Disinfectants. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t    June  1, 1872. 
DISINFECTANTS. 
A  commission  appointed  by  the  French  Academy  to  investigate  the 
relative  merits  of  various  disinfectants  for  use  in  hospitals  where  con- 
tagious diseases  are  treated,  have  made  the  following  report  as  the 
result  of  their  experiments  : 
Hyponitrous  Acid. — The  members  of  the  commission  agree  that 
the  first  place  among  agents  for  attacking  and  destroying  infectious 
germs  must  be  accorded  to  hyponitrous  acid.  Extraordinary  precau- 
tions must,  of  course,  be  observed  in  making  use  of  this  dangerous 
gas ;  the  doors  and  windows  must  be  carefully  sealed  with  gummed 
paper  when  disinfecting  a  room  containing  40  or  50  cubic  yards.  The 
materials  are  taken  in  the  following  proportions :  2  quarts  of  water, 
3J  pounds  of  ordinary  commercial  nitric  acid,  and  J  pound  of  copper 
turnings  or  filings.  A  stoneware  vessel  is  employed,  holding  two  or 
three  gallons.  The  exit  doors  are  carefully  pasted  up,  and  the  room 
left  closed  for  48  hours.  The  person  opening  the  room  at  the  expi- 
ration of  the  time  should  be  protected  in  some  way  from  breathing 
the  gas,  by  a  suitable  respirator. 
Carbolic  Acid. — This  is  cheaper,  more  easily  used,  less  dangerous, 
and  has  proved  equally  efficacious.  It  is  best  employed  mixed  with 
sand  or  sawdust — one  pound  of  acid  to  three  pounds  of  an  indifferent 
substance.  The  mixture,  placed  in  earthen  vessels,  was  used  for  the 
same  purpose  as  the  hyponitrous  acid.  Carbolic  acid,  diluted  with 
15  or  20  parts  by  weight  of  water,  was  found  useful  for  daily  sprink- 
ling of  the  floor  and  bed-clothes. 
An  interesting  case  is  mentioned  in  the  report  where  neither  chlo- 
rine nor  hypochlorous  acid  was  able  to  destroy  or  render  odorless  the 
gases  given  off  from  the  corpses  in  the  Paris  Morgue  during  the  heat 
of  summer.  The  object  was  attained  by  dissolving  a  quart  of  liquid 
carbolic  acid  in  500  gallons  of  fresh  water,  contained  in  the  reservoir 
and  used  to  sprinkle  the  bodies.    Putrefaction  was  entirely  stopped. 
Devergie  found  that  water  containing  only  one  to  four  thousand 
part  of  its  weight  of  carbolic  acid  sufficed  to  disinfect  a  dead  house, 
even  in  the  hottest  weather,  when  six  to  eight  corpses  were  in  it. 
For  fumigating  linen,  mattresses  and  other  bedding  with  chlo- 
rine, Regnault's  latest  method  was  used,  namely  :  One  pound  of 
chlorinated  lime  (bleaching  powder)  is  sewn  up  in  a  strong  bag  of 
sail  cloth,  holding  about  a  quart,  and  put  in  an  earthen  pot  contain- 
