STERILIZATION AND DISINFECTION. 177 



during or after the progress of the disease. A careful 

 consideration of the condition of the sick-room will 

 lead us to a clear understanding of its bacteriological 

 condition. 



The Air of the Sick-room. — It is impossible to sterilize 

 or disinfect the atmosphere of a room during its occu- 

 pancy by the patient. The disinfecting capacity of the 

 solutions given above must make obvious the concentra- 

 tion of their useful solutions, and show the foolishness 

 of placing beneath the bed or in the corners of a room 

 small receptacles filled with carbolic acid or chlorinated 

 lime. These can serve no purpose for good, and may be 

 potent for harm by obscuring the disagreeable odors 

 emanating from materials which should be removed from 

 the room by the still more disagreeable odors of the dis- 

 infectants. The practice of such a custom is only com- 

 parable to the old faith in the virtue of asafetida tied 

 in a corner of the handkerchief as a preventive of cholera 

 and smallpox. 



During the period of illness a chamber in which the 

 patient is confined should be freely ventilated, so that its 

 atmosphere is constantly changing and replacing the 

 closeness so universally an accompaniment of fever by 

 fresh, pure air — a comfort to the patient and a protection 

 to the doctors and nurses. 



After recovery or death one should rely less upon fu- 

 migation than upon the disinfection of the walls and 

 floor, the similar disinfection of the wooden part of the 

 furniture, and the sterilization of all else. The fumes 

 of sulphur may do some good — when combined with 

 steam, much good — but are greatly overestimated, and 

 the sulphurous vapors are rapidly giving way to the more 

 penetrating and germicidal formaldehyde vapor. To 

 apply this, the room to be sterilized is carefully closed, 

 the carefully selected apparatus set in action, and the 

 discharged vapor allowed to act undisturbed for some 

 hours, after which the windows and doors are all thrown 

 open to fresh air and sunlight. 

 12 



