CHEMICAL STERILIZATION AND DISINFECTION. 67 



heat, so in the process of disinfection the combination 

 between the disinfectant and the organisms to be de- 

 stroyed is much more energetic at a temperature of 37 

 to 39 C. than it is at 12 to 15 C. 



What has been said refers more particularly to the 

 inorganic salts which are employed for this purpose. It 

 is probable that the organic bodies which possess disin- 

 fectant properties owe this power to some such similar 

 reaction, though, as yet, these substances have not been 

 so thoroughly studied in this relation. 



The reaction between these inorganic salts and albu- 

 minous bodies is not selective ; they combine in most 

 instances with any or all protoplasmic bodies present. 

 For this reason the results of the practical application 

 of many of the commonly employed disinfectants is 

 a matter of grave doubt. For example, the disinfec- 

 tion of excreta, sputum, or blood containing pathogenic 

 organisms, by means of corrosive sublimate, is a proce- 

 dure of very questionable success. The amount of sub- 

 limate employed may be entirely used up and rendered 

 inactive as a disinfectant by the ordinary protoplasmic 

 substances present, without having any appreciable ef- 

 fect upon the bacteria which may be in the mass. 



These remarks are introduced in order to guard 

 against the implicit confidence so often placed in the 

 disinfecting value of corrosive sublimate. In bacterio- 

 logical laboratories, where there is constantly more or 

 less of infectious material, it is the custom, with few 

 exceptions, to have vessels containing solutions of cor- 

 rosive sublimate at hand, by which infectious materials 

 may be rendered harmless. The value of this pro- 

 cedure, as we have just learned, is always more or less 

 questionable, especially in those cases in which the sub- 



