GENERAL BACTERIOLOGY 
45 
substances such as strong acids, probably kill bacteria 
by rapid oxidation; some destroy them by coagulation 
of the bacterial protoplasm, some enter into chemical 
combination with the protoplasm and exert a poisonous 
action, some act by withdrawing water from the bac¬ 
terial cell, etc. Of the many chemicals used for the 
purposes of disinfection, the following are the most im¬ 
portant and the most widely used: 
Chloride of Lime or Bleaching Powder. —Chloride of 
lime is readily soluble in twenty parts of water. In 
dilution of 1:500 it will destroy the vegetative forms 
of bacteria in five to ten minutes. See the section on 
