592 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



large a proportion of iodine, it nevertheless preserves, in a 

 great measure, its original tenacity. Its color is brown, and 

 not black, which latter is sure to be the case if the heat em- 

 ployed be too high, or if its action be too greatly prolonged. 

 21 A, October, 1871, 967. 



CARBOLIC ACID NOT A PERFECT DISINFECTANT. 



A writer in the English Mechanic advises its readers not to 

 put implicit faith in carbolic acid as a disinfectant, as he be- 

 lieves its merits to have been greatly overrated. As a deodo- 

 rizer he considers it far inferior to ordinary chloride of lime, 

 the effect lasting only a short time. He finds that the vapor 

 of chlorine is very much superior for the purpose, as it always 

 destroys the vitality of infectious and diseased germs, which 

 carbolic acid does not. To completely disinfect an apartment 

 that has been occupied by a patient suffering under small-pox, 

 typhus fever, or other disease, it is only necessary to vacate 

 the apartment after stopping up the openings, and placing in 

 different parts of the room several plates containing a quan- 

 tity of common salt on which a little vitriol has been pour- 

 ed. The vapor of chlorine will be instantly evolved, and will 

 annihilate all infection with which it comes in contact. It 

 may be used even in rooms containing sick persons, if the 

 quantity evolved be so slight as not to inconvenience the 

 lungs of the patients. 18 A, August 25, 1871, 571. 



NOXIOUS GASES OF MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 



The chemical effect of the gases of various manufacturing 

 establishments upon the health of plants and animals in their 

 vicinity has frequently been a subject of investigation, and 

 it has been shown that serious injuries may result therefrom. 

 In the course of a recent inquiry in a village near Berlin, it 

 was found that vegetation was seriously affected over a cir- 

 cle covering an area of from two thousand two hundred to 

 six thousand five hundred feet, the establishment occupying 

 the focus of an ellipse of noxious action, elongated in the di- 

 rection of the prevailing wind. In the case of rye plants, the 

 stalks were green a few inches from the roots, while above 

 this the color was gray, and the flowers did not fructify. Po- 

 tatoes appeared as if they had been attacked by the potato 

 disease, and plants of all kinds showed evident signs of more 

 or less injury. 14 (7, C, 33G. 



