86o MICROBIOLOGY OF DISEASES OF MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



Use a metal pail with lapped (not soldered) seams, or an earthenware receptacle, 

 holding not less than fourteen (14) quarts, in which to mix the above ingredients. 

 Place the receptacle on bricks standing in a pan of water, but the receptacle should 

 not touch the water. 



Place the 11 ounces of potassium permanganate in the receptacle, distributing jt 

 evenly over the bottom. 



Mix the formaldehyde (11 ounces) and the water (9 ounces), and pour this 

 mixture over the potassium permanganate in the receptacle. 



This done, the operator should leave the room as quickly as possible, sealing the 

 door behind him with the wet strips of paper prepared in advance for this purpose. 



The directions above apply to the disinfection of a room containing 1,000 cubic 

 feet or less. If a room contains more than 1,000 cubic feet of space, use one of the 

 above disinfecting outfits for each 1,000 cubic feet or fraction thereof. Do not 

 attempt to use a double charge in a container of even double capacity. 



In disinfecting a whole house, begin with the most distant room and having 

 mixed the potassium permanganate, formaldehyde, and water in the proper re- 

 ceptacle, close the door of the room and seal it at once as directed above. Proceed 

 in this way in the disinfection of all the rooms. Leave the seals unbroken on the 

 window and doors for six hours, after which the rooms should be opened up and 

 thoroughly aired. The temperature of the room at the time of disinfection should 

 not be below 7o°F. 



No paper, cotton, cloth, wood, or other combustible material should be in or near 

 the disinfecting outfit for fear of fire, and no flame should be permitted in the room 

 near the disinfecting outfit. 



Carriage of Infection by Biological Agents 



The transmission of yellow fever and malaria by mosquitoes, in the 

 course of which the parasite causing the disease must undergo a whole 

 series of developmental changes before the mosquito can become infective, 

 is now well understood. But the mechanical carriage of infec- 

 tious material by flies from privy vaults or bed pans or even mucous 

 membranes or open wounds to food- and drink or to other mucous 

 membranes or wounds has not been very long established. 



That typhoid fever and dysentery have many times occurred in 

 epidemic form chiefly by the carriage of the infective agents by flies the 

 writer firmly believes as the result of personal investigation, as well as 

 from the reports of others. Similar mechanical carriage of infection on 

 the outside of the body has been attributed to rats, dogs, cats, even to 

 cows and horses. This must not be confused with the dissemination of 

 certain diseases by horses actually sick with the disease (glanders) or 



