3Q4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the atmosphere and vitiate it ; but this cannot be the case with Condy's fluid, 

 chloride of zinc or iron, which are not volatile, and which act only when in 

 solution, and are mere deodorizers. This is -^hy carbolic acid Avas used with 

 such marked success, and therefore so largely, in England, Belgium and Hol- 

 land during the prevalence of cholera and of the cattle plague. Mr. W. 

 Crookes, F. R. S., not only states, 'I have not yet met with a single instance 

 in which the plague has spread on a farm where the acid has been freely used,' 

 but he has also proved, by a most interesting series of experiments, that the 

 gases exhaled from the lungs of diseased cattle contained the germs or sporules 

 of the microscopic animals discovered by Mr. Beale in the blood of such ani- 

 mals ; for Mr. Crookes having condensed on cotton wood these germs, and 

 having inoculated the blood of healthy cattle with them, they were at once 

 attacked with the disease. As to the value of carbolic acid for preventing the 

 spread of cliolera, among many instances wliich I could cite, allow me to men- 

 tion two special instances : First, Dr. Ellis says — I have, in many instances, 

 allowed whole families to return to cottages in which persons had died from 

 cholera, after having had the cottages well washed and cleansed with carbolic 

 acid, and in no case were any persons allowed to enter such purified dwellings 

 attacked with the disease. My friend. Professor Chandelon, of Liege, has 

 stated to me, that out of one hundred and thirty-five nurses who were employed 

 to attend upon the cholera patients — and they must have been numerous, for 

 two thousand died — only one niirse died, but the nurses were washed over and 

 their clothing sprinkled with carbolic acid. In fact, the antiseptic properties 

 of carbolic acid are so powerful that 1-lOOOth, even l-1500th will prevent the 

 decomposition, fermentation, or putrefaction for months of urine, blood, glue 

 solution, flour paste, etc., etc., and its vapor alone is sufficient to preserve 

 meat in confined spaces for weeks ; and even a little vapor of this iiseful sub- 

 stance will preserve meat for several days in ordinary atmosphere, and prevent 

 its being fly-blown ; lastly, 1-lOOOOth has been found sufficient to keep sewage 

 sweet, for Dr. Letheby states, in a letter addressed to me, that through the use 

 of such a quantity of carbolic acid in the sewers of London during the existence 

 of cholera last year, the sewages of the city were nearly deodorized. 



Although questions of Public Health are the province of Medicine, still per- 

 mit me to say a few words on the medicinal properties of carbolic acid. This 

 question deserves to be treated thoroughly, for plienic acid is susceptible of so 

 many applications in this direction, its properties are so marked, so evident, 

 and so remarkable, that they cannot be made too public, and it is rendering a 

 service to mankind to make known some of the employments of so valuable a 

 therapeutic agent. 



I wish all who are listening to me were medical men, for I could sliow, by 

 numerous and undeniable facts, tlic advantage they might derive from pure 

 carbolic or phenic acid, and if my testimony was not sufficient to convince 

 them, I would invoke the authority of men justly esteemed amongst you. I 

 would recall to you the words of the good and learned Gratiolet, and those of 

 Dr. Lcmaire, showing thnt carbolic acid is the most powerful acknowledged 

 means of contending with contagious and pestilential diseases, such as cholera, 

 typhus fever, small pox, etc. Maladies of this order are very numerous, but 

 in carbolic acid we find one of the most powerful agents for their prevention ; 



