432 
DISINFECTANTS  IN  ARRESTING  CATTLE  PLAGUE. 
destroying  infecting  substances.  Antiseptics  act  simply  by 
destroying  their  activity.  The  former  act  more  energetically 
upon  dead  than  living  organic  matter.  Antiseptics  attack  first 
the  opposite  end  of  the  scale,  and  destroy  vitality ;  they  exert 
little  or  no  action  on  the  foul  smelling  and  comparatively  harm- 
less gases  of  decomposition,  but  they  act  with  intense  energy  on 
the  inodorous  germs  of  infection  which  these  gases  may  carry 
into  the  atmosphere  along  with  them. 
If,  therefore,  the  theory  with  which  I  started  be  correct ;  if 
the  matter  which  conveys  infection  from  one  animal  to  another 
be  of  the  nature  of  an  organized  germ  ;  if  it  owes  its  tremendous 
powers  of  destruction  to  the  presence  in  it  of  vitality, — then 
antiseptics  are  the  only  agents  fitted  to  deal  with  this  special 
case ;  for  they  leave  almost  untouched  the  crowd  of  simply 
odorous  gases,  and  seek  out  and  destroy  the  one  thing  to  be 
feared.  When  I  treat  of  carbolic  acid,  ample  proof  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  this  view  will  be  given. 
31.  Sulphur  Fumigation. — Of  all  disinfecting  processes,  this 
is,  perhaps,  the  oldest.  Its  action  was  well  known  in  the  days 
of  Homer,  for  we  read  that  Ulysses  employed  it  to  remove  the 
smell  of  dead  bodies.*    It  is  recorded  by  Ovidf  that  the  shep- 
*  Horn.  Od.,  xxii.,  481. 
Ulysses.     07?e  bkiov,  yp'i'l,  k*kZv  a«o?,  o/crg  <f«  juoi  7rup, 
"Ocpp*  figj/wcrft)  /uiyapov  .... 
493.  "Hysjxjy  J'  aprt  7rvp  k*\  Qnlov  stvrap  'OJWcrsJc 
Eu  SiiSiiacriv  ju'iyttpov  x.ui  SZfAH  K*l  etuxh. 
0  old  woman  bring  brimstone,  the  relief  of  evils,  and  bring  me  fire,  in 
order  that  I  may  fumigate  with  brimstone  the  house  
And  then  she  brought  fire  and  brimstone,  and  Ulysses,  well  fumigated 
with  brimstone  the  house,  and  the  court,  and  the  hall, 
f  Ovid,  Fast.,  iv.,  735,  &c. 
Pastor,  oves  saturas  ad  prima  crepuscula  lustra. 
Uda  prius  spargat,  virgaque  verrat  humum. 
Frondibus,  et  fixis  decorentur  ovilia  ramis  ; 
Et  tegat  ornatas  longa  corona  fores. 
Caerulei  fiant  vivo  de  sulfure  fumi ; 
Tactaque  fumanti  sulfure  balet  ovis. 
0  shepherd  purify  the  fruitful  sheep  at  the  earliest  dawn :  let  the 
moist  bow  first  sprinkle  and  sweep  the  ground.    Let  the  sheepfolds  be 
decorated  with  foliage  and  boughs  fixed,  and  let  a  lengthy  wreath  orna- 
ment the  doors.    Let  there  be  blue  smoke  of  burning  sulphur,  and  let 
the  sheap  bleat  at  being  touched  with  the  sulphur. 
