56 DESTRUCTION OF BACTERIA BY CHEMICALS 



the sick-room should never be carried to other parts of the 

 building in a dry state. 



Utensils. Utensils should be soaked in the solutions and 

 then boiled. 



Urine, Feces, and Sputum. Urine, feces, and sputum should 

 be received in glass, earthen, or agate vessels already con- 

 taining carbolic acid solution, milk of lime, or formalin, and 

 they should be allowed to remain for at least one hour. It is 

 well to cover the vessel. In the absence of disinfectants, 

 discharges should be burned or boiled for one-half hour. The 

 solid masses of feces should be broken up in order to permit 

 the proper penetration of solutions. 



FIG. 21. Sanitary spit-cups. 



Tuberculous Sputum. Perhaps nothing is so important 

 as the disinfection of tuberculous sputum, as it is the chief 

 means of the transmission of tuberculosis. It should be 

 received preferably in a pasteboard cup within a metal holder, 

 the former being burned, the latter frequently disinfected, 

 either over a flame or by immersion in carbolic acid solution. 

 It may be caught in metal or agate cups containing carbolic 

 or milk of lime solution. If caught in handkerchiefs they 

 should be burned. The hands must be washed in a disin- 

 fectant after catching sputum in a handkerchief. 



