178 ACTION OF ACIDS AND ALKALIES. 



containing 0.3 per cent destroys the typhoid bacillus, and 0.183 per 

 cent the cholera spirillum (Kitasato). The acid used contained 0. 1 :>> 

 gramme H,PO 4 in one cubic centimetre. 



.Acetic Acid. A five-per-cent solution failed to kill anthrax 

 spores after five days' exposure (Koch). In Abbott's experiments 

 glacial acetic acid in fifty-per-cent solution failed in two hours to kill 

 anthrax spores, but micrococci were killed by two hours' exposure to 

 a one-per-cent solution. A solution of 1 : 300 of glacial acetic acid 

 destroys the cholera spirillum in half an hour (Van Ermengem). In 

 the proportion of 0.25 per cent it restrains the growth of the typhoid 

 bacillus, and 0.3 per cent destroys its vitality after five hours' expo- 

 sure ; the cholera spirillum fails to grow in presence of 0.132 per cent 

 and is destroyed by 0.2 per cent (Kitasato). 



Lactic Acid. The bacillus of typhoid fever is killed in five hours 

 by a solution containing 0.4 per cent, the cholera spirillum by 0.3 per 

 cent (Kitasato). 



Citric Acid. The bacillus of typhoid fever is killed in five hours 

 by 0.43 per cent, the cholera spirillum by 0.3 percent (Kitasato). 

 The cholera spirillum is killed in half an hour by 1 : 200 (Van Er- 

 mengem). 



Oxalic Acid. The typhoid bacillus requires a solution of 0.36 

 per cent, the cholera spirillum one of 0. 28 per cent, to destroy vitality 

 in five hours (Kitasato). 



Boracic Acid. In the writer's experiments (1883) a saturated 

 solution failed to kill pus cocci in two hours. A five-per-cent solu- 

 tion failed to destroy anthrax spores in five days (Koch). The 

 typhoid bacillus is killed in five hours by 2.7 percent, the cholera 

 ^jiirillum by 1.5 per cent (Kitasato). According to Arloing, Corne- 

 vin, and Thomas, the fresh virus of symptomatic anthrax requires 

 exposure to a twenty-per-cent solution for forty-eight hours for the 

 destruction of vitality. Boracic acid acts as an antiseptic in the pro- 

 portion of 1 : 143 (Miquel). 



Salicylic Acid. In the writer's experiments this agent was dis- 

 solved by the addition of sodium biborate, which by itself has no 

 germicidal power. A two-per-cent solution was found to destroy pus 

 cocci in two hours. Dissolved in oil or in alcohol a five-per-cent so- 

 1 ut ion does not destroy anthrax spores (Koch). Micrococci are de- 

 stroyed by solutions containing 1 : 400 (Abbott). The typhoid bacillus 

 is killed in five hours by 1.6 per cent, the cholera spirillum by 1.3 per 

 cent (Kitasato). A one-per-cent solution destroys Micrococcus Pas- 

 teuri in half an hour (Sternberg). It is an antiseptic in the propor- 

 tion of 1 : 1,000 (Miquel). A solution of 2.5 per cent kills the tubercle 

 bacillus in six hours (Yersin). In the proportion of 1 : 300it destroys 

 the cholera spirillum in half an hour (Van Ermengem). 



