Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
April.  1898.  ) 
Gleanings  from  the  Medical  Journals. 
205 
PILLS  FOR  NEURASTHENIA. 
R.  Ironladate, 
Iron  arseniate, 
Extract  of  nux  vom'ca, 
Bxtract  of  gentian, 
45 
2  drachms. 
3  grain?. 
T\. — Divide  into  a  hundred  pills.  Two  to  be  taken  with  each  meal.— Journal 
tie  Medecine  de  Paris. 
For  two  years  the  Chicago  Health  Department  has  been  investi- 
gating the  claims  made  for  formaldehyde  as  a  disinfectant,  with  spec- 
ial reference  to  the  practibility  and  value  of  its  use  for  household  or 
domestic  disinfection.  Every  known  form  of  formaldehyde  disinfec- 
tion has  been  tested  during  this  period. 
Under  Dr.  Gehrmann's  supervision  a  simplified  form  of  apparatus 
has  been  constructed,  in  which  is  used  formalin  diluted  by  the 
addition  of  three  times  its  volume  of  water.  The  apparatus  consists 
of  a  shallow  granite-ware  vessel,  of  half-gallon  capacity,  supported 
over  a  methyl-alcohol  lamp  capable  of  holding  twelve  to  sixteen 
ounces  of  the  wood  spirits. 
One  pound  of  the  formalin  solution  (40  per  cent,  of  formaldehyde) 
'contains  approximately  200  grammes  of  formaldehyde,  and,  as  from 
30  to  50  grammes  are  sufficient  for  the  disinfection  of  1,000  cubic  feet 
of  space,  one  pound  of  the  solution  should  be  sufficient  for  the  treat- 
ment of  4,000  cubic  feet  of  space,  providing  all  the  formaldehyde  can 
be  vaporized.  In  practice  the  experiments  thus  far  conducted  show 
that  by  diluting  the  ordinary  solution  with  three  times  its  volume  of 
hot  water,  and  then  boiling  for  half  an  hour,  from  40  to  50  grammes 
of  the  gas  will  be  disengaged,  quite  sufficient  to  disinfect  1,000 
cubic  feet  of  space. 
The  results  have,  indeed,  been  so  satisfactory  and  the  remarkable 
bactericidal  properties  of  formaldehyde  have  received  confirmation 
in  such  a  practical  manner  through  these  experiments,  that  an  inex- 
pensive vaporizer  (costing  less  than  twenty  cents)  has  been  devised 
by  Dr.  Jaques,  chief  of  the  diphtheria  corps,  for  use  in  the  room  occu- 
pied by  a  diphtheria  patient  during  the  case.  This  is  furnished  and 
used  in  all  charity  cases  of  diphtheria  treated  exclusively  by  the 
department. — Journal  American  Medical  Association,  February  19,. 
1898. 
PROGRESS  IN  FORMALDEHYDE  DISINFECTION. 
