372 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Heat is one of the best disinfectants which it is possible to 

 employ. All life, both animal and vegetable, is quickly de- 

 stroyed when subjected to the action of a high temperature. 

 It may be employed in one of several forms ; — a flame, dry 

 heat or moist heat. 



When it is advisable to absolutely destroy material con- 

 taminated with infectious matter, there is no safer way to 

 dispose of it than by burning. Wood work, such as man- 

 gers, hay racks, stall partitions, floor, etc., that may have 

 become thoroughly infected with such material as the nasal 

 discharge from glandered horses, is best disposed of by burn- 

 ing. The bodies of animals dying of infectious diseases 

 which may be transmitted to other animals by eating the 

 flesh or by contact with the offal or discharges from the dead 

 body, are safely gotten rid of by cremation. Burning is 

 preferable to burying, as certain organisms find in soil favor- 

 able conditions for their preservation and multiplication. 



Fire may be used to disinfect iron, stone or brick work, or 

 other materials of a non-inflammable nature, by passing a 

 flame over them. An ordinary gas or Bunsen burner at- 

 tached to the gas fixture by means of a flexible rubber tube 

 affords a convenient means of securing a flame for disinfect- 

 ing purposes. 



Dry heat is applicable to the disinfection of certain objects 

 that cannot be subjected to the action of the flame or to moist 

 heat. Brushes, curry combs, blankets and similar objects 

 that may have been in contact with animals suffering from 

 contagious disease are sterilized by baking. Special appa- 

 ratus for this purpose has been invented and manufactured for 

 use in quarantine stations, hospitals, etc. For all practical 

 purposes on the farm an ordinary stove oven is all that is 

 required. The article to be disinfected should be put into 

 the oven in as loose a condition as possible, in order that the 

 heat may penetrate to every part. Twenty minutes' exposure 

 at a temperature of 300° F. is sufficient to destroy any harm- 

 ful organism that may be present. If no thermometer is at 

 hand by which the temperature may be taken, a small quan- 

 tity of ordinary cotton batting may be used. Lay it out 

 loosely on the article to be disinfected ; when the tempera- 

 ture has risen sufficiently high to give a slightly brownish 



