DISINFECTION, STERILIZATION AND ANTISEPSIS. 261 



face disinfection, but for the interior of mattresses and stuffed 

 furniture-cushions it is not certain. In all cases where ab- 

 solute disinfection is demanded, such articles must be ripped 

 apart and loosely exposed to the gas or sterilized by steam 

 under pressure. Instead of formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide 

 may be used for room disinfection, but in the light of present 

 knowledge the formaldehyde method is superior. 



Stokes and Stubbs* found that reinfection of premises which 

 had been disinfected with formalin occurred in the 2807 cases 

 of diphtheria which were made the subject of inquiry in 2.35 

 per cent, in the same year: in the 2739 cases of scarlet fever 

 similarly examined reinfection of the premises occurred in 

 2.55 per cent. 



*W. R. Stokes and W. P. Stubbs. Maryland Medical Journal. Feb., 1907. 



