Argyrol
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Ar·gy·rol
(är'jə-rôl', -rōl') 
A trademark for a silver-protein compound used as a local antiseptic.
A trademark for a silver-protein compound used as a local antiseptic.
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Argyrol
Argyrol is the trade name for an antiseptic consisting of a compound of protein and silver. It was developed and commercialized by American physician Dr. Albert Coombs Barnes to treat gonorrhea, and as a preventative of gonorrheal blindness in newborn infants.[1]
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History
Argyrol was first sold in 1902 by the Barnes and Hille, Chemists company. In April, 1907 Barnes bought out Hille and organized the A.C Barnes Company to continue the manufacture and sales of Argyrol. Argyrol was registered as a trademark in June of that year. Argyrol was never patented.[2]
Argyrol is infrequently prescribed today, but it dominated the topical ophthalmic antimicrobial market for the first half of the 20th century. With the enormous profits from the sale of the drug, Barnes accumulated a large collection of mainly French Impressionist art works, which today form the holdings of the Barnes Foundation, an educational art institution established by his will. The paintings were valued in March, 2010, at $25 billion.[3][4]
Argyrol was manufactured by A.C. Barnes Company until that firm was acquired by Zonite Products Corporation in 1929. The product was not dispensed to the public in its original package. Druggists sold it in solutions of differing strengths. Zonite Products Corporation cautioned buyers to beware of purchasing imitations of Argyrol which contained substances illegally substituted by druggists. These compounds resembled Argyrol in color.[5]
Although sometimes described, misleadingly, as silver vitellin, Argyrol is instead a silver-gelatin colloid, made by the reaction of silver nitrate, sodium hydroxide, and gelatin, in which a complex colloidal aggregate is formed. It was claimed to contain over 30% silver.[6]
See also
Medical uses of silver - silver and silver colloids use in medical practice
References
- ^ "The Ogre of Merion". Time magazine. June 27, 1960. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,827713,00.html. Retrieved March 19, 2010. "He and a brilliant young German student, Hermann Hille. worked out the formula for Argyrol, a mild silver protein solution for which doctors had many uses—to treat gonorrhea, including gonorrheal blindness, relieve severe nasal congestion. ... In 1928, with superb timing, Barnes sold out Argyrol for an estimated $4,000,000, not long before the discovery of antibiotics, which largely replaced it. ..."
- ^ Schack, William (1963) [copyright 1960, Sagamore Press]. Art and Argyrol (Revised ed.). New York City: A. S. Barnes and Company. pp. 48, 49, 54. The original company was a partnership of Dr Albert C. Barnes, a physician, and Dr. Herman Hille, a chemist, who developed the process of manufacturing it at the urging of Barnes.
- ^ "The Art of Stealing from the Rich and Dead". Vanity Fair. March 2, 2010. http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/03/the-art-of-stealing-from-the-rich-and-dead.html. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
- ^ Arthur Williams (December 1, 2000). "Alfred Barnes, Argyrol and Art". Pharmaceutical Journal (London and Chicago: Pharmaceutical Press) 265 No 7128 (December 23/30, 2000 Christmas miscellany): 933–934. http://www.pharmj.com/Editorial/20001223/articles/alfred_barnes.html.
- ^ Broad Street Gossip, Wall Street Journal, August 17, 1929, pg. 2.
- ^ Schack, William (1963) [copyright 1960, Sagamore Press]. Art and Argyrol (Revised ed.). New York City: A. S. Barnes and Company. pp. 47–49. This description is based on information given to the author by Dr. Hermann Hille, the original chemist partner of Dr. Albert Barnes in the Barnes and Hille, Chemists company that first sold Argyrol in 1902 from a plant at 24 North 40th St., Philadelphia, PA
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Mentioned in
Barnes, Albert Coombs
(American physician and art collector)
1901
(chronology)
1904
(chronology)
1931
(chronology)
1922
(chronology)
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