Disinfection of Dejecta 



i8s 



To disinfect with formaldehyd or any gaseous disinfectant, the 

 room must be carefully closed, the cracks of the windows and doors 

 being sealed by pasting strips of paper over them. If an apparatus 

 is used, it is set in action, the discharged vapor entering the room 

 through the keyhole or some other convenient aperture, the gas 

 being allowed to act undisturbed for some hours, after which the 

 windows and doors are all thrown open to fresh air and sunhght. 



If sheets are hung up, or the permanganate method employed, 

 the windows and doors, other than that by means of which the 

 operator is to escape, are closed and sealed. If the permanganate of 

 potassium or calcium carbide methods are to be employed, the 

 cracks about the doors and windows are sealed with paper, a dish- 

 pan or wash-tub is placed in the center of the room, and in it the 

 can containing the permanganate or carbide and sand is stood. The 

 formaldehyd solution is poured into the can and the operator escapes, 

 closing and sealing the door behind him. Any closets in the room 

 must be left open so that they and their contents may be disinfected 

 with the room. 



So far as is known at present, superficial disinfection by formal- 

 dehyd leaves little to be desired. Care must, however, be exercised 

 to see that the required volume of gas is generated to disinfect 

 the apartment. A sufficient concentration of the gas is absolutely 

 necessary and the method selected should be one capable of discharg- 

 ing the gas in a short time, so that it immediately pervades the 

 atmosphere. 



Gaseous disinfection of a room should always be followed by the 

 appUcation of solutions of disinfectants to the woodwork, the baking 

 of the mattresses and pillows, the boiling of the linen, etc. 



The Dejecta. — In diphtheria the expectoration and nasal dis- 



^^ig- 35- — Pasteboard cup for receiving infectious sputum. When used the 

 pasteboard can be removed from the iron frame and burned. 



charges are highly infectious and should be received in old rags or 

 in Japanese paper napkins — not handkerchiefs or towels — and 

 should be burned. The sputum of tuberculous patients should either 

 be collected in a glazed earthen vessel which can be subjected to 

 boiling and disinfection, or, for the fastidious patients, cut-glass bot- 

 tles with tightly fitting lids may be used to collect the sputum, and 



