DISINFECTION 349 
Boil in waier all articles that can be so treated. The boiling should continue 
for half an hour and will be sufficient for complete disinfection. Steaming is some- 
times employed for articles too heavy for boiling, such as mattresses and carpets. 
This requires special apparatus and can rarely be performed at home. Any article 
that can be soaked in water may be disinfected by soaking it three or four hours in 
water containing one part formalin to 5,000 parts of water. Exposure to air and 
sunlight are good disinfectants for light clothing, but not for heavy articles like 
mattresses. There is no good method for their disinfection. Where the infection 
of such articles is considerable the only safe thing to do is to destroy them. 
Excreta.—The feces, the urine, and all discharges from patients are most likely to 
contain infectious organisms and must be handled and treated with great care. 
One of the best methods of treating is to place the excreta in a vessel and cover com- 
pletely with a chlorid of lime solution prepared as above described. This should be 
allowed to act at least an hour before the mixture is thrown into the sewer or other- 
wise disposed of. Ordinary milk of lime or dry slacked lime is useful in earth closets 
or privies. 
The Sick Room.—While a room is occupied by a patient little can be done to 
disinfect it. In case of a contagious disease it is desirable that curtains, hangings 
and carpets should be dispensed with, since these catch and hold dust. Little else 
can be done beyond care in keeping the room clean. After the room is vacated it is 
frequently desirable to disinfect it before it is again occupied. Carpets, curtains, 
and bedding should be removed and disinfected as above suggested. All surfaces in 
the room, including walls, ceilings, floors, tables, chairs, and especially cracks around 
mop-boards and the floor should be washed freely with a disinfectant. Corrosive 
sublimate solution is frequently used, or the chlorid of lime solution. If care is 
taken to wash all surfaces thoroughly, putting plenty of the disinfectant into the 
cracks, the disinfection is complete and satisfactory. Since this plan of washing 
is rather long and troublesome, a simpler although probably less effective plan has 
been widely adopted in recent years of using a gaseous disinfectant. The gas most 
commonly used is formaldehyd gas. This is applied in various ways, but the sim- 
plest is as follows: All cracks in the room are first sealed by pasting gummed paper 
over them, this including cracks around mop-boards, chimneys, as well as fire-places 
and key-holes. Then a pailful of steaming water is placed in the room to give moist- 
ure. Lastly, one or more ‘formalin candles” are lighted. These are mixtures 
of solidified formalin which give off the desired gas when heated and in the candles 
there is added a certain amount of paraffin that will burn. These candles can be 
obtained from any drug store and upon the wrapper there is always stated the num- 
ber of cubic feet that the candle is supposed to disinfect. The number of these 
candles to be burned must therefore be determined by estimating the space in the 
room and using candles accordingly. It is best to use about half as much again of 
the formalin candles as recommended on the wrapper, since they will rarely be as 
efficient as is claimed for them. After lighting the candles leave the room quickly 
and seal the door on the outside with gummed paper. Leave closed for about twelve 
hours and then open windows and doors so as to allow the gas to pass from the room. 
