessive flow of saliva.

  The Medical News, Volume 80, 1902

GENERAL MEDICAL TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS.

BY G. FRANK LYDSTON, M.D., 

           of Chicago; 

PROFESSOR Of GENITO-URINARY SURGERY AND SYPHILOLOGY IN THE 

   MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS; PRO- 

      FESSOR OF SURGERY IN THE CHICAGO CLINICAL SCHOOL. 

iodism schmiodism!

a snippet from an article on treating intercranial syphilis.

In giving potassium iodide I have, for many years, taught the doctrine that there is no such thing as a fixed or arbitrary dosage. When indicated, give it not with iodism as a guide, but until either the disease yields, or until very large doses—seven, eight, or nine hundred grains daily—without any modification of symptoms, satisfies you that its further employment is useless. To recur to iodism, that stumbling-block in the pathway of so many. Iodism should be a very rare obstacle to the successful treatment of nervous syphilitics. I have had to discontinue the drug in only two cases during the past six years, a success due, I believe, entirely to my method of giving the iodide, which is as follows: I always use the drug in the form of the saturated solution, for convenience and accuracy. I am careful to get a pure drug from a reputable chemist. Beginning with twenty drops (never less) after meals, the dose is increased three, five, or ten drops daily, according to the urgency or gravity of conditions. The vehicle is changed every third day, the first two days water, the next two milk, the next Vichy, then Apollinaris, then back and through the same cycle again and again, the amount of the vehicle being increased pari passu with the increase of the drug. Should iodism develop to an annoying or extreme degree, I stop for two days and then start just where I stopped, doubling the ratio of daily increase. Your patient will be thirty or forty grains daily further along before iodism recurs, employing this method. The addition of essence of pepsin in two or three-drachm doses after the iodide seems to be of decided service at times. The rennet mixture advocated by some writers is a vile mess, in my judgment, and is but rarely tolerated for more than a few days. Iodism is much more apt to occur from the continued use of a fixed dose, although a moderate one, than when giving it by the progressive method. I have seen iodism from continuous 20 gr. doses disappear at forty or fifty grains—paradoxical as this statement may appear. Following this method I have repeatedly given six hundred grains and more daily without any special inconvenience, and in one patient affected with meningomyelitis, a daily quantity of 1245 drops of the saturated solution was reached without untoward symptoms.



source: A DIAGNOSTIC SYNDROME FOR INTRACRANIAL SYPHILIS. WITH REMARKS UPON PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT.. By WM. BROADDUS PRITCHARD., Medical Record, Volume 65, 1904


grain~  64.79891 mg, 1⁄7000 of a pound (wikipedia)


more on the myth of iodism here:


 http://iodinehistory.blogspot.com/2012/01/iodism-debunked-1922.html