214 PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR DISINFECTION. 
FOR MERCHANDISE AND THE MAILS. 
The disinfection of merchandise and of the mails will only be required 
under exceptional circumstances; free aération will usually be sufficient. 
disinfection seems necessary, fumigation with sulphur dioxide will be the 
only practicable method of accomplishing it without injury. 
RAGS. 
(a) Rags which have been usea for wiping away infectious discharges 
should at once be burned. 
(b) Rags collected for the paper-makers during the prevalence of an epi- 
demic should be disinfected, before they are compressed in bales, by— 
1. Exposure to superheated steam of 105° C. (221° F.) for ten minutes. 
2. Immersion in boiling water for half an hour. 
SHIPS. 
(a) Infected ships at sea should be washed in every accessible place, and 
especially the localities occupied by the sick, with— 
1. Solution of mercuric chloride, 1: 1,000. 
2. Solution of carbolic acid, two per cent. 
The bilge should be disinfected by the liberal use of a strong solution of 
mercuric chloride. 
(b) Upon arrival at a quarantine station, an infected ship should at 
once be fumigated with sulphurous acid gas, using three pounds of sulphur 
for every thousand cubic feet of air space; the cargo should then be dis- 
charged on lighters; a liberal supply of the concentrated solution of mercuric 
chloride (four ounces to the gallon) should be thrown into the bilge, and at 
the end of twenty-four hours the bilge wate: should be pumped out and re- 
placed with pure sea water; this should be repeated. A second fumigation, 
after the removal of the cargo, is recommended; all accessible surfaces should 
be washed with one of the disinfecting solutions heretofore recommended, 
and subsequently with soap and hot water. 
FOR RAILWAY CARS. 
The directions given for the disinfection of dwellings, hospital wards, and 
ships apply as well to infected railway cars. The treatment of excreta with 
a disinfectant, before they are scattered along the tracks, seems desirable at 
all times in view of the fact that they may contain infectious germs. Dur- 
ing the prevalence of an epidemic of cholera this is imperative. For this 
purpose the standard solution of chloride of lime is recommended. 
DISINFECTION BY STEAM. 
The Committee on Disinfectants, in the above-quoted ‘‘ Conclu- 
sions,” recommends the use of ‘steam under pressure, 105° C. (221° 
F.), for ten minutes” for the destruction of spore-containing infec- 
tious material. The spores of all known pathogenic bacteria are de- 
stroyed by a temperature of 100° C. maintained for five minutes, and 
in view of this fact the temperature fixed by the committee is ample, 
and to exact a higher temperature or longer exposure would be un- 
reasonable. But in practical disinfection the temperature required 
to destroy infectious material is not the only question to be considered. 
Economy in the construction and operation of the steam disinfecting 
apparatus must have due attention, and an important point relates 
