the poison of the sea hare, as a liniment for elephantiasis, and as an ointment to treat ulcers both on the skin and in the lungs. he further speaks of cedria being used as the embalming agent for preparing mummies. pissinum was a tar water that was made by boiling cedria, spreading wool fleeces over the vessels to catch the steam, and then wringing them out. portrait of bishop berkeley by john smybert, 1727 the pharmacopée de lyon, published in 1778, says that cedar tree oil is believed to cure vomiting and help medicate tumors and ulcers. physicians contemporary to the discovery of creosote recommended ointments and pills made from tar or pitch to treat skin diseases. tar water had been used as a folk remedy since the middle ages to treat affections like dyspepsia. bishop berkeley wrote several works on the medical virtues of tar water, including a philosophical work in 1744 titled siris: a chain of philosophical reflexions and inquiries concerning the virtues of tar water, and divers other subjects connected together and arising one from another, and a poem where he praised its virtues. pyroligneous acid was also used at the time in a medicinal water called aqua binelli. given this history, and the antiseptic properties known to creosote, it became popular among physicians in the 19th century. a dilution of creosote in water was sold in pharmacies as aqua creosoti, as suggested by the previous use of pyroligneous acid. it was prescribed to quell the irritability of the stomach and bowels and detoxify, treat ulcers and abscesses, neutralize bad odors, and stimulate the mucous tissues of the mouth and throat. creosote in general was listed as an irritant, styptic, antiseptic, narcotic, and diuretic, and in small doses when taken internally as a sedative and anaesthetic. it was used to treat ulcers, and as a way to sterilize the tooth and deaden the pain in case of a tooth-ache. creosote was suggested as a treatment for tuberculosis by reichenbach as early as 1833. following reichenbach, it was argued for by john elliotson and sir john rose cormack. elliotson, inspired by the use of creosote to arrest vomiting during an outbreak of cholera, suggested its use for tuberculosis through inhalation. he also suggested it for epilepsy, neuralgia, diabetes, and chronic glanders. the idea of using it for tuberculosis failed to be accepted. use for this purpose was dropped, until the idea was revived in 1876 by british doctor g. anderson imlay, who suggested it be applied locally by spray to the bronchial mucous membrane. this was followed up in 1877 when it was argued for in a clinical paper by charles bouchard and henri gimbert. germ theory had been established by pasteur in 1860, and bouchard, arguing that a bacillus was responsible for the disease, sought to rehabilitate creosote for its use as an antiseptic to treat it. he began a series of trials with gimbert to convince the scientific community, and claimed a promising cure rate. a number of publications in germany confirmed his results in the following years. later, a period of experimentation with different techniques and chemicals using creosote in treating tuberculosis lasted until about 1910, when radiation therapy seemed more promising. guaiacol, instead of a full creosote solution, was suggested by hermann sahli in 1887. he argued it had the active chemical of creosote and had the advantage of being of definite composition and having a less unpleasant taste and odor. a number of solutions of both creosote and guaiacol appeared on the market, such as phosphotal and guaicophosphal, phosphites of creosote and guaiacol; eosot and geosot, valerinates of creosote and guaicol; phosot and taphosot, phosphate and tannophospate of creosote; and creosotal and tanosal, tannates of creosote. creosote and eucalyptus oil were also a remedy used together, administered through a vaporizor and inhaler. since then, more effective and safer treatments for tuberculosis have been developed. in the 1940s, canadian-based eldon boyd experimented with guaiacol and a recent synthetic modification—glycerol guaiacolate (guaifenesin)—on animals. his data showed that both drugs were effective in increasing secretions into the airways in laboratory animals, when high enough doses were given. industrial wood-tar creosote is to some extent used for wood preservation, but it is generally mixed with coal-tar creosote, since the former is not as effective. commercially available preparations of "liquid smoke", marketed to add a smoked flavour to meat and aid as a preservative, consist primarily of creosote and other constituents of smoke. creosote is the ingredient that gives liquid smoke its function; guaicol lends to the taste and the creosote oils help act as the preservative. creosote can be destroyed by treatment with chlorine, either sodium hypochlorite, or calcium hypochlorite solutions. the phenol ring is essentially opened, and the molecule is then subject to normal digestion and normal respiration. medical the guaifenesin developed by eldon boyd is still commonly used today as an expectorant, sold over the counter, and usually taken by mouth to assist the bringing up of phlegm from the airways in acute respiratory tract infections. guaifenesin is a component of mucinex, robitussin dac, cheratussin dac, robitussin ac, cheratussin ac, benylin, dayquil mucous control, meltus, and bidex 400. seirogan is a popular kampo medicine in japan, used as an anti-diarrheal, and has 133 mg wood creosote from beech, pine, maple or oak wood per adult dose as its primary ingredient. seirogan was first used as a gastrointestinal medication by the imperial japanese army in russia during the russo-japanese war of 1904 to 1905. creomulsion is a cough medicine in the united states, introduced in 1925, that is still sold and contains beechwood creosote. beechwood creosote is also found under the name kreosotum or kreosote. coal-tar creosote composition of a typical coal-tar creosote aromatic hydrocarbons polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pahs), alkylated pahs, benzenes, toluenes, ethylbenzenes, and xylenes (btex) 75.0–90.0% tar acids / phenolics phenols, cresols, xylenols, and naphthols 5.0–17.0% tar bases / nitrogen-containing heterocycles pyridines, quinolines, benzoquinolines, acridines, indolines, and carbazoles 3.0–8.0% sulfur-containing heterocycles benzothiophenes 1.0–3.0% oxygen-containing heterocycles dibenzofurans 1.0–3.0% aromatic amines aniline, aminonaphthalenes, diphenyl amines, aminofluorenes, and aminophenanthrenes, cyano-pahs, benz acridines 0.1–1.0% coal-tar creosote is greenish-brown liquid, with different degrees of darkness, viscosity, and fluorescence depending on how it is made. when freshly made, the creosote is a yellow oil with a greenish cast and highly fluorescent, and the fluorescence is increased by exposure to air and light. after settling, the oil is dark green by reflected light and dark red by transmitted light. to the naked eye, it generally appears brown. the creosote (often called "creosote oil") consists almost wholly of aromatic hydrocarbons, with some amount of bases and acids and other neutral oils. the flash point is 70–75 °c and burning point is 90–100 °c, and when burned it releases a greenish smoke. the smell largely depends on the naphtha content in the creosote. if there is a high amount, it will have a naphtha-like smell, otherwise it will smell more of tar. in the process of coal-tar distillation, the distillate is collected into four fractions; the "light oil", which remains lighter than water, the "middle oil" which passes over when the light oil is removed; the "heavy oil", which sinks; and the "anthracene oil", which when cold is mostly solid and greasy, of a buttery consistence. creosote refers to the portion of coal tar which distills as "heavy oil", typically between 230 and 270 °c, also called "dead oil"; it sinks into water but still is fairly liquid. carbolic acid is produced in the second fraction of distillation and is often distilled into what is referred to as "carbolic oil". derivation and general composition of coal-tar creosote commercial creosote will contain substances from six groups. the two groups occur in the greatest amounts and are the products of the distillation process—the "tar acids", which distill below 205 °c and consist mainly of phenols, cresols, and xylenols, including carbolic acid—and aromatic hydrocarbons, which divide into naphthalenes, which distill approximately between 205 and 255 °c, and constituents of an anthracene nature, which distill above 255 °c. the quantity of each varies based on the quality of tar and temperatures used, but generally, the tar acids won't exceed 5%, the naphthalenes will make up 15 to 50%, and the anthracenes will make up 45% to 70%. the hydrocarbons are mainly aromatic; derivatives of benzene and related cyclic compounds such as naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, acenaphthene, and fluorene. creosotes from vertical-retort and low temperature tars contain, in addition, some paraffinic and olefinic hydrocarbons. the tar-acid content also depends on the source of the tar—it may be less than 3% in creosote from coke-oven tar and as high as 32% in creosote from vertical retort tar. all of these have antiseptic properties. the tar acids are the strongest antiseptics but have the highest degree of solubility in water and are the most volatile; so, like with wood-tar creosote, phenols are not the most valued component, as by themselves they would lend to being poor preservatives. in addition, creosote will contain several products naturally occurring in coal—nitrogen-containing heterocycles, such as acridines, carbazoles, and quinolines, referred to as the "tar bases" and generally make up about 3% of the creosote—sulfur-containing heterocycles, generally benzothiophenes—and oxygen-containing heterocycles, dibenzofurans. lastly, creosote will contain a small number of aromatic amines produced by the other substances during the distillation process and likely resulting from a combination of thermolysis and hydrogenation. the tar bases are often extracted by washing the creosote with aqueous mineral acid, although they're also suggested to have antiseptic ability similar to the tar acids. commercially used creosote is often treated to extract the carbolic acid, naphthalene, or anthracene content. the carbolic acid or naphthalene is generally extracted to be used in other commercial products. american produced creosote oils typically will have low amounts of anthracene and high amounts of naphthalene, because when forcing the distillate at a temperature that produces anthracene the soft pitch will be ruined and only the hard pitch will remain; this ruins it for use in roofing purposes, and only leaves a product which isn't commercially useful. industrial the use of coal-tar creosote on a commercial scale began in 1838, when a patent covering the use of creosote oil to treat timber was taken out by inventor john bethell. the "bethell process"—or as it later became known, the full-cell process—involves placing wood to be treated in a sealed chamber and applying a vacuum to remove air and moisture from wood "cells". the wood is then pressure-treated to imbue it with creosote or other preservative chemicals, after which vacuum is reapplied to separate the excess treatment chemicals from the timber. alongside the zinc chloride-based "burnett process", use of creosoted wood prepared by the bethell process became a principal way of preserving railway timbers (most notably railway sleepers) to increase the lifespan of the timbers, and avoiding having to regularly replace them. besides treating wood, it was also used for lighting and fuel. in the beginning, it was only used for lighting needed in harbour and outdoor work, where the smoke that was produced from burning it was of little inconvenience. by 1879, lamps had been created that ensured a more complete combustion by using compressed air, removing the drawback of the smoke. creosote was also processed into gas and used for lighting that way. as a fuel, it was used to power ships at sea and blast furnaces for different industrial needs, once it was discovered to be more efficient than unrefined coal or wood. it was also used industrially for the softening of hard pitch, and burned to produce lamp black. by 1890, the production of creosote in the united kingdom totaled approximately 29,900,000 gallons per year. in 1854, alexander mcdougall and robert angus smith developed and patented a product called mcdougall's powder as a sewer deodorant; it mainly consisted of carbolic acid derived from creosote. mcdougall, in 1864, experimented with his solution to remove entozoa parasites from cattle pasturing on a sewage farm. this later led to widespread use of creosote as a cattle wash and sheep dip. external parasites would be killed in a creosote diluted dip, and drenching tubes would be used to administer doses to the animals' stomachs to kill internal parasites. wooden street pavers in chicago creosoted wood blocks were a common