xxi.] ANTISEPTICS. 263 



boiling-point of water (212 to 216 F.), orfor one hour to a temperature 

 of 245 F. Non-spore bearing bacilli of anthrax (blood or culture) and of 

 swine-fever, were rendered inert by exposure for an hour to atemperature of 

 212 to 218 F.,and even five minutes exposure to this temperature sufficed 

 to destroy the vitality of the former, and impair that of the latter." The 

 tubercle bacilli were killed by exposure to dry heat for five minutes. 

 Exposure to steam at 212 F. is destructive, even after five minutes, to* 

 all the pathogenic organisms tested, including the spores of bacillus 

 anthracis. 



The action of four solutions, phenylpropionic acid and phenylacetic 

 acid, of phenylpropionate of soda and of sulpho-carbolate of soda, on 

 bacillus anthracis, of blood and cultures, sporeless and spore-bearing, of 

 phenylpropionic acid in conjunction with peptone, of acid reaction 

 (sulphuric acid) on the life and growth of bacillus anthracis, the action 

 of phenylpropionic and phenylacetic acid and sulpho-carbolate of soda on 

 human and bovine tuberculous matter, of the action of chlorine and 

 sulphurous acid gas on swine-fever virus is fully described in the Report 

 of the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, 1884, in a series 

 of papers by myself, Mr. Laws, and Mr. A. Lingard. 



The action of perchloride of mercury, although powerful, is not such as 

 maintained by Koch (Mittheil. aus. d. k. Gesundheitscimt', Berlin, 1881). 

 While Koch asserts that this substance in solutions of I in 100,000 has the 

 power to kill sporeless bacillus anthracis, I find that exposure of the 

 bacillus anthracis taken from the blood of an animal dead of anthrax to 

 a solution of perchloride of mercury in water in the proportion of 

 i in 20, coo or I in 25,000 for one hour does not impair the action of the 

 bacilli. Solutions of I in 10,000 for thirty minutes' exposure kill the 

 bacilli. But there exists a difference in resisting power according to the 

 virulence of the bacilli themselves. 



The bacilli of blood of an anthrax animal are capable of growing and 

 of producing infective bacilli in broth peptone, and in nutrient gelatine to 

 which perchloride of mercury has been previously added in the propor- 

 tion of I in 25,000 or I in 30,000. The spores of bacillus anthracis are 

 capable of germinating and producing good and active crops of bacilli 

 in broth peptone, and in nutritive gelatine to which perchloride of 

 mercury has been added in the proportion of I in 25,000 or I in 30,000. 

 Koch mentions I in 300,000 as inhibiting the power of the germination 

 of the spores of bacillus anthracis. 



The spores of non- pathogenic bacilli and of some pathogenic bacilli 

 (bacillus anthracis) resist the action of perchloride of mercury in solutions 

 of i in 10,000 even after exposure for four days. 



