THE DISINFECTION OF THE EXCRETA 55 
solutions of chloride of lime should be kept tightly corked, and should not be used after they are 
a week old. Oilman Thompson* recommends i in 500 perchloride, i in 10 crude carbolic and 
chlorinated lime. He states that the mass must be thoroughly mixed and allowed to stand two 
hours. These workers recommend mineral acids, corrosive sublimate, crude carbolic, and 
chlorinated lime. It will be seen from the table that we have found corrosive sublimate and 
crude carbolic good disinfectants. The mineral acids we have not tested, as there are many and 
obvious objections to their use. Chlorinated lime we find with our time limit of half an hour to 
be useless. It may be said the preparations were old, but we submit that such an objection 
necessarily puts the substance out of court. Any of the six disinfectants on our select list may 
be regarded as absolutely certain in their results when thoroughly mixed with the stool and 
allowed to stand for half an hour. There are, however, objections to the use of some of them. 
Corrosive sublimate is a scheduled poison, acts upon the metal work of the drainage system, 
and, moreover, gives a red colouration with stercobilin. This latter point is of importance, 
inasmuch as it may mask the presence of blood in a typhoid stool ; again, albumen is coagulated 
by mercuric chloride, and thereby protects organisms enclosed in the centre of the coagulum. 
Crude carbolic acid is cheap and efficient, but does not mix over well with faeces ; it stains linen, 
and is poisonous. Formol and creolin are good, but are rather costly. The remaining substance, 
chinosol, is, in our opinion, the best. It is reliable, an excellent deodorant, and mixes well with 
the faeces. It is dearer than crude carbolic, but its cost is more than counterbalanced by its 
portability. It is put on the market in tablet form. The tablets are readily soluble, and may be 
obtained in such strength that one of them in a pint of water makes a solution of eiFective 
strength. 
We may sum up our paper with the following conclusions : — 
1. It is absolutely necessary to mix the fasces thoroughly with the disinfectant. 
2. The mixture should stand at least half an hour. 
3. Carbolic acid, crude carbolic acid, formol, creolin, chinosol, and corrosive sublimate 
in the strengths given in the short list are all effective, but chinosol seems the most convenient. 
* Gilman Thompson : 'Albany Med. Annals,' March and April, 1897. 
