CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 269 



states that the twofold advantage is obtained of disinfecting any diseased 

 part, and also of absorbing any liquid which may be present, thereby doing 

 away entirely, or in a great measure, with the necessity of employing lint 



or rags. 



For preventing the disagreeable odor of sinks, privies, etc., it is also 

 exceedingly efficacious, and, being much cheaper, can be used with advantage 

 in the place of chloride of lime. Two pounds of the powder is sufficient to 

 dissolve in twenty-two gallons of water; or a table-spoonful dissolved in one 

 and three-fourths pints of water is sufficient per day to render inodorous the 

 refuse of a household of four or five persons. A morsel, the size of a pin's 

 head, will render limpid and fit for use a pint and a half of water, which is 

 beginning to become putrescent. The value of such a discovery for those 

 who travel in the East, and especially for ships at sea, cannot well be over- 

 stated. 



But it also has an important relation to agriculture. One-half pound of 

 the powder, dissolved in five or six gallons of water and sprinkled on the 

 litter of a stable, will deprive one cubic yard of manure of all odor, and 

 prevent the loss of its fertilizing qualities. 



M. Velpeau, in a report to the French Academy, highly recommended its 

 use to the faculty, and gave numerous examples of its application. This 

 report was succeeded by a discussion, which is thus reported by M. Nickles 

 for S Hitman's Journal, Nov. 18-39. 



M. Bussy recalled the fact that charcoal powder, the Boghead coke, creo- 

 sote, and alkaline hypochlorites, have for a long time been used as disinfect- 

 ants. M. Chevreul next called attention to the fact that, in the last century, 

 Dr. George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, had published a work on the virtues 

 of tar-water, in which he speaks of this agent with enthusiasm. It was 

 esteemed by him as a specific also, particularly against ulcers, virus, and 

 the scurvy. More than twelve years ago, Dr. Herpin of Metz proposed a dis- 

 infecting mixture of plaster and carbon. Dumas reminded the Academy 

 that one of its prizes was a few years since awarded to Mr. Sizet, who 

 showed all the metallic salts which could be used with advantage in disin- 

 fection who also added that the properties of these disinfectants were much 

 exalted by the addition of a small proportion of coal-tar. These experi- 

 ments have also been confirmed elsewhere by Mr. Boussingault, without, it is 

 true, a special reference to sores and ulcers. Coal-tar has been used in Eng- 

 land for disinfecting dead animals for the uses of rural economy. The use 

 of coal-tar has also been advised for the dead on the battle-field. 



Dumas added, that, having often sought an explanation of these facts, he 

 had found it in the fact illustrated by Schonbein, that the vapor of turpen- 

 tine, when mixed with air, produced an abundance of ozone. He thought 

 that the vapor of coal-tar might equally ozonize the air. In this case, the 

 odorous mixtures would be immediately burned by the ozonized oxygen, and 

 the putrid odor rapidly destroyed. 



If coal-tar really produces this action, it is necessary, according to Dumas, 

 to distinguish three effects. 1st, the destruction of the infectious vapor or 

 gas by means of ozone arising from coal-tar. 2d, the action of the plaster 

 in preventing the production of new infectious gases by the solidification of 

 the liquids present. 3d, the point of arrest set to the development of putre- 

 factive process by any of the products contained in coal-tar, and especially 

 the phenic acid, which in the smallest traces, in the form of phenate of soda, 

 secures the preservation of animal matters in free air. 



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