DISINFECTANTS. 



273 



ore Ixxlies which powerfully act to resist, if 

 so to correct, the i> chango iu 



di-tinctlv dctcnnin.-d ;is sepa- 

 l-tar, but now, perhaps, chiefly 

 procured by di-tillntion of coal-tar the product 

 listilliu^ over b Sout 400 and 480 



;:itl when pure, at least from the source 

 !, to consist almost entirely of cresylie 

 i I 0), its specific gravity at 68 being 

 Much of what is now called creosote, 

 however, is but an impure form of carbolic acid 

 (Oi H Oj), a substance homologous with the 

 r, obtained from the portion of coal-tar 

 distilling between about 300 and 400, and 

 having at (' I a specific gravity of 1.0G5. In- 

 deed the carbolic acid and the creosote (prop- 

 erly cresylie acid in the main) of commerce, are 

 alike seldom pure, each being usually mixed 

 with some portion of the other, and also with 

 some napthaline, ch'moline, etc., and to which 

 latter their coal-tar odor is largely due ; while 

 ]>r. Lethehy states that other coal-tar acids, the 

 value of which is less, are also to some extent 

 sold as carbolic acid. 



Other names somewhat commonly applied to 

 this substance are those of phenic acid, phenol, 

 and phenylic alcohol. Pure carbolic acid is a 

 white crystalline solid, melting at about 93 F., 

 and distilling at about 356 [370, UBE]; but 

 very little oily impurity or water suffices to 

 liquefy it, and for disinfecting purposes it is 

 usually supplied in the liquid form. Cresylie 



la li'i'iid at ordinary temperatures, boiling 

 at 397. The commercial creosote dissolves by 



ion in water in the proportion of about 

 one part to eighty, by measure. It appears to 

 be established that, for purposes of disinfection, 

 carbelic and cresylie acids have about equal 

 value, and far surpass other coal-tar products, 

 so that they may indeed bo regarded as the 

 active antiseptic principles of the tar. The ex- 

 periments of Mr. Wm. Crookes go to prove that 

 these acids do not (at least chiefly) act, like 

 sulphurous acid, by taking up oxygen though 

 the tendency of both of them in presence of 

 bases to oxidize into rosolic acid, would inti- 

 mate that in some cases such action may take 

 part in degree; while in others of those experi- 

 ments, incipient putrefaction in flesh was slowly 

 corrected, and both such flesh and that which 

 was fresh, being, after soaking for an hour in a 

 one per cent, aqueous solution of carbolic acid, 

 hung up in the air of a warmed room, dried, 

 and kept indefinitely; as, by a like application, 

 animal membranes were preserved ; and small 

 quantities of the acid sufficed to prevent de- 

 composition in animal size and glue, even in hot 

 weather. Generally, indeed, according to most 

 authorities, carbolic and cresylio acids exert lit- 

 tle effect as disinfectants that is, in the way 

 of correcting fel id gases or other products of 



faction, their chief value consisting in their 



strictly antiseptic power. Dr. Smith considers 



their action in this respect one of presence or 



Dontact, though in the way of inducing a stable 



VOL. vi. 18 * 



rather than an unstable condition, find as the 



ite of cutalyti*. Dr. Squibb regards 



as in use liable to the disadvantage 



Mctinu-s themselves undergoing change* 



of a chemical character. 



In respect to the disinfectant value of car- 

 bolic acid, Dr. Letheby does not wholly coin- 

 cide with the other authorities cited ; and he 

 states that it is used (in London) as the solo 

 agent of disinfection for privies, drains, and 

 . and for the sewers and public roads. 

 For the former, it is poured in in a concentrated 

 state : for the latter, diluted with 2,000 times 

 its bulk of water, and sprinkled on the public 

 way by means of the water-carts. The acid 

 thus finding its way to the sewers, the usual 

 decomposition of the sewage is arrested, putre- 

 faction and evolution of offensive gases being 

 replaced by an air slightly charged with car- 

 bonic acid and light carbide of hydrogen 

 (marsh-gas). lie mentions also a carbolate of 

 lime, believed to be a chemical compound, and 

 containing about 20 per cent, of the acid, but 

 the value of which is destroyed by mixing it 

 with the so-called chloride of lime. The car- 

 bonic acid of the air, slowly acting on the for- 

 mer salt, sets free the carbolic acid, which is thus 

 diffused through the air in sufficient quantities 

 to act as a disinfectant, without destroying the 

 colors of clothing. In summing up, Dr. Lethe- 

 by recommends as best for the disinfection of 

 sick-rooms, chlorine and the chlorinated lime ; 

 for that of drains, middens, and sewers, car- 

 bolic acid and carbolate of lime ; and for that 

 of discharges from the human body, carbolic 

 acid, chloride' of zinc, and sesquichlorido of 

 iron. 



Dr. Gibbon, health officer of the Holborn 

 district, during the season of cholera in 1866, 

 in order to avoid the danger of spreading the 

 disease, practised plunging the infected cloth- 

 ing, within the rooms of patients, into a mix- 

 ture of boiling water and carbolic acid. The 

 use of this disinfectant is stated also to have" 

 been ordered in the British navy, to take the 

 place of Burnett's chloride of zinc, and partly 

 because of the number of deaths occurring 

 from the swallowing of the latter solution 

 through mistake ; but at least one death in a 

 similar manner from solution of carbolic acid 

 is already reported, and other cases of injury 

 from incautious use of it have occurred. M. 

 Boboeuf patented in France, in 1861, an alka- 

 line solution of carbolic acid (Phenol sodigu 

 Bobowf), as a local haemostatic and antiseptic, 

 its chief use being for stopping the flow of 

 blood from wounds, and which obtained the 

 Montyon prize of the French Institute. Car- 

 bolic acid lozenges have also been prepared for 

 use as an internal antiseptic, their flavor being 

 sufficiently biting to prevent their being con- 

 sumed as confectionery by children. Indeed, 

 Dr. Sansom adopted at the University College 

 Hospital, London, a treatment of cholera which 

 may bo characterized as both externally and 

 internally antiseptic. He argues in favor of 



