There was a phenomenal increase in the use of Iodine for all kinds of maladies from 1850 through the early 1900s. From 10 preparations listed in pharmacopeias in 1851 to 1,700 approved pharmacopoeial names assigned to products in 1956.
Per the 11th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1910-1911.24, Vol. XIV, pp725-726) re various iodine compounds/salts used regularly: “Their pharmacological action is as obscure as their effects in certain diseased conditions are consistently brilliant and unexampled. …they possess the power of driving out impurities from the blood and tissues. Most notably is this the case with the poisonous products of syphilis. In its tertiary stages — and also earlier — this disease yields in the most rapid and unmistakable fashion to iodides… Read More