An Unappreciated Fungicidal Action of Certain Volatile Oils

Infections occurring chiefly on the hands of employees of fruit canneries in the Pacific Northwest proved to be due to a yeastlike organism. This organism has been described by Kingery and Thienes.1The antiseptics commonly employed in treating infections of bacterial origin proved quite unsatisfactory in attempting to combat the lesions produced by this organism. Recalling the use of cinnamon water to prevent mold growth in the infusion of digitalis and compound chalk mixture, I painted a dilute alcoholic solution of cinnamon oil on one of the lesions produced by this yeast.2Almost immediate relief of the disagreeable subjective symptoms occurred, followed by rapid healing of the infection. Further use of this oil in dilute solution proved it to be most effective, without fail, in making the infections yeast free and producing rapid healing. In order to determine whether this most pronounced fungicidal action is possessed by a