ON  CHARCOAL  AS  A  DISINFECTANT. 
169 
charcoal,  and  bed  coverlets  having  the  same  material  quilted  into 
them,  could  not  fail  to  prove  highly  beneficial. 
A  tolerably  thick  charcoal  ventilator,  such  as  I  have  just  de- 
scribed, could  be  very  advantageously  applied  to  the  gully-holes 
of  our  common  sewers,  and  to  the  sinks  in  private  dwellings,  the 
foul  water  in  both  cases  being  carried  into  the  drain  by  means  of 
tolerably  wide  syphon  pipes,  retaining  always  about  a  couple  of 
inches  of  water. 
Such  an  arrangement  would  effectually  prevent  the  escape  of 
any  effluvia,  would  be  easy  of  construction,  and  not  likely  to  get 
soon  out  of  order. 
The  charcoal  respirators  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  and 
to  which  I  should  wish  to  draw  especial  attention,  are  of  three 
kinds. 
The  first  form  of  the  respirators  is  constructed  for  the  mouth 
alone,  and  does  not  differ  in  appearance  from  an  ordinary  respi- 
rator, but  is  only  half  its  weight,  and  about  one-fifth  of  its  price. 
The  air  is  made  to  pass  through  a  quarter  of  an  inch  of  coarse- 
ly powdered  charcoal,  retained  in  its  place  by  two  sheets  of  sil- 
vered wire  gause  covered  over  with  thin  woollen  cloth,  by  which 
means  its  temperature  is  greatly  increased.  This  charcoal  respi- 
rator possesses  several  advantages  over  the  respirators  ordinarily 
in  use  : — 
1st.  Where  the  breath  is  at  all  fetid,  which  is  usually  the  case 
in  diseases  of  the  chest,  under  many  forms  of  dyspepsia,  &c, 
the  disagreeable  effluvia  are  absorbed  by  the  charcoal,  so  that 
comparatively  pure  air  alone  is  inspired.  This,  I  think,  may  oc- 
casionally exert  a  beneficial  influence  on  diseases  of  the  throat 
and  lungs. 
2d.  The  charcoal  respirator  for  the  mouth  alone  will  certainly 
prove  highly  useful  in  poisonous  atmospheres,  where  miasmata 
abound,  if  the  simple  precaution  is  only  observed  of  inspiring 
the  air  by  the  mouth  and  expiring  it  by  the  nostrils. 
The  second  form  of  respirator  is  ori-nasal—that  is,  embracing 
both  the  mouth  and  the  nose.  It  is  only  very  slightly,  larger 
than  the  one  already  described,  and  does  not  cover  the  nose  as 
the  ordinary  ori-nasal  respirator  does,  but  merely  touches  its 
lower  extremity,  to  which  it  is  adapted  by  means  of  a  piece  of 
flexible  metal  covered  with  soft  leather.    When  this  respirator  is 
