THE PRACTICE OF DISINFECTION 161 



apartment which is occupied. 1 Hence, during the illness, 

 aside from thorough ventilation, and the precautions 

 already described, the important thing is to destroy or 

 render harmless any discharges or dressings, etc., from 

 the patient. Anything of no value, as dressings, should 

 be burnt immediately; likewise nasal discharges or spu- 

 tum collected in rags or paper receptacles. 



Stools of patients suffering from typhoid fever, 

 cholera, or other intestinal diseases must be received 

 in covered vessels, and at once mixed with a disinfectant 

 fluid; neither carbolic nor bichlorid is well suited to the 

 purpose, since both are relatively inert in the presence 

 of much albuminous matter. When chlorid of lime or 

 milk of lime are used, a good mixture must be effected by 

 thorough stirring. At least 1 quart of the standard 

 solution of chlorid of lime (4 ounces to 1 gallon of water) 

 should be used for each dejection. At the recent Inter- 

 national Congress of Hygiene and Demography, Praus- 

 nitz advocated Kaiser's method of disinfecting stools 

 by means of the heat generated by pouring water over 

 quicklime which had previously been mixed with the 

 stool. 



Linen and cotton clothing is best boiled, and a method 

 has already been indicated for its disinfection by this 

 process. It may also be soaked in a 1 : 1000 solution of 

 bichlorid of mercury or a 1 : 50 solution of carbolic acid; 

 woolen clothing, which would be injured by boiling, 

 may be similarly disinfected, or by means of formalde- 

 hyd. All bundles of infected clothing removed from 



1 In very chronic infectious diseases, like pulmonary tuberculosis, 

 it is, however, advisable to thoroughly clean and disinfect the 

 patient's apartment from time to time. 

 11 



