The above-named disinfectants are objectionable on account of their own
odors and their corrosive action. Both sulphurous acid and hypochlorous
acid (the active principle of the so-called “chloride of lime”) have a
disagreeable habit of rusting iron and suggesting antique green bronzes
by their action on brass ornaments. Under serious conditions this
should be endured, but in many cases where the danger is not already
developed, the desired end may be attained without these annoyances.
Sulphate of copper, which is not patented or “brought out” by a limited
company, may be bought at its fair retail value of 6_d._ or less per
lb. (the oil-shop name for it is “blue vitriol”), in crystals, readily
soluble in water.
I have lately used it in the case of a trouble to which English
households are too commonly liable, and one that has in many cases done
serious mischief. The stoppage of a soil-pipe caused the overflow of a
closet, and a consequent saturation of floor boards, that in time would
probably have developed danger by nourishing and developing those germs
of bacteria, bacilli, etc., which abound in the air, and are ready to
increase and multiply wherever their unsavory food abounds.
By simply mopping the floor with a solution of these green crystals,
and allowing it to soak well into the pores of the wood, they cease to
become a habitat for such microscopic abominations. The copper-salt
poisons the poisoners.
Dr. Burg goes so far as to recommend that building materials, articles
of furniture, and clothing, etc., should be injected with sulphate
of copper, in order to avert infection, and in support of this refers
to the immunity of workers in copper from cholera, typhoid fever, and
infectious diseases generally.
I agree with him to the extent of suggesting the desirability of
occasionally mopping house floors with this solution. Its visible
effects on the wood are first to stain it with a faint green tinge
which gradually tones down to a brown stain, giving to deal the
appearance of oak, a change which has no disadvantage from an artistic
point of view. If the wood is already tainted with organic matter
capable of giving off sulphureted hydrogen, the darkening change is
more rapid and decided, owing to the formation of sulphide of copper.
The solution of sulphate should not be put into iron or zinc vessels,
as it rapidly corrodes them, and deposits a non-adherent film of
copper. It will even disintegrate common earthenware, by penetrating
the glaze, and crystallizing within the pores of the ware, but this is
a work of time (weeks or months). Stoneware resists this, and wooden
buckets may be used safely. It is better to keep the crystals and
dissolve when required. Ordinary earthenware may be used with impunity
if washed immediately afterwards.