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 1875 and 1876 Pettenkofer and Mehlhausen^^ directed a number 
of trials in the German fleet upon the disinfecting value of zinc chlo- 
ride. Bilge water of a speciflc gravity 1017 to 1035, with a slightly 
alkaline reaction, at a temperature of '2(P to 30'^ C., was treated with 
a solution of 50 to 60 per cent strength in the proportion of 1 : 100 of 
bilge. A grayish flocculent precipitate rapidly settled, leaving a 
nearA 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 
hvdrogen, much reduced the rancid smell, and preserved the liquid 
for fourteen days. 
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 days 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 with the blood of a rabbit dead of mouse septicemia {£. rrarri- 
sejjticus) and allowed the mixture to stand from 2() to 30 minutes before 
inoculation. The rabbit receiving the 1 per cent solution was the only 
one to die. the other two recovering. 
Koch‘S in 1881 did some experimental work with zinc chloride on 
account of the reputation it had as a disinfectant. It was considered an 
etflcient disinfectant in the proportion of one part in 1,000. 
In his experiments he found that the ^Micrococcus prodigiosus was 
not injured in the least after two days' exposure in a percentage of 
1:1, OOO. He did not observe anv diflerence in the results of similar 
experiments with a percentage of 1 : 100 for the first 16 hours' expos- 
ure, but after this time observed that the ])ower to develop when 
transplanted was somewhat diminished as compared with the controls. 
The Micrococcus prodigiosus was not entirely killed after an exposure 
of 18 hours in a percentage of 1:100. 
The spores of anthrax and subtilis grew quite as vigorously after 18 
hours' exposure in this percentage as if thev had not been exposed. 
«Rideal: Disinfection and preservation of food. 190:3, p. 152. 
^Rideal: Disinfection and preservation of food. 1903, p. 153. 
Xat. Board Health U. S. A. 1881, v. 3, p. 21. 
Ueber disinfection. Mitt. kais. »esundh., 1881, p. 28. 
