SULPHUROUS ACID AS A DISINFECTANT. 
191 
a yellow pulverulent precipitate with silver nitrate. This 
precipitate, when thoroughly washed, may be dried at a 
gentle heat. It has the composition AgNO. The original 
solution containing the sodium salt, when acidified with 
acetic acid and heated, evolves nitrous oxide gas. The author 
gives full details of the various reactions of this interesting 
compound.— Troc. Boy. Soc. 
SULPHUROUS ACID AS A DISINFECTANT. 
Sulphurous acid gas is liberated by burning sulphur. 
It is a powerful destroyer of the germs of contagion, but 
owing to its deleterious and suffocating odour it cannot be 
introduced in any quantity to the room of a sick person ; never¬ 
theless, it is very useful as an agent of disinfection. 
Mr. Startin, the senior surgeon to the Hospital for Dis¬ 
eases of the Skin, Blackfriars, in a communication to 
the British Medical Journal , recommends the following 
method of fumigation to be used for the purpose of prevent¬ 
ing the spread of contagious diseases. For disinfecting 
beds and bedding, a warming-pan or some other suitable 
utensil, containing a few live embers, upon which a teaspoon¬ 
ful or two of flowers of sulphur has been thrown, should be 
passed to and fro between the sheets until the combustion of 
the sulphur is complete. After a few minutes the patient 
may enter the bed. Should the fumes prove too stimulating 
for his respiratory organs, they may be intercepted by hold¬ 
ing a loosely folded damp handkerchief before the mouth 
until they have subsided. To disinfect clothing it should be 
lightly sponged or sprinkled with water containing well- 
mingled milk of sulphur, in the proportion of a teaspoonful 
to a pint of water, and then ironed with a flat iron, heated to 
a temperature sufficient to volatilize the sulphur without 
burning the clothing. This process should be repeated ac¬ 
cording to the extent and duration of the infection. 
Dr. Walter Fergus, writing to the same journal, says 
that he has found the readiest method of developing sul¬ 
phurous acid fumes to be by igniting two parts of flowers 
of sulphur and one of powdered charcoal on any incom¬ 
bustible surface, such as a saucer or a bit of tin. He 
says also that sulphurous acid is not so much an irritant as it 
has the appearance of being. An atmosphere highly charged 
with it may be breathed with very small inconvenience, which 
soon passes off. Dr. Fergus has used it with benefit in cases 
of the affection known as “ hav-fever.” 
