194 ACTION OP COAL-TAR PRODUCTS, 



by creolin. Of the three cresols, ortho, meta-, and paracresol, the 

 second was found by Frankel to be most active. This author states 

 that the addition of sulphuric acid adds greatly to its germicidal 

 power. A four-per-cent solution, containing equal parts of cresol 

 and H 2 SO 4 , killed anthrax spores in less than twenty-four hours. In 

 Behring's experiments a solution containing ten per cent of each killed 

 anthrax spores in eighty minutes, and five per cent of each in one 

 hundred minutes, while an eighteen-per-cent solution of sulphuric 

 acid alone did not kill them in twenty -four hours. In the experi- 

 ments of Jager a two-per-cent solution destroyed the tubercle bacillus 

 in cultures and in sputum. As a result of his experiments Bearing 

 concludes that cresol has no advantage over carbolic acid as a ger- 

 micide for the destruction of spores. Tested upon Staphylococcus 

 aureus, Streptococcus erysipelatos, and Bacillus pyocyanus, Frankel 

 found that a solution- of 0.3 per cent destroyed these microorganisms 

 in five minutes, while a two-per-cent solution of carbolic acid re- 

 quired fifteen minutes' contact to accomplish the same result. 



Disinfektol. This is a coal-tar product similar to creolin which 

 has been recommended in Germany for disinfecting purposes. It is 

 an oily, dark-brown fluid having a specific gravity of 1.086. It forms 

 an emulsion with water, which has a slightly alkaline reaction. It 

 has been tested upon typhoid stools by Uffelmann and by Beselin. 

 The last-named author gives the following summary of the results 

 obtained : An emulsion of five per cent of disinf ektol equals in value, 

 for the disinfection of the liquid discharges of typhoid patients, 12.5 

 per cent of creolin, thirty-three per Cent of hydrochloric acid, five per 

 cent of carbolic acid, 1 : 500 of mercuric chloride. 



Ether. Anthrax spores may germinate after being immersed in 

 sulphuric ether for eight days (Koch). The tubercle bacillus is de- 

 stroyed by ten minutes' exposure to the action of ether (Yersin). 



Essential Oils. Chamberlain has made an extended series of 

 experiments to determine the antiseptic power of the vapor of vola- 

 tile oils. A large number of essential oils tested were found to pre- 

 vent the development of the anthrax bacillus, while a few did not. 

 At the end of six days the tubes were opened and the oil absorbed by 

 the culture liquid allowed to evaporate. Cultures were now obtained 

 from all except the following, which, it was inferred, had destroyed 

 the vitality of the spores : Angelica, cinnamon of China, cinnamon 

 of Ceylon, geranium of France, geranium of Algeria, origanum. 



Cadeac and Meunier have also made extended experiments upon 

 the typhoid bacillus and the bacillus of glanders, for the purpose of 

 determining the germicidal power of agents of this class. Their 

 method consisted in the introduction of a sterilized platinum needle 

 into a pure culture of the test organism, in immersing it in the 



