The carelessness with which certain papers take up some popular recipe is not always without its dangers. For instance, there appeared lately in some public print an article upon the poison of vipers, which is very similar to that of the virus from a putrefying corpse; the article recommended that carbolic acid should be immediately introduced into the wound, the acid to be mixed with alcohol in the proportion of two to one. Observe the off-hand manner with which a toxic agent is spoken of, as if it were the most inoffensive thing in the world.
In order to try the experiment, a cat was selected, upon whose skin, denuded of hair alone, a saturated solution of carbolic acid in alcohol, with an equal quantity of water, was rubbed; this produced no effect; but when the same solution was rubbed into a scratch upon the end of the nose two or three times, the animal fell immediately into convulsions and very shortly succumbed. Prussic acid could not have acted more promptly. The moral of this experiment is obvious.
DISINFECTANTS.
Dr. Baxter has executed a great number of very careful experiments, with a view to testing the different disinfecting properties of the so-called disinfectants commonly used. Evidence was adduced to show that carbolic acid, sulphur, permanganate of potash and chlorine are all endowed with true disinfectant properties, though in very varying degrees. The effectual disinfectant operation of chlorine and permanganate of potash appeared to depend far more on the nature of the medium through which the particles of infective matter are distributed than on the specific character of the particles themselves.
A virulent liquid cannot be regarded as certainly and completely disinfected by sulphur, unless it has been rendered permanently and thoroughly acid. No virulent liquid can be considered disinfected by carbolic acid, unless it contains at least two per cent., by weight, of the pure acid.
When disinfectants are mixed with a liquid, it is very important to make sure that they are thoroughly incorporated with it, and that no solid matters capable of shielding contagion from immediate contact with its destroyer be overlooked.
Aerial disinfection, as commonly practised in the sick room, is either useless or positively objectionable, owing to the false sense of security it is calculated to produce.
To make the air of a room smell strongly of carbolic acid, by scattering carbolic powder about the floor, or of chlorine, by placing a tray of chloride of lime in a corner, is, so far as the specific destruction of contagion is concerned, an utterly futile proceeding.
The practical result of these experiments goes to prove, first, that dry heat, when it can be applied, is probably the most perfect of all disinfectants; second, that the old plan of stopping up crevices and fumigating with sulphur and charcoal is more efficacious than any other proceeding with more modern disinfectants; third, that the use of carbolic vapor for disinfecting purposes should be abandoned, owing to the relative feebleness and uncertainty of its action.