MANUAL FOR STABLE SERGEANTS. 159 



468. Sunlight. Germs of many diseases will live almost in- 

 definitely in dark, damp places, while in the sunlight they exist 

 only for a short time. 



469. Heat. (a) For the destruction of material contaminated 

 with germs of disease, such as manure, nasal discharges, soiled forage 

 and bedding, and worthless articles of equipment, there is nothing 

 more convenient and more certain than the application of fire. When 

 burning of such material is conducted in the open air, great care 

 must be taken that the burning is complete and that 110 small un- 

 burned particles remain to be scattered about by the action of the 

 wind. To insure thoroughness in burning, saturate the material to 

 be burned with crude oil or kerosene. 



(6) Boiling for 20 minutes is an effective method for the destruc- 

 tion of disease-producing germs. Its use, however, is limited to 

 articles of a metallic or earthen nature and to clothing, etc., of linen 

 or cotton. Articles of wool (blankets) or leather must not be boiled. 



470. Chemical agents. The chemical agents most frequently 

 used in disinfection are: 



To 1 gallon of water 



Bichloride of mercury drams. . 2 



Carbolic acid ounces. . 6 J 



Chloride of lime (fresh) do 6 



Chloro naptholeum do 4 



Creolin do 4 



Formalin do 6 



Kreso do 4 



Liquor cresolis. do 5 



471. Disinfection of stables. Entire stables or individual 

 stalls are disinfected after the removal of the occupants and the 

 isolation of the sick. The method of procedure is as follows: 



Feed boxes and mangers should be thoroughly cleaned and the 

 bedding and manure removed from the stalls and piled up out- 

 side. The walls, floors, and partitions should then be scraped 

 and swept clean and the sweepings placed on the pile with the 

 bedding and burned. If the floor be of earth, three or four inches 

 of the surface should be dug up and removed to some place inacces- 

 sible to live stock and saturated with a good disinfectant. The 

 removed earth should be replaced with clean, fresh, uncontaminated 

 clay. Should any of the woodwork about the stable have become 



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