The “antiseptic“ practice in the meaning of “antibacterial” started with the search of means against rot and putrid smell. In former times people believed that miasma or foul air caused epidemics. Hence corrupt air had to be cleaned by use of “anti-miasmatic“ substances. The burning of incense and aromatic wood and the sniffing at scented perfume balls served as defense strategy against infectious diseases. Between 1750 and 1752 the Scottish physician John Pringle (1707–1782) reported about his accomplished “Experiments upon Septic and Antiseptic substances” at the Royal Society and characterized materials like acids and aromatic herbal extracts that measurably decelerated or stopped the putridity of flesh as “anti-septic”. Acetum anti-septicum vulgò des Quatre Voleurs (Codex medicamentarius Parisiensis, 1758) evolved into a favoured remedy to keep off the plague and other epidemics. People sniffed at this aromatic vinegar, washed hands and sprayed it on clothes to protect themselves against the contagion. The next major step in the search for antiseptic substances was the progress in the treatment of corpses against decomposition. The preservation of corpses without corruption and pestilent stench was essential for anatomic and forensic exami-nations. The French pharmacist Antoine Germain Labarraque (1777–1850) experienced in the 1820s with alkaline solutions of sodium hypochlorite and chloride of lime. Labarraque´s solution was poured over corpses in the mortuary of Paris, and moreover it was used against putrescent wounds as well. The French chemist Jean Nicolas Gannal (1791–1852) discovered the astringent salts Aluminium chloride and Aluminium acetate for the nonhazardous preservation of corpses in the year 1835. The German surgeon Karl Heinrich Burow (1809–1874) reported in 1857 that he irrigated and deodorized putrid wounds with an Aluminium acetate preparation which became known as Burow´s solution. After Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) had realized the participation of microorganisms in fermentations and putrefaction in the 1860s the germ theory of infectious diseases induced an essential change in the implementation of aseptic strategies. In times of increasing bacterial resistance against antibiotics the knowledge of topical mild antiseptics like acetic acid and Aluminium acetate solution should be prevented from falling into oblivion.

This presentation is based on work co-authored by Sabine Anagnostou.