192 



ACTION OF COAL-TAR PRODUCTS, 



not destroy these spores in thirty clays. A f our-per-cent solution of 

 crude carbolic acid with two per cent of hydrochloric acid destroyed 

 spores in less than an hour ; four per cent of carbolic acid alone did 

 not destroy them in twelve days. Van Ermengem reports that in 

 his experiments the cholera spirillum in chicken bouillon was killed 

 in less than half an hour by 1 : 600, and that in blood serum 1 : 400 

 was effective. ISTicati and Rietsch fix the germicidal power for the 

 cholera spirillum as 1 : 200, the time of exposure being ten minutes ; 

 Ramon and Cajal, 1 : 50. Boer gives the following results, the time 

 of exposure being two hours, cultures in bouillon twenty-four hours 

 old: 



Leitz reports the following results : The dejections of patient 

 suffering from typhoid fever, mixed in equal quantity with the disin- 

 fecting solution, were sterilized by a five-per-cent solution of car 

 bolic acid in three days. Pure cultures of the typhoid bacillus wei 

 sterilized in fifteen minutes by a five-per-cent solution. 



In the experiments of Nocht upon anthrax spores it was founc 

 that while at the room temperature these spores were not destroys 

 by several days' exposure in a five-per-cent solution, they were dc 

 stroyed in three hours by the same solution at a temperature of 37.5. 



Carbolic acid prevents putrefactive changes in bouillon when prt 

 sent in the proportion of 1 : 333 (Miquel). The tubercle bacillus is 

 killed in thirty seconds by a five-per-cent solution, and in one minute 

 by a one-per-cent solution (Yersin). 



Coffee Infusion. Experiments have been made by Heim and by 

 Liideritz on the antiseptic power of an infusion of coffee. The first- 

 named author found that anthrax bacilli no longer developed after 

 three hours' exposure in a ten-per-cent solution, but spores were not 

 killed at the end of a week. Streptococci in a bouillon culture re- 

 quired twenty-four hours' exposure, and the staphylococci of pus were 

 not destroyed in this time. Liideritz found that a three-per-cent in- 

 fusion restrained the growth in nutrient gelatin of the typhoid ba- 

 cillus, and a five-per-cent infusion killed the bacillus in two days ; 

 the cholera spirillum failed to grow in presence of one per cent, and 

 a solution of this strength killed it in seven hours ; Staphylococcus 



