728 EXPERIMENTS ON "CATTANACH DISINFECTANT AND DEODORANT,' 



manganese, and one part of hydroxide of sodium, and the whole 

 ground together." That constitutes the " Cattanach Disinfectant 

 and Deodorant," of which five to six ounces shall suffice for about 

 one cubic foot of noxious matter.* 



For medicinal disinfection, the inventor says, in cases of 

 epidemics of cholera, typhoid, &,c., one part of corrosive sublimate 

 is added to the above product before package, but, he says further, 

 with or without corrosive sublimate it acts as described f 



♦Supposing such noxious matter to have the same or about the same 

 specific gravity as distilled water, and taking the mean out of the above 

 quantities, i.e., 5^ oz., the proportion in weight of the disinfectant and 

 deodorant to such noxious matter, would be about 1:180. In taking, how- 

 ever, nightsoil for instance to be treated in the way indicated, this propor- 

 tion would, of course, turn out to be still smaller. 



tThe samples used in my experiments were obtained at different times 

 from Elliott Bros., wholesale druggists, Sydney, in tins of about lOoz. 

 contents. They all bore the same label with regard to directions for use, 

 and to their efficacy of destroying germs, &c. These samples did not contain 

 any corrosive sublimate. I regret to have been without knowledge of 

 there being a variety of the above powder containing sublimate till the 

 undermentioned experiments were nearly concluded. The eflfect of corro- 

 sive sublimate by itself as an antiseptic and germicide for numerous 

 bacteria is well studied ; and should we find, what is highly probable, 

 that the " Cattanach preparation " is more efifective with the addition of 

 bichloride of mercury to it tlian without it, it stands to reason such an 

 action is brought about by the latter-named substance only. The powder 

 is packed in tins of various sizes ; the retail price of about lOoz., as con- 

 tained in the smallest tins, is 6d. As is seen by the variability of the 

 colour of this powder and other appearances, the process of preparation 

 does not appear to be always constant. On opening a number of tins I 

 have found it to exhibit different shades of a grey or greenish-grey colour. 

 There was no perceptible smell in any of these specimens. On the other 

 hand, the contents of two other tins which I received too late in order to 

 compare their properties with those of the above-named description,, were 

 of a reddish-brown colour, accompanied with a smell like that of eucalyptus 

 oil. All the samples thac have come under my notice contained a small 

 amount of fine particles of cliarcoal. 



