61 BAOTERIOLOOY. 



What has been said refers more particularly to the 

 inorganic salts which are employed for this purpose. 

 It is probable that the organic bodies which possess dis- 

 infectant properties owe this power to some such similar 

 reaction, though, as yet, these substances have not been 

 so thoroughly studied in this relation. 



The reaction between these inorganic salts and albu- 

 minous bodies is not a selective action ; they combine 

 in most instances with any or all protoplasmic bodies 

 present. For this reason the results of the practical 

 application of many of the commonly employed dis- 

 infectants is a matter of grave doubt. For example, 

 the disinfection of excreta, sputum, or blood containing 

 ■pathogenic organisms, by means of corrosive sublimate, 

 is a procedure of very questionable success. The amount 

 of sublimate employed may be entirely used up and 

 rendered inactive as a disinfectant by the ordinary 

 protoplasmic substa,nces present without having any 

 appreciable effect upon the bacteria which may be in the 

 mass. 



These remarks are introduced in order to guard 

 against the implicit confidence so often placed in the 

 disinfecting value of corrosive sublimate. In bacterio- 

 logical laboratories, where there is constantly more or 

 less of infectious material, it is the custonj, with few 

 exceptions, to have vessels containing solutions of corro- 

 sive sublimate at hand, by which infectious materials 

 may be rendered harmless. The value of this pro- 

 cedure, as we have just learned, is always more or less 

 questionable, especially in those cases in which the 

 substance to be disinfected is of an albuminous nature. 

 With the introduction of such substances into the sub- 

 limate solution the mercury is quickly precipitated by 



