There are few subjects on which greater ignorance exists, not only among
the public but among medical men as well, than on that of disinfectants.
The word is used vaguely to mean deodorants, which destroy bad odors;
antiseptics, which prevent the spread of injury by putrefaction in a
wound; and germicides, which actually destroy the bacteria or microbes
which produce contagion in a disease. In some cases one of these may
serve the function of another, but that is merely incidental. Deodorants
may be such simple things as perfumery, tobacco smoke or camphor, and
they serve very useful purposes in masking bad smells, but they are
entirely useless in preventing disease.
Permanganate of potash, or “Condy’s fluid,” as the druggists call it, is
a powerful antiseptic, instantly destroying the matter that is beginning
to putrefy by what is really a burning process. It sweetens the foul
discharges from wounds and bad throats, but is nearly powerless to
destroy the living germs of disease.
The disinfectants of most practical value, which are at the same time
germicides, are carbolic acid, chloride of zinc, sulphurous acid,
chlorine and corrosive sublimate. Carbolic acid, when strong enough, is
fairly satisfactory. Five per cent solutions (one part in twenty) stop
the activity of bacteria, but do not actually destroy their vitality.
Solutions twice as strong do, but water will not dissolve so much, and
the odor that remains is an objection to their use for disinfecting
linen. Chloride of zinc is far more powerful. If too strong a mixture is
used it may injure cloth, so that this wants to be guarded against.
Sulphurous acid (the fumes of burning sulphur) is a most convenient
disinfectant. Shut the windows down tight, leave all the clothing in its
place and open trunks and drawers. Put a thick layer of ashes in an old
iron pot, over which place a shovel of live coals; throw a teacup of
pulverized sulphur on the coals and run out, closing the doors in your
exit. Stay out several hours. On returning open all doors and windows,
and the odor will soon be gone, also the bugs, insects and the germs of
any disease that may be lodged in the clothing, etc.
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.