For generations, gonococcic urethritis has been treated mainly by irrigating, or by injecting into the urethra various chemical solutions that were thought to have an antiseptic or germicidal effect. The gamut of the so-called urethral germicides has been run from the old standbys potassium permanganate and the nonirritating silver proteins argyrol and protargol to another group of miracle workers, the aniline dyes, mercurochrome, gentian violet and acriflavine. Each group and each substance has had its more or less vociferous protagonists, but the use of such substances is now gradually diminishing. This is not to imply that all these different chemical substances do not have any therapeutic value, but only that at various times too much reliance has been placed on this or that compound or group of compounds. There is no doubt that many patients with gonorrhea have been cured by such methods, but many other patients have not been