11 
might be added after the combustion of the sulphur in the form of a 
I finely divided spray, or it might be vaporized by the heat generated in 
the combustion of the sulphur itself. The latter method is the one 
; that will commend itself for practical use. Of course, it might be i^ossible 
to evaporate a given quantity of water and turn the resulting steam into 
: the apartment or hold filled with sulphur dioxide, but this would 
require a special apparatus. The same might be said of the production 
i of the spray, but it would require a spray of considerable power to reach 
to all parts which have been penetrated by the sulphur dioxide, and, as 
the process would have to be conducted by faith rather than by sight, it 
is not a commendable practice. On the contrary, the vaporization of 
water by the heat engendered in the burning of the sulphur is, so to 
speak, an automatic process. 
Let the sulphur be burned in shallow pots of iron, nothing being 
better than the old-fashioned Dutch oven for this purpose, and let each 
II of these containers stand in a larger vessel containing water. As the 
J iron of the oven becomes hot, water will be vaporized and rising around 
■ ^ the fumes of the burning sulphur, union will at once take place and 
nascent sulphurous acid will be the result. 
Again, allowance must be made for unavoidable losses or defects. 
While about one-fifth would be about the theoretical requirement, let 
one-half pound of water be vaporized for every pound of sulphur used. 
A point of much importance, which should be mentioned, is that the 
vessels containing the burning sulphur should not rest at the lowest 
point of the apartment or hold undergoing disinfection, but, as recom- 
mended by Surgeon White, the pots should be elevated in the holds of 
vessels on piles of ballast, which would raise them a considerable dis- 
tance above the floor of the hold of the ship undergoing disinfection 
I or the floor of the apartment which it is desired to purify. The reason 
for this is obvious upon consideration. Hot gases ascend and nat- 
I urally fill the upper portions of the apartments; on cooling, they descend 
! and fill the lower strata of the hold or room. Here the flame extinguish- 
: ing effect of sulphur dioxide comes into play, and it is quite possible 
that the flames of the burning sulphur would be extinguished before 
the oxygen of the atmosphere was exhausted by chemical union with 
the sulphur. The object to be attained is verj^ simple ; to convert all of 
ithe oxygen of the contained atmosphere of the hold or apartment into 
I sulphur dioxide by union with burning sulphur. Bearing this in mind, 
methods for accomplishing this end will readily suggest themselves to 
’ anyone of ordinary intelligence, certainly to anyone who Inis had prac- 
tical experience in the matter of ship or room disinfection. 
’ The mention of another practical point will fittingly bring this article 
r to. a close. It has come under the observation of the writer that in 
^ some places where the “pot method” of disinfection of ships wius prac- 
I ticed, it was the habit to employ" one large vessel, a caldron or wjlsIi 
I boiler, for the combustion of the sulphur. This is wrong, for, should 
if 
