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Disinfection of Rooms.—During the year a disinfecting sprayer was found
that appears to be satisfactory, and towards the end of the year a machine was
purchased. The apparatus is comparatively light and easily portable, and can
be carried on the back in such a manner as to leave the hands free. It is
operated by pneumatic pressure, obtained by a small foot pump, previous to
filling it by injection with disinfectant solution, and the tube and the spray
with which it is furnished act so efficiently that it is possible to spray the walls
of an ordinary room at one operation in about a quarter of an hour. The effect
of four ounces to the gallon, or about 40 per cent. formaldehyde solution, was
tested upon many kinds of wall paper, and the results have proved that sanitary
papers and the better made of other kinds of papers are not affected, and it is
only when the very commonest of wall papers are treated that the colours tend
to run. Therefore it was proposed in future to substitute spraying the walls
of infected rooms for the stripping off of the wall paper after Scarlet Fever,
Diphtheria, Membranous Croup, and Typhus Fever; but to continue the
stripping after Small-pox, on account of the extreme infectiousness of this
disease, which is many-fold greater than that of the previously mentioned
diseases. The effect is that when the wall paper of a room is clean and in
good condition, it is not stripped after the diseases mentioned; but if it is
dirty and in bad condition, an intimation is served upon the owner to strip and
cleanse the wall to abate a nuisance prejudicial to health generally. This mode
of procedure very much facilitates the work of disinfection. The Borough
Engineer undertakes to provide two men, if ho receives a request before
four p.m. the day before, to strip and wash the surfaces of the room after the
few cases of Small-pox that occur from time to time, so that in future it will
be possible to dispense with the services of a Contractor.