Classicly

Although the practitioner may not be able to satisfy his ethical desire to explain the action of preparations of iodine in the latter class of pathological conditions, he soon makes the discovery that these actions and results are, to a very considerable degree, dependent upon more or less well-marked clinical and physical phenomena. In order to be able to give to his use of iodine, in its various forms, even a semblance of ethical practice, and, also, in order to be able to roughly classify and select the conditions in which he may use iodine with some expectation of uniform results, it becomes imperative that the practitioner acquaint himself with these facts and phenomena. Not only this, but he must acquaint himself, as well, with the peculiar and individual effects and actions, in a clinical sense, of the different forms in which iodine is used as a topical or regional application.