200 ACTION OF COAL-TAR PRODUCTS, 
not destroy these spores in thirty days. A four-per-cent solution of 
crude carbolic acid with two per cent of hydrochloric acid destroyed 
spores in less than an hour; four per cent of carbolic acid alone did 
not destroy them in twelve days. Wan Ermengem reports that in 
his experiments the cholera spirillum in chicken bouillon was killed 
in less than half an hour by 1: 600, and that in blood serum 1 : 400 
was effective. Nicati and Rietsch fix the germicidal power for the 
cholera spirillum as 1 : 200, the time of exposure being ten minutes ; 
Ramon and Cajal, 1:50. Boer gives the following results, the time 
of exposure being two hours, cultures in bouillon twenty-four hours 
old : 
Restrains Destroys 
development. vitality. 
Anthrax bacillus... .. cece cece ee eee cee eee os 1: 750 1:300 
Diphtheria bacillus. .........c ccc e esc e cere ences 1:500 1: 300 
Glanders bacillus. .....cceeccerecesseees nites aad 1:500 1 :300 
Typhoid! Dacilus. «saws sieigsc:cies vais o eonisieisinendes ems 6 ere 1:400 1:200 
Choleraspirilum: 5 vas isssees  deleas ci ee aaie ea vene 1: 600 1:400 
Leitz reports the following results: The dejections of patients 
suffering from typhoid fever, mixed in equal quantity with the disin- 
fecting solution, were sterilized by a five-per-cent solution of car- 
bolic acid in three days. Pure cultures of the typhoid bacillus were 
sterilized in fifteen minutes by a five-per-cent solution. 
In the experiments of Nocht upon anthrax spores it was found 
that while at the room temperature these spores were not destroyed 
. by several days’ exposure in a five-per-cent solution, they were de- 
stroyed in three hours by the same solution at a temperature of 37.5°. 
Carbolic acid prevents putrefactive changes in bouillon when pre- 
sent in the proportion of 1:333 (Miquel). The tubercle bacillus is 
killed in thirty seconds by a five-per-cent solution, and in one minute 
by a one-per-cent solution (Yersin). 
Coffee Infusion.—Experiments have been made by Heim and by 
Liideritz on the antiseptic power of an infusion of coffee. The first- 
named author found that anthrax bacilli no longer developed after 
three hours’ exposure in a ten-per-cent solution, but spores were not 
killed at the end of a week. Streptococci in a bouillon culture re- 
quired twenty-four hours’ exposure, and the staphylococci of pus were 
not destroyed in this time. Liideritz found that a three-per-cent in- 
fusion restrained the growth in nutrient gelatin of the typhoid ba- 
cillus, and a five-per-cent infusion killed the bacillus in two days ; 
the cholera spirillum failed to grow in presence of one per cent, and 
a solution of this strength killed itin seven hours ; Staphylococcus 
