DISKNKECTION 



373 



In the disinfection of human dwellings the fumigation 

 with formaldehyde has proven to be one of the cheapest and 

 ordinarily the most efficient procedures, but it requires a 

 tightly closed room. It is evident that such a method cannot 

 be trusted for the disinfection of most barns, stalls or stables 

 which are usually both large, compared with dwelling rooms, 

 and what is of far more importance too open. For the disin- 

 fection from animal diseases the agents used must in most cases 

 be applied in the form of a solution. 



Jaeger's investigations brought out very clearly the neces- 

 sity of adapting the disinfecting agent to the specific kind of 

 infection to be destroyed. For instance, while brushing the 

 surface with a i : 3 milk of chloride of lime destroyed anthrax 

 spores, it was untrustworthy as a disinfectant for the bacteria 

 of tuberculosis and of glanders. For the destruction of the 

 bacterium of tuberculosis he found carbolic acid and the other 

 coal-tar phenols very efficient, especially when acidulated with 

 hydrochloric acid. For this purpose he recommended espe- 

 cially Laplace's 4 per cent .solution of crude carbolic acid with 

 two per cent of hydrochloric acid. In tlie hands of Jaeger, 

 the power to destroy anthrax spores with certainty has been 

 shown only bj' solutions of carbolic acid and the thick chloride 

 of lime mixture. 



A thick milk of lime applied once with a brush, Jaeger 

 found efficient in the destauction of the microorganisms of 

 chicken cholera, hog cholera, erysipelas of swine, typhoid fever, 

 glanders, anthrax bacillus without spores and stap/n'/ofoirus 

 pyogenes aureus. 



Giaxa, in a similar line of work to that of Jaeger's, found 

 that in the disinfection of walls even a five per cent lime wash 

 acting forty-eight hours failed to destroy anthrax spores, the 

 bacterium of tuberculosis and the bacillus of tetanus. 



A strong solution of the chloride of lime may be classed 

 as one of the rapidly acting disinfectants for most bacteria, but 

 Jaeger's report of its failure when applied to the infection of 

 tuberculosis and glanders should be borne in mind. For the 

 cleansing of cattle cars Gruber advises scrubbing them out 

 with hot water or washing with a two per cent solution of soda 



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