DISINFECTION AT QUARANTINE. 353 



heated steam for the disinfecting chamber. The engines supply- 

 power to all the different pumping systems in the vessel; and 

 fitted as the Wadsworth is with such powerful and complete 

 pumps and hose system, she can be used as a fire boat should 

 occasion require. 



There are pumps for hot water, for cold water, for sea water, 

 for bichloride solution, and for soda solution. The salt-water 

 pump is made of composite metal. Ball-nozzle hose are used. 



The sulphur furnace has four pans, each large enough to con- 

 tain a couple of pails of sulphur. The sulphur fumes are col- 

 lected and retained in a tank above the furnace, and drawn off as 

 needed by a rotary fan, to be distributed through a huge system 

 of supply pipes. About four pounds of sulphur to one thousand 

 feet of cubic space is used. After the sulphur dioxide is forced 

 through the pipe system, the sulphur can be cut off and fresh 

 air forced through the same pipe system. 



In disinfecting a vessel the soda solution is used to remove 

 grease and render accessible surfaces in constant use, which are 

 then washed down with the bichloride solution, which is followed 

 by a thorough rinsing of sea water. 



The crew's quarters of the Wadsworth have a separate fresh- 

 water tank and separate bathing and toilet facilities. Cedar is 

 the wood used throughout the forecastle, which is finished so that 

 whitewash can be readily applied. All parts of the vessel that 

 carry the disinfectant plant are finished so that they can be thor- 

 oughly hosed down without danger of the waste being carried to 

 the bilge. The ventilation is as nearly perfect as possible ; all the 

 rooms and quarters have plenty of light and air. 



The clothing can be treated in a very few minutes, and the 

 rest of the process is both rapid and efficacious. The boat is in 

 commission, and the tests have all proved satisfactory. 



Now that such progress has been made in the right direction, 

 we shall expect to see our local health departments equipped with 

 something similar, that is at once compact and capable of cleans- 

 ing and disinfecting either a room or a district at short notice. 



One of the oldest French almanacs, described by M. Gaston Tissandier 

 in La Nature, is Le Kalendrier des Bergiers, or Shepherds' Calendar, printed 

 at Lyons in 1504. It contains many curious tilings, among them a calendar 

 of feast days, which are calculated by counting on the fingers and joints. 

 This is followed by some astronomical information, and then by articles 

 most of them curiously illustrated on the tree and branches of the vices, 

 the pains of hell, the book of the salvation of the soul, the " nathomie " of 

 the human body, tlie art of " fleubothomie" of the veins, the astrology of 

 shepherds, the sayings of birds, the judgments of " phigonomie," how to 

 know the planet under which a child is born, etc. 



