bilge water of ships from putrefying^ and in improving the smell of 
water-closets, etc., but that it is not to be preferred to chloride of 
lime and chlorine in contagious diseases. 
In 1ST5 and 1ST6 Pettenkofer and Mehlhausen directed a number 
of trials in the German fleet upon the disinfecting value of zinc chlo- 
ride. Bilge water of a specitic gravity 1017 to 1035, with a slightly 
alkaline reaction, at a temperature of 20° to 30° C., was treated with 
a solution of 50 to 60 per cent strength in the proportion of 1:100 of 
bilge. A gra^’ish flocculent precipitate rapidly settled, leaving a 
nearly clear yellowish liquid. All odor ceased and the organisms 
seemed to be killed. At the end of four weeks the mixture showed 
no signs of change. One part of the solution to 1,000 of bilge caused 
a decrease in the odor; 2 to 1,000 completely removed sulphuretted 
hydrogen, much reduced the rancid smell, and preserved the liquid 
for fourteen da^^s. 
The German cholera commission of 1879 * prescribed zinc chloride 
for the disinfection of bilge water. 
Grace Calvert ^ found that a solution of albumin to which 1 per 
mille of zinc chloride was added required over forty da}^s before 
germs developed. 
Sternberg in 1881 performed some experiments to ascertain the 
germicidal value of chloride of zinc. He inoculated three rabbits 
with 0.5, 1, and 2.5 per cent solutions, respectively, that had been 
mixed Avith the blood of a rabbit dead of mouse septicemia {B. miirl- 
sejytleus) and allowed the mixture to stand from 20 to 30 minutes before 
inoculation. The rabbit receiving the 1 per cent solution was the ouIa^ 
one to die, the other two recovering. 
Koch‘S in 1881 did some ex])erimental work with zinc chloride on 
account of the reputation it had as a disinfectant. It was considered an 
efficient disinfectant in the proportion of one part in 1,000. 
In his experiments he found that the Micrococcus prodigiosus Avas 
not injured in the least after two days’ exposure in a percentage of 
l:l,O00. He did not observe any diflerence in the results of similar 
experiments with a percentage of 1 : 100 for the flrst 16 hours' expos- 
ure, but after this time observed that the power to develop Avhen 
tra)isplauted was somewhat diminished as compared with the controls. 
The Micrococcus prodigiosus Avas not entireh^ killed after an exposure 
of 18 hours in a percentage of 1:100. 
The spores of anthrax and subtilis grew quite as A'igorously after 18 
hours' exposure in this percentage as if they had not been exposed. 
«Rideal: Disinfection and preserA’atioii of food. 1903, p. 152, 
^Rideal: Disinfection and preserA’ation of food. 1903, p. 153. 
<^31111. Xat. Board Health U. S. A. 1881, a*. 3, p. 21. 
^^Ueber disinfection. Mitt. kais. gesundh., 1881, p. 28. 
