358 
NOTE  ON  CARBOLIC  ACID,  ETC. 
It  is  almost  identical  with  the  officinal  "Aqua  Creasoti,"  which 
is  directed  to  be  in  the  proportion  of  one  fluidrachm  to  the 
pint  of  distilled  water,  or  one  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight, 
and  the  two  may  be  used  indiscriminately  for  most  purposes. 
This  appears  to  be  the  solution  best  adapted  to  the  largest  class 
of  common  uses  of  this  substance,  and  perhaps  it  would  not  be 
too  much  to  say  that  it  subserves  all  but  the  exceptional  uses. 
Its  chief  and  great  recommendation  is  that  it  may  be  profusely 
and  even  carelessly  used  with  good  average  effects,  without  risk 
or  danger  of  any  kind,  and  without  being  very  disagreeable  to 
most  persons,  even  when  first  used.  A  pint  of  the  creasote  to 
twelve  gallons  of  water,  or  three  or  four  pints  to  the  barrel, 
makes  a  sufficiently  definite  solution  for  profuse  general  use,  and 
those  hospitals  and  asylums  which  have  adopted  it  in  this  rather 
rude  though  practical  way,  have  generally  been  well  satisfied 
with  the  results  obtained.  For  medical  purposes,  external  or 
internal,  it  should  be  made  with  more  accuracy,  and  for  nicer 
uses  should  be  filtered,  but  this  filtration  is  addressed  to  the  eye, 
rather  than  to  any  important  good  actually  obtained  by  it,  un- 
less the  creasote  be  of  poor  quality.  With  the  cheaper  liquids, 
and  even  with  some  of  the  dearer  ones  sold  prior  to  the  present 
time  the  solutions  had  either  to  be  filtered,  or  be  allowed  to  stand 
until  the  light  oils  rose  to  the  surface  and  the  heavy  ones  fell  to 
the  bottom,  but  much  of  that  now  produced  affords  good  "solutions, 
which  for  most  disinfectant  uses  do  not  require  filtration. 
The  method  of  making  this  solution  upon  the  most  economi- 
cal scale,  recommended  about  two  years  ago  for  army  and  other 
hospital  uses,  and  adopted  with  success  in  some  instances  heard 
from,  is  to  take  an  ordinary  tight  barrel  to  stand  on  one  end, 
upon  a  box  or  other  elevation  in  some  convenient  place,  fitted 
with  a  common  faucet  placed  an  inch  or  two  above  the  lower 
hoops,  and  having  a  hole  bored  in  the  head  that  stands  upper- 
most, and  the  bung  permanently  secured  in  place.  Half  fill  the 
barrel  with  cold  water,  and  add  to  this  about  three  pints  or  three 
pounds  of  the  creasote,  (impure  carbolic  acid).  Turn  the  barrel 
down  upon  its  bilge  with  the  faucet  uppermost,  and  the  hole  in 
the  upper  end  corked,  and  agitate  it  backward  and  forward 
very  thoroughly.    Then  set  it  up,  and  fill  it  nearly  full  of  water 
