Excerpt from Disinfection and Disinfectants: Their Application and Use in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease and in Public and Private Sanitation

Returning to the disinfectants in our list, it will be seen that all but the four last named are efficient in various amounts, ranging from 30 to 2 per cent. But the relative value of the agents as here given does not estab lish their comparative practical value as disinfectants. Questions of cost, physical and chemical properties, etc., come into the account, which it is the province of other members of our committee to consider.

We have nothing to say against the use of any of the agents in our lists as antiseptics or as deodorizers. No doubt all of them are more or less useful for this purpose, and we have no desire to restrict their use. But the exaggerated claims made in relation to the germicide or disinfectant power of certain of these agents, may do immense harm. Thus, one agent advertised as a germicide par excellence, Pasteur's marvellous disinfectant, which failed after two bours' exposure to kill the organ isms in our test solution in the proportion of 20 per cent. Yet this fluid is, by some contrivance, to be thrown into the water-closet of every germ fearing citizen when he pulls the handle, so that it may catch the germs on the fly, and extinguish their power for mischief before they reach the sewers. On the whole, the proprietary disinfectants have turned out better than I anticipated; and any one of the eleven first named may be used in conformity with the conditions imposed by the experimental test for disinfecting sputum or excreta. For fecal matter, however, it will be best to employ an agent which is successful in the proportion of ten per cent., - for example, in at least twice this strength, and in quantity considerably in excess of the material to be disinfected. It must be remembered, that in our experiments the germs are suspended in a fluid, and this is thoroughly mixed with the disinfectant.

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