276 ACTION OF CARBOLIC ACID 



trace of carbolic acid the lymph is always rendered 

 entirely innocuous, while the employment of the un- 

 adulterated lymph is followed by the usual results. 



Action of Carbolic Acid on the Virus of Cattle 

 Plague. The virus of cattle plague, as would seem 

 by the ensuing experiment, is equally amenable to the 

 influence of carbolic acid. The air from a cowshed in 

 which were several animals in the last stage of cattle 

 plague, was passed through two glass tubes in which 

 was cotton wool, in the hope that some of the disease 

 germs supposed to be thickly floating in the air, 

 might become entangled in the wool. One piece of 

 the wool thus infected was exposed to the vapour of 

 carbolic acid for half an hour. Then, selecting two 

 apparently healthy calves, an incision was made 

 beneath the skin of each, and one of the pieces of wool 

 inserted. The animal into which the infected wool 

 which had been exposed to the carbolic acid vapour 

 had been introduced, remained perfectly well, but the 

 other animal took cattle plague, and died of it in a 

 few days. 



Disinfecting Cow Sheds by Carbolic Acid. Several 

 interesting particulars and valuable facts are given by 

 Mr. Crookes in his experiments on disinfecting cattle 

 at the various farm buildings he visited, with refer- 

 ence to the modus operandi and action of carbolic 

 acid in disinfecting places like cow sheds, &c. For 

 instance, an isolated shed wherein no system of dis- 

 infecting had been adopted, in which several animals 



