DISINFECTANTS AND DSINFECTION. l8l 



Hoover, assistant chemist of the Columbus Board of Health, has the fol- 

 lowing to say regarding the process: 



" There are two general types of electrolyzers for dissociating sodium 

 chloride. In one the cathodic and anodic products are allowed to recombine 

 in the main body of the electroyte and in the other, known as the diaphragm 

 process, the products are removed separately from the cell as produced. 



"For the production of sodium hypochlorite the non-diaphragm process 

 has been considered best because it dispenses with the destructible dia- 

 phragms and the loss of energy that all such diaphragms occasion. 



" When a direct current of electricity is passed through a solution of sodium 

 chloride, sodium is liberated at one pole and chlorine at the other. The 

 liberated sodium reacts on the water breaking it up into hydrogen and hy- 

 droxyl ions to form sodium hydrate. The sodium hydrate in turn combines 

 with the chlorine to form sodium hypochlorite, (Na O Cl) which becomes 

 active in the sterilization of the water." 



Pharmacists find considerable demand for distilled water for drinking 

 purposes as well as for use in dispensing. However, some of the leading 

 authorities declare that drinking distilled water is objectionable, because 

 of the disturbance of the osmotic pressure in the cells of the digestive tract. 

 That is, the distilled water acts as a mechanical poison. There is an excessive 

 endosmosis inducing an abnormal distention of the cells, causing physiological 

 disturbances. This action is due to the fact that the mineral salts present 

 in natural drinking water are absent in distilled water. 



The pharmacist can prepare cheaply and simply a marketable drinking 

 water which does not have the objectionable qualities above referred to. 

 Instead of distilling the water, filter it, using a Pasteur- Chamberland filter. 

 Whether a large or small filter is used will depend upon the number of 

 customers to be supplied. In all probability a two- or three-tube filter is 

 large enough for the average retail store. " Rapid safety filters" are of no 

 value whatever, and should not be used, as they are in no sense germ-proof. 

 They merely remove the coarse filth. It is true that the Pasteur- Chamberland 

 filters are not absolutely germ-proof, but they remove most of the microbes 

 present, as may be determined bacteriologically by the pharmacist himself. 

 The few germs which may pass through the filter are killed by heating the 

 water to the boiling-point or 30 minutes. Such filtered and heat sterilized 

 water should be sold in large sterile glass or earthenware containers. It is 

 more palatable than distilled water and does not interfere with the physio- 

 logical action of cells. 



5. Food Preservatives. 



The use of food preservatives is as old as the history of man. Since 

 remotest antiquity man has found it necessary to accumulate a supply of food 



