DISINFECTANTS. ANTISEPTICS 



Synonyms: Aseptics, colyseptics, antizymotics, antifermentatives, anti- 

 putrids, conservants, preservants; putrefaction and fermentation-combating 

 remedies; conserving remedies, preserving remedies. 



1. DISINFECTION IN GENERAL 



Historical. — The practical application of disinfection, i.e., the 

 destruction of pathogenic or putrefactive bacteria or the preven- 

 tion of their growth, is very old. In this connection, it is only- 

 necessary to mention the unrivalled technique used by the ancient 

 Egyptians in embalming the body. The scientific foundation 

 of disinfection, however, is of more recent date. The new era 

 began with the investigations of Pasteur concerning the yeasts and 

 with the work of Lister, who in 1867 for the first time studied the 

 effect of disinfection upon the healing of wounds and introduced 

 carbolic acid as a disinfectant. The further development of dis- 

 infection is closely connected with bacteriology and its more recent 

 experimental discoveries, with which the names of Pasteur and R. 

 Koch especially are associated. The first fundamental work of the 

 latter was published in 1881 (Ueber Disinfektion, Mitteilungen aus 

 dem Kaiserl. Gesundheitsamte, 1881). From this time on the 

 knowledge of disinfection is so intimately related to bacteriology 

 that to a certain degree it forms a part of that subject. And since 

 the science of bacteriology is in a state of continual progressive 

 development, it naturally follows that the present principles of 

 disinfection may undergo certain changes in the future. To 

 direct attention to the incomplete and unsettled condition of our 

 present knowledge and conception of disinfection at the oustet is 

 one of the most important tasks of general therapeutics. It conse- 

 quently follows that a conclusive statement of our knowledge of 

 disinfection cannot be made. This is the less feasible because the 

 infectious agents of some of the important plagues (foot-and-mouth 

 disease, contagious pneumonia of horses, influenza, pox, etc.) have 

 not as yet been demonstrated bacteriologically, and the knowledge 

 concerning disinfection for these diseases will, therefore, have to be 



