Iodin and the iodids, either in inorganic form or as organic compounds, have been successfully used for many years in the therapy of various disease conditions, without definite knowledge as to their mode of action in the body.
The beneficial results obtained, more especially the effects in causing absorption of necrotic material, such as is found in gummata, have been variously ascribed to the influence on the general metabolism of the body; to the lowering of blood-pressure; to changes in the viscosity of the blood; to a lymphocytosis; to increased lymphatic activity and to the oxidizing properties of free iodin. As is so frequently the case, the very multiplicity of these views indicates that probably none is satisfactory; indeed, practically all the theories advanced have been seriously questioned.
Much work has been done on the absorption, distribution and excretion of iodin. (Winternitz, Wells, Loeb, McLean.) The older view that iodin