On Chemical Disinfectants. 373 



Continent for all the purposes just enumerated, under the 

 immediate auspices of government ; and it is to be hoped that 

 they will also become equally known, and as extensively used, 

 in this country. 



Hitherto, however, the manner in which the discovery has 

 been noticed or explained in England, has tended more to 

 retard its progress, than to make it familiar to the public. 

 Added to the natural difficulty of rendering correctly into 

 English the chemical names of the French author, there have 

 been still greater difficulties raised by adopting, as equivalent 

 in English, denominations which have a very different import. 

 The original fault lies with the discoverer, — the subsequent 

 ones with his commentators and translators. 



Mons. Labarraque assumes that when chloride of lime 

 {chlorure de chaux of the French) is dissolved in water, and 

 in that state kept for use, the integrant composition of that 

 salt remains ever the same. Hence, to his first disinfectant he 

 has given the name o{ solution of chloride of lime. Induced, 

 most probably, by considerations of some pretended analogy, 

 Mons. Labarraque takes it for granted that when chlorine is in- 

 troduced into a solution of carbonate of soda, a chloride of soda 

 (or as he calls it a chlorure d' oxide de sodium) is formed, 

 and nothing else ; and for this reason he has applied the latter 

 denomination to his second disinfecting liquid. 



Nowhere has Mons. Labarraque made it appear, that he had 

 taken steps to ascertain, by actual analysis, how far his views were 

 correct in either, but more especially in the latter case ; and it 

 is somewhat surprising, that notwithstanding the total absence 

 of such evidence, ever}^ one who has had occasion to speak of, 

 use, or report on the remarkable properties of the two liquids 

 in question, as well in France as in England, has implicitly 

 adopted Labarraque's names, and with them, of course, his 

 theoretical notions respecting their chemical composition. 



Attracted by the importance of the applications of Labar- 

 raque's liquids, I was led some months ago to examine how far 

 his theoretical views were correct. 



With regard to the composition of the first of the disinfecting 

 liquids, said to contain chloride of lime, it is not my intention 

 to speak at length. That subject has been well and properly 



