Dr Ransome has invented, for the use of the Nottingham hospital, a gas stove in the form of an iron box, well packed with a non-conducting material, which surrounds the outside. A channel leads to the interior of the box, and inside this channel gas is kept burning in such a manner by a modification of Kemp’s regulator, that the temperature of the box shall range day and night between 235° and 255° Fahr.
An apparatus put to great use by the Holborn District Board during the epidemic of smallpox in 1871 was one made by Fraser’s patent. Mr Fraser’s disinfecting chamber consists of an oven or receptacle made of brick, with doors in front. Situated on the lower portion of this chamber is a covered furnace connected with flues, by means of which the interior space is heated to the desired temperature. By a particular arrangement the air laden with the noxious vapours given off by the tainted clothing is conveyed into the furnace, and so consumed. Belonging to the apparatus is a covered truck or cart, fitted with doors and dampers, and provided inside with racks and shelves for holding the materials to be purified, which are thus brought from the infected dwelling and placed, truck and all, inside the chamber. The infected materials, as well as the truck containing them, are then heated to the necessary point, disinfection being assisted by sulphurous acid gas, or some other material adapted for the purpose. When the process is finished the carriage with its contents is drawn back to the house from which they were originally taken, and the purified articles are restored to the owners. It will be seen that by this arrangement the vehicle is disinfected as well as the clothes it contains.
DISLOCA′TION. Syn. Luxation; Dislocatio, L. The forcible displacement of a bone from its socket, either by violence or disease. The latter happens when the textures forming the joint have been destroyed by some independent organic affection. “A considerable share of anatomical knowledge is required to detect the nature of these accidents;
and it is much to be lamented that students neglect to inform themselves sufficiently on the subject.” (Sir A. Cooper.) In common cases the bones may be frequently replaced by forcibly extending the limb. This should be done as early as possible, and before inflammation sets in. The latter should be combated by aperients, local bleeding, refrigerant lotions, &c. Dislocations frequently exist without the fact being suspected, the swelling and inflammation being referred to other causes.
DISPLACE′MENT. See Percolation.
DISTEM′PER. A disease among dogs, usually characterised by a running from the nose and eyes, and a short dry cough; followed by wasting of the flesh, and loss of strength and spirits. At length the brain suffers, and fits, paralysis of the extremities, or convulsions come on. Laxatives and emetics are the best remedies. If there is much diarrhœa, astringents may be afterwards given. The violence of the fits may be mitigated by the administration of antispasmodics, and by the warm bath. The distemper is a contagious disease, and is generally fatal to weakly and very young dogs. Fits in the advanced stages of the disease are seldom followed by recovery. Impatience of light, red eyes, obstinate diarrhœa, spasmodic twitchings, a yellow colour of the skin, and a pustular eruption, are also bad symptoms.
Distemper Powders (Blane’s). The basis of these is said to be ‘aurum musivum,’ or bisulphide of tin. That of another advertised nostrum is a mixture of mercury and chalk, with a little rhubarb and ipecacuanha.
DISTILLA′TION. The evaporation and subsequent condensation of the vapour of fluids, by means of a still and refrigerator, or other similar apparatus. Dry distillation is a term applied to the distillation of substances per se, or without the addition of water or other volatile fluid. Destructive distillation is the distillation of substances at temperatures sufficiently high to decompose them, by which their elements are separated, or evolved in new combinations. Fractional distillation is the separation of substances having different boiling-points, by distilling the mixture with a gradually increasing heat, and collecting the products which come over at different temperatures in separate receivers. See Hydrocarbon, Still, &c.
Distillation. The art of the distiller; the manufacture of spirituous liquors as practised on the large scale.
The process of distillation, as carried on in the distilleries of Great Britain, may be divided into four general operations, viz.—1. The mashing, or formation of a saccharine infusion from certain vegetable matters, as malt, barley, oats, rye, &c. 2. The cooling of this wort or liquor. 3. The fermentation, or process by which the sugar of the cooled wort is converted into alcohol. 4. The separation of the spirit so formed by means of a still and refrigerator. By the first operation the materials for the formation of the alcohol are obtained; by the second, they are brought to a temperature most favorable to the transformation that takes place in the third, after which it only remains to free the product of the last operation from the foreign matter with which it is associated; this is done in the fourth, which, correctly speaking, constitutes the only part of the process which can be called distillation.