364 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Dec 



complished without an increase in the quantity of forma- 

 lin or of the degree of heat ; but before instituting any 

 change in the methods of procedure, it was decided to at- 

 tempt the disinfection of lighter articles and those gen- 

 erally recognized as better adapted for treatment with for- 

 maldehyd. The cultures were put in the pocket of a coat 

 and the garment so arranged that the gas must penetrate 

 the cloth to reach the germs. The same was done for 

 the cultures placed in the trousers pocket. The letter was 

 sealed and without perforation thrown into the chamber. 



It was now evident that when anthrax was destroyed 

 the other organisms failed to develop and further work 

 with them was abandoned. At a temperature of 80° C, 

 or more, it was thought that before the formaldehyd en- 

 tered the chamber the slips of crash must be dried, and 

 in the succeeding experiments the slips were saturated 

 with a bouillon culture of spore-bearing anthrax and 

 placed in the chamber without unnecessary delay. None 

 of the quarantinable diseases is caused by a spore-bear- 

 ing organism so far as we know, and their infectious 

 principles are not classed as resistant to the disinfectants 

 in common use, but in these experiments disinfection has 

 not been considered successful unless the spores of an- 

 thrax were killed. 



Although the results obtained with 360 c. c. of forma- 

 lin were satisfactory it was considered desirable to fix 

 upon the minimum efficient quantity. To that end, ex- 

 periments were made with 100 c. c. and 200 c. c. of the 

 mixture, and finally with 100 c. c. of formalin, to which 

 was added 400 c. c. of water with calcium chloride and 

 glycerin in the same proportion as for 500 c. c. of forma- 

 lin. This seemed to indicate that penetration is greater 

 for a small quantity of formaldehyd if a little moisture 

 is present. One chief advantage for formaldehyd is that 

 it is efficient in a dry state, and is, therefore, available for 

 disinfection of articles injured by moisture. For that 



