1 46 OLEOMAEG AKINE. 



temperature of 129 to 133 F. kills most of them, and that 140 F. is 

 safe; but Collin found living trichinae in half a pound of steak that 

 had been boiled for ten minutes, presenting a white appearance when 

 cut, having no red points, and discovered trichinae in the intestines of 

 a bird after having been fed upon it. 



' ' Pasteur asserts that an exposure for ten minutes to a temperature 

 of 129.2 F. will kill anthrax rods, but spores resist prolonged boiling. 

 The spores develop in the rods rapidly after the death of the animal, 

 under proper conditions, and will remain active for years. They are 

 not destroyed by drying or putrefaction when exposed to oxygen 

 (Maguire). 



"Klein also affirms that the anthrax spores will resist prolonged 

 boiling. 



"Vantieghem is quoted by Magnin as saying that a temperature of 

 121 F. is fatal to most bacteria; but he has studied the bacillus that 

 is able to multiply and form spores in a culture fluid at 165.2 F., but 

 which cease to multiply at 171.5 F. Magnin also states as coming 

 from Lebedeff that septic blood does not lose its virulence at the end 

 of forty days, or by being heated to the boiling point (212 F.) for 

 from three to twenty-four hours, and that the bacteria in it are capa- 

 ble of multiplying after such exposure. 



"Arloing and Chauveau have found what they consider to be the 

 bacillus causing gangrenous septicaemia. When fresh it is destroyed 

 by a temperature of from 194 to 212 F. , but when dried it required 

 248 F. 



"The heat to be trusted for destroying pathogenic germs in practice 

 will be seen from the following: 



"Dr. Van Bush, of Berlin, used a temperature of 149 to 167 F. 

 for the destruction of puerperal-fever contagion. The late Dr. Elisha 

 Harris, in 1859, employed a temperature at and above 212 F. to dis- 

 infect clothes of yellow-fever subjects. He quotes Dr. William Henry 

 as saying that ' the infectious matter of cowpox is rendered inert by 

 a temperature not below 140 F. , from whence it is inferred that more 

 active contagion is probably destructible at temperatures not exceed- 

 ing 212 F.' 



"Dr. Henry could not communicate typhus after exposing flannel 

 shirts to 204 F. ; same with scarlet fever. He says : ' The experiments 

 which we have related appear to be sufficiently numerous to prove that 

 by exposure to a temperature not below 200 F. during at least one 

 hour the contagious matter of scarlatina is rather dissipated or 

 destroyed.' 



"The following circular, issued to the customs officers December 22, 

 1884, shows what temperature is considered safe by the Government: 

 6 All circulars of the Department concerning the importation of old rags 

 are modified as follows: No old rags, except afloat on or before Janu- 

 ary 1, 1885, on vessels bound directly to the United States, shall be 

 landed in the United States from any vessel, nor come into the United 

 States by land, from any foreign country, except upon disinfection at 

 the expense of the importers, as provided in this circular or may here- 

 after be provided. 



" 'Either of the following processes will be considered a satisfactory 

 method of disinfection of old rags, and will entitle them to entry and 

 to be landed in the United States upon the usual permit of the local 

 health officer, viz: 



