Disinfection of Sick-chambers, etc. 167 



the boiled water or in a carbolic solution, or are dried with a 

 sterile towel. Andrews makes special mention of the fact 

 that the instruments must be completely immersed to pre- 

 vent rusting. 



Disinfection of the Wound. Cleansing solutions (normal 

 salt solution) and disinfecting solutions (such as i : 10,000 to 

 i : 1000 bichlorid of mercury) are only applied to septic 

 wounds. 



IV. The Disinfection of Sick=chambers, Dejecta, etc. 

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

 or disinfect the atmosphere of a room during its occupancy 

 by the patient. It is entirely useless to place beneath the bed 

 or in the corner of a room small receptacles filled with car- 

 bolic acid or chlorinated lime. These can serve no purpose 

 for good, and may do harm by obscuring odors emanating 

 from harmful materials that should be removed from the 

 room. The practice is only comparable to the old faith in 

 the virtue of asafetida tied in a corner of the handkerchief 

 as a preventive of cholera and smallpox. 



Certain fundamental principles govern the rationale of 

 disinfection, and must be kept in mind : (i) the reagent em- 

 ployed should be known to act destructively upon bacteria ; 

 (2) it must be applied to the bacteria to be killed ; (3) it must 

 be applied in sufficiently concentrated form, and (4) it must 

 be left in contact with the bacteria long enough to accom- 

 plish the effect desired. 



During the period of illness the chamber in which the 

 patient is confined should be freely ventilated. An abun- 

 dance of fresh, pure air is a comfort to the patient and a 

 protection to the doctor and nurse. 



After recovery or death one should rely less upon fumi- 

 gation than upon 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 do some 

 good, especially when combined with steam, but are greatly 

 overestimated in action and are 'very destructive to furnishings, 

 so that they are rapidly giving way to the more satisfactory, 

 less destructive, and equally germicidal formaldehyd vapor. 



Formaldehyd is probably the best germicide that has yet 

 been recommended. Its use for the disinfection of rooms 

 and hospital wards was first suggested by Trillat in 1895, but 

 it did not make much stir in the medical world until a year 

 or more had passed and a 40 per cent, solution of the gas, 

 under the name of "Formalin," had been placed upon the 



