346 



FUMIGATIONS TO DESTROY COXTAGIOX. 



in a very large 

 ehurch, 



and in the 



chambers of 

 the sick. 



Acetic acid 

 used as a pre- 

 servative. 



" I observed the same effect still more strikingly, when 

 I employed oxigenized muriatic acid fumigations in the largest 

 edifices, particularly in St. Dominic's church, -where the air 

 was so noisome, and so loaded with putrid emanations, that 

 its stench was perceptible to some distance and in the adja- 

 cent houses. For this fumigation I employed eight pounds 

 of salt, four pounds of sulphuric acid, and a pound and 

 half of black oxide of manganese. 



u To purify the air of close and habited houses, I pre. 

 ferred fumigations with nitric acid, which were equally suc- 

 cessful, destroying the contagious miasmata without occa. 

 sioning the least inconvenience to the sick. There is no in- 

 stance of any one having caught infection from a sick per- 

 son, where these fumigations were constantly used. 



" To secure myself from the effects of the putrid and 

 contagious exhalations, to which I was daily exposed, J 

 made use of no other prophylactic than a small phial of 

 acetic acid (radical vinegar), which I held to my nose, and 

 hy its means I had the happiness of escaping the infection 

 during the whole continuance of the epidemic." 



Effects of Fumigations with oxigenheel Muriatic-Acid, a* 

 reported by Mr. Fleury, Officer of Health in the Navy. 



Mr. J. A. Fleury, in his Essay on the Dysentery, pre- 

 sented to the School of Physic, January the 4th, 1803, 



Oximmiatic 

 acid fumiga- 

 te™! m XS6 " after classing frequent fumigations with oxigenized muriatic 

 acid among the general means of regimen and renovation of 

 the air, adds what follows as a note in support of this pre- 

 cept. 

 and against the " After the signature of the preliminaries of peace and 

 hospital soie. ^ trcat y f Amiens, a great number of French prisoners 

 landed at Cherbourg. The sick were carried to the naval 

 hospital, of which I had the charge. Several were afflicted 

 with the ulcer called the hospital sore, to remedy which all 

 the resources of physic and surgery were employed in vain. 

 The fumigations of oxigenized muriatic acid, employed ha- 

 bitually to correct the air, were particularly directed to 

 these ulcers; and soon the contagion, which imparted to 

 other ulcers and recent wounds the same character, was 



stopped. 



