462 
ON DEODOR1ZATION AND DISINFECTION. 
solution of the chloride of zinc, is formed of a base which is per- 
fectly innocuous. Wood and Bache say of the chloride of zinc, 
that “ it has the advantage of not giving rise to constitutional dis- 
order from absorption.” In conclusion, there appear to be just 
grounds for stating that the general use of Ledoyen’s fluid is un- 
safe, and that if employed by the public indiscriminately, it most 
likely would very frequently do much harm. 
Next to perfect ventilation, I would place the use of Sir Wm. 
Burnett’s solution of the chloride of zinc, which, for improving the 
quality of vitiated air is greatly superior to all the other artificial 
methods of doing so, including M. Ledoyen’s solution of the nitrate 
of lead. 
SIR WM. BURNETT’S DISINFECTING FLUID — MODE OF APPLICA- 
TION. — ONE PART FLUID TO FORTY PARTS WATER. 
To purify sick rooms and the wards of hospitals , workhouses, 
prisons, factories , and crowded places, the between decks of ships, 
fyc. — Moisten, with the diluted solution a piece of flannel cloth, 
attached to a long rod, and wave it through the air of the apart- 
ment for ten minutes at a time, in addition to which the floor 
should be mopped or sprinkled over with the same, if necessary, 
several times a day, and a small quantity of the same dilute solu- 
tion should be put into the close-stools and bed-pans. The water- 
closets should also be cleansed with it, and a couple of gallons oc- 
casionally thrown down each. N.B. — For use on hoard ships, 
between decks, and in places where, from imperfect means of ven- 
tilation, it may be inconvenient to wet the floors. — Moisten with 
the diluted solution thick pieces of flannel-cloth — the thicker the 
better — and wave them through the air of the apartments for ten 
minutes ; and then suspend them in the most convenient manner 
to the deck-beams, or across the rooms; and keep other similar 
pieces of cloth, thoroughly and repeatedly saturated with the same 
solution, in flat dishes upon the floors. It is essentially necessary 
that the bilge-water in the hold of the vessel should be purified 
agreeably to the instructions given below. 
To purify fever wards in cases of death. — When a patient dies 
of fever, the body should be sponged over with the dilute solution, 
and the clothes and bedding should be immersed and kept in a 
sufficient quantity of it, for forty-eight hours, before being washed. 
The floor should be well mopped over with the solution. Flannel, 
moistened with it (as before recommended), should be waved 
through the room. 
To purify the clothes, linen, $c., of sick persons. — Immerse the 
articles in the dilute solution, as directed in sick rooms. 
