The following instructions, published in the Hospital Gazette, were prepared by a board of eminent physicians and surgeons for public information, and on the general proposition of disinfection they can hardly be surpassed: Three different preparations are recommended for use to make the purifying of a house, where infection has been, complete. The first is ordinary roll sulphur or brimstone, for fumigation; the second is a copperas solution, made by dissolving sulphate of iron (copperas) in water in the proportion of one and one-half pints to one gallon, for soil, sewers, etc.; the third is a zinc solution, made by dissolving sulphate of zinc and common salt together in water in the proportion of four ounces of the sulphate and two ounces of the salt to one gallon, for clothing, bed linen, etc. Carbolic acid is not included in the list, for the reason that it is very difficult to determine the quality of what is found in the stores, and the purchaser can never be certain of securing it of proper strength. It is expensive when of good quality, and it must be used in comparatively large quantities to be of any use. Besides it is liable, by its strong odor, to give a false sense of security. Nothing is commoner than to see saucers of carbolic acid and other disinfectants in a sick room. Considering the vitality of bacteria, and that they require carbolic solutions of more than five per cent or several hours of intense heat or similar heroic measures to kill them, it must be evident that such feeble vapors as can be tolerated in the sick room are utterly useless. Here are the instructions in full:
In the Sick Room, the most valuable agents are fresh air and cleanliness. The clothing, towels, bed linens, etc., should, on removal from the patient and before they are taken from the room, be placed in a pail or tub of the zinc solution, boiling hot if possible. All discharges should either be received in vessels containing the copperas solution, or, when this is impracticable, should be immediately covered with the solution. All vessels used about the patient should be cleansed or rinsed with the same. Unnecessary furniture—especially that which is stuffed—carpets and hangings should, when possible, be removed from the room at the outset; otherwise they should remain for subsequent fumigation, as next explained.
Fumigation.—Fumigation with sulphur is the method used for disinfecting the house. For this reason the rooms to be disinfected must be vacated. Heavy clothing, blankets, bedding and other articles which cannot be treated with the zinc solution, should be opened and exposed during fumigation, as next directed. Close the rooms tightly as possible, place the sulphur in iron pans supported upon bricks placed in wash-tubs containing a little water, set it on fire by hot coals or with the aid of a spoonful of alcohol, and allow the room to remain closed twenty-four hours. For a room about ten feet square at least two pounds of sulphur should be used; for larger rooms proportionally increased quantities.
Premises.—Cellars, stables, yards, gutters, privies, cesspools, water closets, drains, sewers, etc., should be frequently and liberally treated with the copperas solution. The copperas solution is easily prepared by hanging a basket containing about sixty pounds of copperas, in a barrel of water. (This would be one and one-half pounds to the gallon, or about that. It should all be dissolved.)
Body and Bed Clothing, Etc.—It is best to burn all articles which have been in contact with persons sick with contagious or infectious diseases. Articles too valuable to be destroyed should be treated as follows: Cotton, linen, flannels, blankets, etc., should be treated with the boiling hot zinc solution, introduced piece by piece; secure thorough wetting, and boil for at least half an hour. Heavy woolen clothing, silks, furs, stuffed bed covers, beds, and other articles which cannot be treated with the zinc solution, should be hung in the room during the fumigation, their surfaces thoroughly exposed, and the pockets turned inside out. Afterward they should be hung in the open air, beaten and shaken. Pillows, beds, stuffed mattresses, upholstered furniture, etc., should be cut open, the contents spread out and thoroughly fumigated. Carpets are best fumigated on the floor, but should afterward be removed to the open air and thoroughly beaten.
Corpses.—Corpses of those dying from infectious diseases should be thoroughly washed with a zinc solution of double strength; should then be wrapped in a sheet wet with zinc solution and buried at once. Metallic, metal-lined, or air-tight coffins should be used when possible, certainly when the body is to be transported for any considerable distance. Of course a public funeral is out of the question.
In addition to these disinfectants of long standing, which have been recognized in medicine for many years, another of great value is now coming into high favor. This is formalin, which, in its various forms, is convenient, economical and highly effective. Under the name of formaldehyde, one preparation of this disinfectant is widely but improperly used as a preservative for milk, meat and some other perishable foods. In almost every instance this is illegal, and properly so, for the substance is a poison and even when diluted cannot fail to be injurious. From formalin various disinfecting substances are made, and may be had at the drug stores, some as liquids and others in tablets to evaporate over a lamp for the general disinfection of rooms or houses. The latter may be recommended in the highest degree as a safe, economical and absolutely sanitary process.
Corrosive sublimate is, perhaps, the most powerful germicide known, a solution of one part in a thousand, or a little more than a drachm to a gallon of water, being amply sufficient for all practical purposes. It does not injure or stain wood, varnish, paint, plaster or ordinary fabrics, and if the ceiling be whitewashed with a genuine lime wash, and the walls, floors, doors and furniture of the room be washed down with the mixture, no microbes can possibly escape. It attacks metals, but iron bedsteads are protected by the enameling.
Poisonous as corrosive sublimate is, the danger from it is easily guarded against. The smallest dose of it known to have proved fatal, even to a child, would require no less than a quarter of a pint of the solution of one in a thousand parts. A mouthful of this would not cause more than temporary discomfort, while the taste would prevent a second being swallowed. Still, as a further safeguard it might be well to add a little laundry bluing to give color to the mixture, and a little wood alcohol to give it a smell. Then with a proper poison label on it surely no one would be endangered by it.