EFFECT OF SILVER PREPARATIONS AND ANTISEPTICS ON THE pH OF NASAL SECRETIONS IN SITU

I have suggested1that every nasal vasoconstrictor prescribed by physicians and sold to the public should satisfy two basic physiologic requirements: (1) It should restore and maintain normal ciliary activity and (2) it should be slightly acid, with apHvalue in the normalpHrange of nasal secretions in situ, i. e., between 5.5 and 6.5. To emphasize the ciliary factor apart from thepHfactor is to tell but half the story of applied nasal physiology. I have demonstrated the significance of thepHfactor by showing that each of the well recommended therapeutic measures employed in the treatment of acute rhinitis and acute rhinosinusitis—namely, the careful selection and administration of an appropriate nasal vasoconstrictor, the assurance of sufficient rest and adequate sleep and the judicious administration of external heat—produces uniformly a single nasalpHphenomenon, acidity. Further, I have maintained that anynasal surgical procedure which is performed