G. H. F. Nuttall 
457 
disinfesting troops on the German Western Front. In the first case (Fig. 
14 A)the barrel is stood upon a boiler of corresponding size, suitable boilers 
of 125 litres capacity being commonly used in France for boiling cattle- 
fodder. The barrel-lid is provided with hooks on the underside upon 
which are hung the effects that are to be subjected to steam. Cracks and 
chinks are sealed up. When disinfection is completed, the lid is hoisted 
from the barrel by a rope and pulley thus removing the contents attached 
to the hooks. The disinfected clothing is best lowered over a partition 
wall or fence to the clean side of the lousing establishment. 
(e) As some of the French boilers were found to be provided with 
lids, Uhlenhuth and Olbrich ( loo. cit.) devised a simple method whereby 
steam from the covered boiler (Fig. 14 B) was led into the upper part of 
the barrel, this affording the well-known advantage of rapidly expelling 
the air from the barrel by the entering steam. In this case the bottom of 
the barrel is not removed, but a stopcock is inserted on one side below, 
whereby the escape of air, steam, and water of condensation is effected. 
The disinfectors described under (d) and (e) must necessarily lose 
much heat if placed in exposed situations, but could be placed in a 
shed for protection. Otherwise the plans and descriptions incorporate 
useful suggestions. Fig. 14 B suggests the desirability, when possible, 
of using the same principle in the construction of larger disinfectors 
of a makeshift kind into which steam from any available source 
is conducted, the steam entering iron barrels, or tanks which may be 
made to serve as disinfecting chambers with the aid of a little ingenuity. 
There is of course nothing new in the principle described. 
(/) AVhereas in the foregoing cases the steam traverses the barrels 
at atmospheric pressure or, in ( e ), under a perhaps slightly enhanced 
pressure, Bordas (1916, p. 275) describes a simple apparatus used since 
the beginning of the war, in which the steam enters under pressure. 
The apparatus was found efficient and needed no repairs. Barrels from 
which the tops are knocked out, are lined on the inside with a spirally 
wound lead pipe of 20 mm. calibre, the pipe being 1 cm. distant from the 
inner surface of the barrel. Steam from a boiler enters the pipe above, 
under 6 kilogrammes pressure, and issues below through a stopcock. Two 
small holes, 0-5 mm. in size, are bored on the inside of the pipe at the last 
turn but one of the spiral near the floor of the barrel, the holes being 
situate at opposite sides of the spiral. A wooden cylinder, 6-8 cm. across, 
is stood vertically in the centre of the barrel, the objects to be dis¬ 
infected being laid in around it, after which the cylinder is removed, thus 
leaving a central void. The barrel is covered with tarpaulin to act as a 
