I 



If 



254 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



CONDY'S FLUID AND CARBOLIC ACID. 



Condy's fluid is a solution of some permanganate ; for our pres- 

 ent purpose let us say permanganate of potass. One equivalent 

 of this saltrr!58 is calculated to lose one-fourth of its weight of 

 oxygen in presence of oxidizable matter, and in so doing loses the 

 pink transparency of its solution, and forms a brown precipitate. 

 The quantity of oxidizable matter may either be estimated by giv- 

 ing the quantity of oxygen in the decolorized permanganate simply, 

 or on Dr. Letheby's method, by multiplying the amount of oxygen 

 by 8. 



Let us suppose a water of a bad, or at least a suspicious marshy 

 smell ; the addition of one or more drops of " Condy," or of one 

 of the finer solutions of permanganate, will speedily remove that 

 smell and taste, and make the water fresher and nicer. The 

 quicker the decolorization, the greater the need of it. 



If water so treated, with a slight pink color remaining, be passed 

 through a filter, it conies out perfectly clear and colorless, but 

 without filtering may be used for cooking or making tea and cof- 

 fee after the brown sediment has settled. 



It seems generally agreed that the gases of decomposition are 

 very quickly neutralized by this means, and that organic matter 

 actually decomposing very quickly decolorizes the liquid also. 

 But this is not the case with stable organic matter. Water colored 

 with "Condy" so as not to be drinkable with pleasure, yet may 

 contain animalcules in the most lively state. Nay, the amoeba, 

 paramoecium, colpods, and other disgusting broods are not in the 

 least affected by water too reddened to be drinkable. The same 

 with regard to minute plants. Give quantity enough and time 

 enough, and all will be destroyed : first, the stinking gases ; next, 

 the decaying organic matter which evolves them; then the mi- 

 croscopic animalcules which feed on it, and which, if not destroyed 

 by the ** Condy," would die of starvation, and the plants last. 



Animalcules of the kinds indicated may also live in water just 

 containing carbolic acid enough to be smelt and tasted. 



The conclusions we would draw from the above remarks are, 

 that when we employ the carbolic acid for the disinfection of 

 drains, sinks, etc., it ought to be employed in a state of pretty high 

 concentration and large quantity, so as, above all things, to purity 

 the aperture out of which the dangerous emanations would come. 

 Likewise, in the use of Condy's fluid for purifying water-butts, 

 enough should be used, but we should take care also that the butts 

 themselves are. cleansed and pitched or charred inside, for it is a 

 waste of force to use the permanganate to do what might be done 

 by a handful of lighted shavings and a brimstone match. Medi- 

 cal Times and Gazette. 



IODINE AND CARBOLIC ACID. 



The " Journal des Connaissances Medicales " publishes a letter 

 on Dr. Percy Boulton's late discovery of the action of carbolic acid 

 on iodine. " The inconvenience,'" says the writer, " attending the 



