Rural Hygiene

by Henry N. Ogden

Mercury for disinfectant.

Corrosive sublimate, or bichloride of mercury, is one of the most active poisons known and is as effective in dealing with the microscopic organisms known as bacteria as it is in dealing with the larger animals for which it has been used for years past,—the destruction of bed-bugs.

For general cleaning purposes, such as scrubbing woodwork, floors, and walls, it should be used in strength of about 1 part to 3000 parts of water. This means that for 1 ounce of corrosive sublimate 3000 ounces of water or 25 gallons must be taken. This solution is very active in its effect on all metal, so that it must be kept in brassware or earthenware, and when mixed with the material which it is intended to disinfect, it must be kept from tin or iron. This solution is also affected by albuminous material, although this may be counteracted by the addition of salt. It is a good plan, therefore, to add to the solution salt at the rate of about 4 teaspoonfuls to each gallon of solution. On account of the very poisonous action of this solution great care must be taken to keep it away from children, and it has been suggested that it is desirable to add some coloring matter to the liquid, since without this it may be mistaken for clear water.

Lime for disinfecting.

Chloride of lime is one of the most useful as well as one of the cheapest disinfectants available. It costs about $25 a ton, although by the pound this wholesale price would not be obtained. It is effective in a 1 per cent solution, that is, 1 pound of chloride of lime to 100 pounds or 12 gallons of water. To be effective, the solution must be well stirred into the organic matter to be disinfected, since it is the chloride rather than the lime which is the disinfecting agent. Saucers or soup plates of chloride of lime standing around the room have no effect upon the germs in the air and on the floor and are of no more value than sulfur, or roses for that matter. Chloride of lime is commonly known as bleaching powder, and its effects on clothes or on any substance which can be eroded is well known. It is, therefore, not a suitable material for disinfecting towels, because the action is on the towel as well as on the bacteria, differing in this respect from mercury, which does not hurt the fiber of clothes.

Milk of lime is produced by slaking ordinary building lime until a fine white powder is obtained, about an equal quantity of water to the amount of lime to be slaked being necessary. When the powder has formed and steam has ceased to be given off, then about four gallons of water should be added to each gallon of the powder and the mixture well stirred. This will probably always leave some lime in the bottom of the vessel, since limewater is a saturated solution, and these proportions furnish more lime than is necessary. If not too thin, it is a good whitewash and is a most important agent when used as a whitewash in disinfecting walls and ceilings of such rooms as hospitals and cellars and other places where have been contagious diseases. Milk of lime is an admirable disinfectant in the sick room and generally in houses where infectious diseases have been. It may be poured down drains, into water-closets and privies, and used liberally in all places where bacteria may be supposed to thrive. It must come into intimate contact, however, with the bacteria, and merely sprinkling a little lime dry around the borders of a gutter or drain is of no value. The writer saw, not long ago, a chicken yard where the inspector of a health department had undertaken to secure disinfection by a generous sprinkling of white lime powder around the yard. Such a procedure, however, is not effective, but in a drain the dry powder might be of value because it would later become effective when washed in solution into the drain. Ordinarily, the dry powder is to be avoided.

Soap as an antiseptic.

No better antiseptic exists than ordinary soap, not altogether because of the properties of the soap, but because of the action of the soap combined with hot water. Washing soda, dissolved in water and used for boiling clothes which have become polluted, adds to the disinfecting power of the hot water the disinfecting properties of the soap, and the result is most effective. Ammonia has not the same value as the soda or potash soap, although it has the power of destroying bacteria in the course of a few hours.

It may not be out of place to emphasize the value of soap, not particularly in times of epidemic or contagious disease, but as a continual safeguard against infection. A large proportion of the contagious diseases are probably the result of infected fingers or hands coming in contact with the mouth and leaving there the germs of infection. One of the first things a surgeon learns, in order to avoid any possible infection of wounds or of openings which he makes for an operation, is to thoroughly wash his hands in order to remove therefrom all possible germs. He scrubs his hands, particularly his finger nails, with soap and water and then bathes them in a solution of bichloride of mercury before touching the patient in any place where infection might occur. The difficulty, even with this great care, of freeing their hands from bacteria has been found to be so great that, in late years, surgeons have preferred to use, during operations, thin rubber gloves which can be boiled before using and can be soaked in a stronger antiseptic than the hands could bear.

It is extraordinary, from the standpoint of self-infection, to see how men can be so careless as to sit down to dinner, after having worked in places where their hands have come in contact with all sorts of organic filth, without stopping to wash those hands even in cold water. It is certainly providential that disease germs are as uncommon as they are, for with the careless habits of most people in putting their hands to their mouths, the death-rate from infectious diseases would be much higher than it is except for the fact that most of the germs thus introduced into the mouth are not disease-producing.