DISINFECTANTS AND DISINFECTION 345 



lamps can be secured from any wholesale drug supply house. With this 

 apparatus the solid tablets of paraform or paraformaldehyde are used. 

 The heat from the lamp decomposes the tablets, producing formaldehyde. 

 The lamps are placed in position, in sufficient numbers, lighted and the~ 

 small tray of each lamp is supplied with a sufficient number of tablets. 

 As a precautionary measure each lamp should be placed on a brick in a 

 pan or dish of water. The air in the room must be warm and moist. 



e. Formaldehyde Candles. These consist of a mixture of paraformalde- 

 hyde and paraffin, wax, tallow or other combustible, which may be moulded 

 into candles. The candles are placed in a fireproof dish or pan and ignited. 

 For room disinfection these candles are most convenient as well as 

 satisfactory. 



F. Disinfection at Quarantine Stations. All civilized nations maintain 

 a system of vigilance as a protection against the introduction, from foreign 

 countries, of certain communicable diseases designated as quarantinable. 

 The first disease against which a quarantine was established was the plague. 

 In the fourteenth century certain Italian cities established a quarantine 

 against this dread disease and the word " Quarantine" came into general 

 use because of the fact that the period of detention was about forty days 

 (Ital. quarantind). The actual period of detention as now enforced varies 

 somewhat depending upon the nature of the disease against which the 

 detention is maintained, as determined by the period of incubation. The 

 quarantinable diseases recognized by the United States are plague (bu- 

 bonic), small-pox, yellow fever, Asiatic cholera, leprosy and typhus. 1 

 The enforcement of the quarantine regulations is under the direction 

 of the U. S. Public Health Service. The most important quarantine 

 stations in the United States are at San Francisco, New Orleans, New York 

 and Boston, ranking in importance in the order named. The Station 

 at San Francisco is of special importance because upon its efficiency 

 depends very largely the exclusion of plague, cholera and small-pox, the 

 three highly communicable diseases so prevalent in the Orient. Of 

 course a national quarantine to be effective must be complete, covering 

 every port of entry, whether large or small, maritime or inland. This is 

 very often not the case and as a result an epidemic may enter via a minor 

 port where the service is inadequate due to incompetent or insufficient 

 inspection. 



The quarantine officers are kept informed as to the occurrence of epi- 

 demics or sporadic cases of quarantinable diseases in foreign countries 



1 National quarantine against foreign disease is entirely distinct from state or city 

 quarantine. The following diseases are recognized as quarantinable by most state 

 boards of health: Scarlet fever (including scarlatina and scarlet rash), diphtheria (in- 

 cluding membranous croup), small-pox, epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis, anterior 

 poliomyelitis, leprosy, and bubonic plague. 



