The last few years have witnessed the trial of several antiseptic dyes, intravenously, in sepsis and bacteremia. Of these, neutral acriflavine, gentian violet and mercurochrome have been reported favorably.
Acriflavine, of which the chemical formula is 3-6 diamino-10 methylacridinium dihydrochlorid, was introduced by Ehrlich, who found it effective against trypanosomes and who called it trypaflavine. Browning,1 who had worked with Ehrlich, together with his co-workers, found that the dye was antiseptic, that it maintained its efficiency even in serum, and that a solution of 1: 100,000 killed staphylococci and Bacillus coli. They also advocated the use of the dye in war wounds as a dressing after proper surgical measures had been taken. The dye was used intensively by a number of the British surgeons, but not all would subscribe to its value. Ligat2 found it useful, but most3 of them emphasized the early use of débridement and the relative inertness