218 Sterilization and Disinfection 



similar disinfection of the wooden part of the furniture, and 

 the sterilization of all else. The fumes of sulphur do some 

 good, especially when combined with steam, but are greatly 

 overestimated in action and are very destructive to furnishings, 

 so that they are rapidly giving way to the more satisfactory, 

 less destructive, and equally germicidal formaldehyd vapor. 



Formaldehyd is probably the best germicide that has yet 

 been recommended. Its use for the disinfection of rooms 

 and hospital wards was first suggested by Trillat* in 1892, but 

 it did not make much stir in the medical world until a year 

 or more had passed and a 40 per cent, solution of the gas, 

 under the name of " Formalin," had been placed upon the 

 market. Care must be exercised in handling the fluid, 

 that the hands do not become wet with it, as it hardens the 

 skin and deadens sensation. The vapor is exceedingly irri- 

 tating to the mucous membrane of the eyes and nose. 



The solution can be employed to spray the walls and floors 

 of rooms, though Rosenauf finds that unless the spray dis- 

 charged from a large atomizer be very fine, its action is un- 

 certain. 



The original method of disinfection, suggested by Robin- 

 son,! consisted of the evolution of the gas by volatilizing 

 methyl alcohol, and passing the vapor over heated asbestos. 

 Shortly many efficient forms of apparatus were placed upon 

 the market, for the evolution of the gas or for discharging 

 it from the solution. 



It is not necessary to use a special apparatus in order 

 to disinfect with formaldehyd; one can, in an emergency, 

 hang up a number of sheets, saturated with the 40 per cent, 

 solution, in the room to be disinfected. 



The number of sheets must vary with the size of the 

 room, as each is able to evolve but a certain amount of the 

 gas, and the quantity necessary for disinfection varies with 

 the size of the room. 



A better method of evolving the gas for purposes of dis- 

 infection devised by Evans and Russell is to combine the 

 solution with permanganate of potassium, when an almost 

 explosive liberation of the gas takes place. 



* "Compte rendu de 1'Acad. des Sciences," Paris, 1892. 

 t "Disinfection and Disinfectants," P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Phila- 

 delphia, 1902. 



} "Ninth Report of the State Board of Health of Maine," 1896. 

 "Report of the State Board of Health of Maine," 1904. 



