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46
Quarter endinq 25th December:
Beds
104
£
s.
d.
Bolsters
105
Pillows
130
Palliasses
48
Mattresses
3
Chair Cushions
9
Quantities of Flock
1
Number of Articles
400
157
6
8
Total Number of Articles
923
245
8
8
I regret that I am still obliged to include a disinfector amongst our
sanitary requirements. I trust, however, that the Vestry will shortly
see its way to provide this very necessary apparatus.
My high opinion expressed in previous reports of the value of
Messrs. Lyon's steam disinfector remains unchanged, and I note with
pleasure that both Dr. Franklin Parsons and Dr. Buchanan, medical
officers to the Privy Council, recommend this apparatus for the
purpose of disinfecting rags; and 1 give the following extract from
the Sanitary Record:—
"This patent differs so materially from all other disinfectors that it
deserves most careful consideration. This difference consists in the application
of the moist heat of high-pressure steam as opposed to a dry heat for
disinfecting purposes, which enables a higher temperature to be applied
without injury to the most delicate fabric, and by the application of this
higher heat to entirely annihilate all germs of disease. Apart from the
question of cholera, we are induced to return to the consideration of this
method of disinfection as a result of a series of comprehensive tests which
were carried out some time since at Messrs. Lyon's works, by order of the
Local Government Board, by Dr. H. Franklin Parsons, with the patent
disinfector, in reference to an outbreak of small pox that occurred amongst
the rag sorters at the St. Mary Cray Paper Mills, the object also being to
see what precautions could be taken to prevent the spread of infection
from rags. Dr. Parsons' report leaves no doubt that the epidemic was
attributable to the rags, which it appears are sometimes of the most offensive
character, being not only the cast-offs from poultices, etc., but in
some instances containing undoubted appearances of human excrement.
Dr. Parsons' view is strengthened by the fact that no concurrent outbreak
of the disease occurred in the neighbourhood among persons unconnected
with the mill. The report goes on to recommend that all rags should be
disinfected before the process of sorting is carried out, since it has been
clearly demonstrated that the danger lurks in this preliminary separation,
which it appears must be done before any of the cleansing processes adopted
by paper manufacturers are carried out. In reviewing the available modes
of disinfection Dr. Parsons recommends that method applied in the form of
high-pressure steam, as securing the rags against scorching, and of greatly
shortening the time required for the penetration of heat; and he goes on to