CARBOLIC ACID AS A DISINFECTANT, ETC. 
387 
to be one of commercial value. Respecting it, Mr. T. 
Hudson, in a letter addressed to the Editor of the Chemical 
News , says : 
“ The deodorising 1 process is the best that I am acquainted with, the 
manure being- destitute of the offensive smell which accompanies most 
manures containing nightsoil. I believe this Company to have taken a 
correct view of the great question of sewage, as their process will not 
only relieve our sewers and rivers from the nuisance so seriously com¬ 
plained of, but will make that which is now wasted valuable for agri¬ 
cultural purposes. If the Company would prepare their manure without 
the water, ashes, &c. (amounting to upwards of 65 per cent), and were 
it supplied at a moderate price, it must create a demand from farmers. 
If this is found impracticable, tb-'cn a corrective addition of bones, 
wollen waste, superphosphate of lime, animal matters, ammoniacal salts 
and nitrate of soda, become necessary, in my opinion, before it can 
safely he asserted to be ‘a better and safer fertiliser than guano.’ The 
probability of this last clause I leave for more experienced agricultural 
chemists than myself to decide.” 
As to its use as a therapeutic, Dr. F. C. Calvert, in a paper 
on it in the Pharmaceutical Journal , says: 
“ Although carbolic acid has long been known to possess powerful 
antiseptic properties, its use has been delayed in medicine owing to the 
difficulty experienced in obtaining it in considerable quantities and in a 
state of purity,* as well as to the caution required in introducing new 
substances in that branch of science. The success, however, which has 
lately attended its application, will tend greatly to increase its impor¬ 
tance as a therapeutic agent. It has been used with marked advantage 
in the Manchester Royal Infirmary by several of its distinguished phy¬ 
sicians and surgeons. Thus, Dr. Henry Browne has given it in solution 
in water in cases of chronic diarrhoea with very satisfactory results. 
Dr. Roberts has applied it with very great success in the dose of one 
drop, in cases of vomiting, even after after creosote had failed ; he has 
also found it beneficial in cases of vomiting from dyspepsia, which 
disease is especially marked by pain after food. Mr. J. A. Ransome 
has used it for ulcers and other offensive discharges. Mr. Thomas 
Turner, in a note which he has communicated to me, speaks of carbolic 
acid in. the following terms :— 
“‘Itmay beadvantageously used asa solution of one part of acid in seven 
parts of water, in foetid ill-conditioned ulcers. It alters the action of 
the blood-vessels, causing a purulent instead of a sanious discharge, and 
destroys almost immediately the offensive smell of the secretion. The 
ulcers having a communication with carious bone, or even necrosis 
(where the bone is dead), it has in its diluted state a good effect when 
injected into the sinuses leading to the diseased bones. When there is 
mere caries or ulceration of the bone it effects the healing process, and 
in necrosis it promotes the exfoliation of the dead portion. . . In 
gangrenous and all offensive sores it removes all disagreeable smell and 
putrescency, and may render the discharge innocuous to the contiguous 
living and unaffected tissues. In its diluted state, therefore, it is a great 
boon to patients labouring under that class of disease.’ 
* This acid is now prepared for medical purposes by the Tower Chemical 
Works Company, near Manchester. 
