DISINFECTANTS AND ANTISEPTICS. 205 



for its efficiency on the available chlorine contained in it. Its 

 alkalinity favors penetration, and for many purposes it can- 

 not be excelled. A i per cent, solution will destroy anthrax 

 spores in one hour. A solution of the same strength will 

 disinfect typhoid stools in ten minutes. 



Lime. — The addition of o.i per cent, of unslaked lime to 

 fluid-cultures of the typhoid bacillus and cholera spirillum will 

 render them sterile in four or five hours. Typhoid dejecta 

 are sterilized in six hours by the addition of 3 per cent, of 

 slaked lime; the addition of 6 per cent, will accomplish the 

 same result in two hours. A convenient form for practical use 

 is an aqueous mixture containing 20 per cent, of lime — so- 

 called milk of lime. Tj'phoid and cholera dejecta are steril- 

 ized in one hour after the addition of 20 per cent, of this mix- 

 ture. In practice it is safer to use a considerable excess of 

 lime. From the foregoing facts it would seem probable that 

 Kme or whitewash as ordinarily applied would possess disin- 

 fectant properties. Experimental work has demonstrated this 

 to be a fact. The organisms of anthrax, glanders and the 

 pus cocci were destroyed within twenty-four hours by one ap- 

 phcation. For spore-forming, organisms and the bacillus of 

 tuberculosis the power is not so great, the latter organism 

 not being destroyed by three appHcations of the whitewash. 

 This is due, perhaps, to the large amount of fatty matter in 

 the bacillus of tuberculosis, and suggests the possibiHty of 

 enhancing the efficacy of the lime by the addition of a small 

 proportion of caustic alkali. 



Hydrogen Peroxide.— This substance is placed on the mar- 

 ket in solutions varying in strength from 10 to 30 volxunes; 

 the mode of expression indicating that corresponding solutions 

 will Hberate ten to thirty times their volume of oxygen when 

 appropriately treated. It possesses the property of rapidly 

 oxidizing purulent secretions, and on this account is much 

 used for cleansing infected wounds. It deteriorates in strength 



