2i6 INFECTIOUS AND PARASITIC DISEASES. 



dangerous discharge at the bed-side is comparatively 

 easy, and one which is properly a duty that the phys- 

 ician should direct, and which the nurse or family should 

 perform ; and were this duty, which is one to humanity, 

 always conscientiously discharged, foods and drinks 

 would not be polluted in the manner described in pre- 

 vious pages. 



The importance of careful disinfection in the sick- 

 room of all infectious secretions and excretions, of bed- 

 linen, towels, eating-utensils, flat surfaces, etc., is 

 quite well understood by the public generally, and is 

 treated at length in text-books familiar to both phys- 

 icians and nurses. Nor do the descriptions of the 

 various disinfectants and their use differ so greatly as to 

 require special mention. The following brief outline 

 is intended solely to call attention to the most efficient 

 disinfectants, and to the strengths of the chemical 

 disinfecting solutions commonly employed. 



Heat, as has been stated elsewhere, is the 

 Heat. most reliable disinfectant known. Burn- 

 ing, or heating objects to incandescence, 

 renders them sterile. However, this kind of disinfec- 

 tion, it is obvious, is seldom practicable, and we must 

 fall back upon lower temperatures. Either dry or 

 moist heat is then available. Other things equal, moist 

 heat is a far more efficient destroyer of germ life than 

 dry heat, because it has greater powers of penetration. 

 Boiling tubercle bacilli in water (212° F., 100° C.) for ten 



