Disinfecting Powers of increased Temperatures. SI 



Being set over a fire, and the joints that require it having been 

 made good by flour-paste spread on paper, the opening g is 

 to be shut by a cork or phig, and the small air-cock opened, 

 to allow the escape of the air confined in the space DD. 

 Both halves of the cover being then put into their places, the 

 thermometer is to be introduced through the slit. When it 

 indicates upwards of 200°, that half of the cover from which 

 the pipe A proceeds* is to be removed; the infected articles 

 are to be placed in the receptacle, and the half-cover replaced. 

 The fire under the boiler is to be regulated, by the rate at 

 which the excess of steam issues from the small air-cock. This 

 excess, if found inconvenient by its escape into the room, may 

 be conveyed to the outside by a pipe of the necessary length, 

 screwed upon the tapped end of the air-cock. Hot water will 

 require to be occasionally supplied through the aperture gi 

 but unless the steam be unnecessarily wasted by too large a 

 fire, this need not be done oflen ; as what is condensed in 

 the cavity DD is constantly trickling back into the boiler 

 through the pipe FF. 



The dimensions and shape of the apparatus, and the ma- 

 terial of which it is made, may be varied according to the ex- 

 tent of the operations for which it is intended. For domestic 

 purposes, a common tea-kettle, by stopping the spout with a 

 plug, and making the necessary additions to the lid, will an- 

 swer perfectly well ; and a cheap and simple disinfecting vessel 

 resembling B may easily be contrived. For large operations 

 a boiler of sheet-iron, resembling that of a steam-engine, will 

 be necessary. If thought expedient, a higher temperature 

 than 212° Fahrenheit may easily be obtained in the recepta- 

 cle, by subjecting the steam to a greater pressure than that of 

 the atmosphere ; the apparatus being in that case provided 

 with a proper safety-valve. 



If heated air should be found adequate to the effect, it 

 might be employed for ordinary articles, reserving the more 

 costly vehicle, steam, for articles which are of great value, and 

 which are easily injured. 



• The pipe A will be found much more convenient if made in two parts, 

 the part attached to the cover being not more than a foot long ; its open 

 end being made to slij) into the longer part, as a few drops of moisture 

 always escape. 



V. Elements 



