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into the bed-pan or other vessel before it is used by the patient, and some more
should be added immediately after. Its thorough mixture with the evacuation
should be ensured. Care should also be taken that portions of the discharges
do not remain about the patient's body, or in his dress.
"5. Linen and washing apparel requiring to be disinfected may bo set to
soak in water containing per gallon about an ounce either of the common clear
solution of chloride of lime, or of that of chloride of soda Or the articles in
question may be plunged into boiling water, and afterwards, when at wash, be
actually boiled in the washing-water.
"6, Woollens, bedding or clothing, which cannot be washed, may be
disinfected by exposure for two or more hours, in chambers constructed for the
purpose, to a temperature of F. 210°—250°. When this cannot be done, the
natural disinfecting process of prolonged exposure to air, sun, and rain, ought to
be had recourse to.
"7. For the disinfection of the interior of houses, the ceilings and walls
should be washed with warm quick-lime water. The wood-work should be
cleansed with soap and water, and subsequently washed with water containing
in each gallon about two ounces of the clear solution of either chloride of lime
or chloride of soda.
"8. A room, no longer occupied may be disinfected by chlorine gas, or
nitrous acid gas, or sulphurous acid gas. And for this purpose the gases may
be produced in the room as follows:—Chlorine gas, by pouring over a quarter
of a pound of finely powdered black oxide of manganese, contained in a jar,
half a pint of muriatic acid previously mixed with a quarter of a pint of water,
or by pouring over a quarter of a pound of chloride of lime, contained in a jar, a
quarter of a pint of muriatic or dilute sulphuric acid;—Nitrous acid gas, by
pouring over an ounce of copper shavings or turnings, contained in a deep jar,
three ounces of concentrated nitric acid; — Sulphurous acid gas, by burning an
ounce or two of flower of sulphur in a pipkin. The process of disinfecting a
room by any of these gases requires several hours ; and while it is going on, all
doors, chimneys, and windows of the room must be kept carefully closed. Precautions
to this effect should have been taken before the chemicals are mixed,
as the person who starts the process (having to avoid the gases) must not
afterwards loiter in the room. When the process is at an end, doors and
windows should be fully opened."
In a Memorandum on Disinfection, by the Medical Officers of Health,
it is recommended that for fumigating infected rooms and their contents, a
quarter of a pound of brimstone, broken into small pieces, should be put into
an iron dish (or the lid of an iron saucepan, turned upside down), supported by
a pair of tongs over a bucket of water. The chimney and other openings are
then to be closed with paper pasted on, and a shovel of live coals put upon the
brimstone. The door must then be quickly shut, the crevices outside covered
with paper and paste, and the room kept closed for five or six hours. After
this, a thorough cleansing should be effected ; everything washable should be
washed, and all other things cleansed by proper means.
Chlorine gas may likewise be used. It may be prepared by mixing two
table spoonfuls of common salt, two teaspoonfuls of red lead (or oxide of
manganese), half a wine glassful of sulphuris acid (oil of vitrol), and a pint of
water.