42 ON MURRAIN, OR THE VESICULAR EPIZOOTIC. 
have caused it also to be highly spoken of as a disinfectant ; as 
yet, however, experiments are wanting to estimate its value in 
comparison with that of other substances of this class. It may 
be used either alone, or in conjunction with chloride of lime. In 
using chloride of lime, sulphurous acid, or any of the other 
mineral acids, care must be taken not to evolve so much of their 
gas as to prove disagreeable or irritating to animals in the place 
to be purified. The gas should never be more than barely per- 
ceptible to the nose of man. Where, however, a thorough dis- 
infection is necessary, all animals should be removed ; large 
volumes of the gas set free ; the doors and windows closed for 
a time ; and the place freely ventilated before it is again in- 
habited. 
Various other chemical substances are said to possess the 
power of destroying, or at least of materially diminishing, mal- 
odours and contagious miasmata. Among these substances are 
animal charcoal, solution of hypochlorite of soda, better known 
as Labarraque’s disinfecting fluid, solutions of the nitrate and 
acetate of lead, and of per-salts of iron. 
But, as disinfectants, these have, probably, less power than the 
solution of chloride of zinc, which constitutes the celebrated dis- 
infecting fluid of Sir William Burnet. This preparation is 
devoid of odour, of corrosive or poisonous action, or of effect on 
colouring matters Besides its value as a disinfectant, it is 
much prized as an antiseptic and deodoriser, and is found very 
effectual in correcting the mal-odours arising from faeculent 
matters, urine, bilge-waters, &c. It is not expensive : its price 
at present is about 3s. per quart, which is equivalent to Id. per 
ounce. It can be freely used without the removal of the 
animals, for, unlike many other disinfectants, it disengages no 
vapour. In using the solution of chloride of zinc, it may be 
diluted with about forty parts of water, and cloths saturated 
with this solution hung for a time in the place to be disinfected. 
A small quantity of the same solution may also, with good effect, 
be sprinkled over the floor. The use of this fluid is highly 
recommended in crowded, over-heated, and ill-ventilated rooms, 
stables, or other places where disagreeable odours are present. 
It owes its value for this purpose, and also its power as a dis- 
infectant, to its neutralising of ammonia, (with which it forms a 
salt, the chloride of ammonium,) and to its decomposing sulphu- 
retted hydrogen and hydro-sulphuret of ammonia. 
The contagious nature of the vesicular epizootic will indicate 
the necessity of instituting a system of strict separation between 
the healthy and the diseased animals. During the prevalence 
of an epizootic, more than usual care should be exercised in 
examining the stock ; and any animal manifesting the slightest 
