Fumigation, Chlorine

Syn. Disinfecting fumigation , Guyton-morveau’s f. ; Fumigatio chlorin i i , L. Prep. 1. (P. Cod.) Common salt, 3 parts; water and sulphuric acid, of each 2 parts; black oxide of manganese 1 part; mix in a shallow ve el, placed in the centre of the apartment. This is used to disinfect unoccupied rooms. 2. Hydrochloric acid and powdered black oxide of manganese mixed in proportions so as to make a thin paste. Used as directed under 1. 3. Chloride of lime, either sprinkled on the floor (if uncarpeted) or (if carpeted) placed about the room in shallow dishes. Used for inhabited rooms, and on shipboard, . 4. A solution of chloride of lime (1 oz. of the chloride to each quart of water). Used as the last but more freely. Obs. Chlorine fumigations, although so popular, and so much relied on by many medical practitioners, are apparently usele in preventing the progre of certain contagious diseases. “In Moscow, chlorine was extensively tried and found unavailing, nay, even injurious, in cholera.” (Dr Pereira.) “At the time that the cholera hospital was filled with clouds of chlorine, then it was that the greatest number of the attendants were attacked.” (Dr Albers.) At the Smallpox Hospital, where chlorine was tried, with the view of arresting the progre of erysipelas, “all offensive smell was removed, but the power of communicating the disease remained behind.” (‘Lond. Med. Gaz.’) Notwithstanding these marked failures, the confidence of many eminent members of the profe ion continues unabated. “As a fumigating agent, disinfectant and antiseptic, chlorine, I believe, stands unrivalled.” “For destroying miasmata, noxious effluvia, and putrid odours, it is the most powerful agent known.” (Dr Pereira.) Our own experience leads us to the conclusion that chlorine is more useful in neutralising the contagious or morbific matter of fevers (especially of scarlet fevers) and putrid diseases generally, than of the other diseases in which it has been employed.