3. Sulphate of zinc and common salt, dissolved together in water in the proportion of four ounces sulphate and two ounces salt to the gallon; for clothing, bed-linen, etc.
II. How to use Disinfectants.
1. In the sick-room. The most available agents are fresh air and cleanliness. The clothing, towels, bed-linen, 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 copperas solution, or, when this is impracticable, should be immediately covered with copperas solution. All vessels used about the patient should be cleansed with the same solution.
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 and treatment.
2. Fumigation with sulphur is the only practicable method for disinfecting the house. For this purpose, the rooms to be disinfected must be vacated. Heavy clothing, blankets, bedding, and other articles which can not be treated with zinc solution, should be opened and exposed during fumigation, as directed below. Close the rooms as 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 for 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.
3. Premises. Cellars, yards, stables, gutters, privies, cesspools, water-closets, drains, sewers, etc., should be frequently and liberally treated with copperas solution. The copperas solution is easily prepared by hanging a basket containing about sixty pounds of copperas in a barrel of water.
4. 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:
(a.) Cotton, linen, flannels, blankets, etc., should be treated with the boiling-hot zinc solution; introduce piece by piece, secure thorough wetting, and boil for at least half an hour.
(b.) Heavy woolen clothing, silks, furs, stuffed bed-covers, beds, and other articles which can not be treated with the zinc solution, should be hung in the room during fumigation, their surfaces thoroughly exposed and 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.