Radium is analgesic and bactericidal in its action.
It is believed also that they secrete bactericidal substances and ferments which bring about the liquefaction of the fibrin and the damaged tissues - histolysis - and thus assist the process of absorption.
Inhalations of thorium emanations produced from thorium nitrate through a wash-bottle inhaler are said to have a bactericidal action in diseases of the lungs.
The lower area of bactericidal action extends much farther to the right, because the quartz allows more ultra-violet rays to pass than does glass.
The observations Bacteria g 5' of Downes and Blunt in 1877 left it uncertain whether the bactericidal effects in broth cultures exposed to solar rays were due to thermal action or not.