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96
As to labour, carbolic acid disinfectants in being bottled and dispensed
require the same amount of labour as the bottling and dispensing
of the hypochlorite solution. It is true that more labour has been
employed since the introduction of the electrolytic disinfectant at
Poplar, for the very simple reason that the demands of the public for
this disinfectant have been greater than when carbolic acid disinfectants
were distributed, and, moreover, the electrolytic disinfectant being somuch
cheaper than the phenol disinfectant, and there being such a
saving in bottles, the Borough being well able to afford to distribute it
with a lavish hand have to employ more ^labour to meet the increased
demand. I venture to say if hypochlorite of lime were extracted from
bleaching powder there would be more labour entailed than with the
present electrolytic process adopted in Poplar.
In Germany and America over seven hundred electrolysers are now
In America an important operation was carried out in 1895 at a place called
Riker's Island, East River, New York Harbour. Garbage had been "dumped "
here for some years, and the place had become so pestilential that a writer in
the " Electrical Engineer," a New York publication, said :
" The stench was awful. I have been informed that it was nauseating
three miles away on the open waters of the Sound; while residents at
College Point, nearly two miles oft' and elsewhere, became loud in their
outcry."
An installation for electrolysing sea water, or salt water, was fitted upon
a barge and sprayed the poisonous area with a hose. A complete care was
effected over the surface of the whole thirty acres in a brief three weeks. Half a
dozen little sprays were at work. Riker's Island was completely disinfected, there
was no active putrefaction going on and as a consequence the noxious gases and
odours so much complained of were not perceptible on the grounds.
The sewage of Havre and Rouen has been treated with electrolysed sea
water. The sewage of Worthing, Ipswich and Lytham has also been treated
with the same disinfectant.
The War Office have adopted the Hermite system throughout the Victoria
Hospital, Netley. The electrolysed solution of about half a gramme per litre is
supplied to every closet, sink and ward in the hospital. A plant has been
erected in a building close to shore and is capable of producing 500 gallons per
hour of hermitine (electrolysed sea water by the Hermite process). The solution
is pumped into a tank at the top of the main building and thence distributed by
pipes into all parts.
Quite recently the Admiralty have installed at Osborne a system
similar to that at Netley.
Ships and seaside hotels and hospitals can be fitted up with the apparatus
as at Netley and Osborne. An apparatus was fitted on board a French
troopship bound for Madagascar and gave great satisfaction. At a Catholic
School in Marseilles a plant was installed.