134 On the Use of Fumigations 



partly depends upon its l)eing some time confined within a 

 clost' place. 



However great may be the energy of the disinfectmg pro- 

 cess, I do not think that too much ought to be expected 

 from it- A serious accident hajipched a month ago in an 

 hospital where perfect salubrity had previously reigned. A 

 church, which iiad been converied into a fine ward with 60 

 beds for chronic diseases, was infected with a fecal smell, 

 which exhaled ^Vom the soil on account of a vast burying vault 

 liaving been overflown by the bursting into it of a cesspool. 

 The sick and wounded were instantly removed: the vault 

 was cleaned and fumisated as well as possible, and the fu- 

 migations were repeatedly made in the church itself with 

 closed doors. In four or five days it was' necessary to fill it 

 again with patients, and tlie tumigations were continued for 

 a week : no contagion was perceived. 



In my opinion, the insiructions in the Formula above 

 alluded to are not Shiiiciently explanatory with respect to the 

 preservative eftect of hvper-oxvgeiiaied muriatic acid gas. I 

 think it has also the property ot killing vermin; and it ought 

 to be applied to the clothes of the sick soldiers which are 

 laid up on their coming into the hospital. Besides flies, 

 which a...' -ved us much in Poland, \j|e were also dreadfully 

 afflicted with fleas and bugs, anii on applying the above fu- 

 migations tluy were all found dead. 



Letter from M. Benoit Mojon, Chie/ Physician to the 

 Military Hctpilai ut Genoa, on the same Hulject. 



Genoa, Augfust 20, 1807. 



Two months ago a contagious dysentery made its appear- 

 ance in the military hospital at Genoa, and almost all the 

 patients under iiiy care, amounting to about 200, were at- 

 tacked. As it ib generallv allowed that when dysentery is 

 contagious it is owing to an indiscriminate use of the same 

 privy, I was anxious to try if fumigations of oxygenated 

 muriatic acid had the effect of destroyinsi the contagious ex- 

 halations which prud-Lice dysentery in healthy as well as in 

 diseased su'jject.s. Vv nh tiiis view I fumigated the pri- 

 vies in the hospital twice a day, and succeeded in destroying 

 this c;;ntagion in a Itw days. Contagious dysentery being 

 of frequent recurrence in the hospitals of Genoa, it is likely 

 that I shall have more frequent opportunities of witnessing 

 the happy effects of timiiar precautions. 



■ Note 



