lmm.....imltrr„M*u I——HWf""1 \ REMARKS ON DEODORIZATION AND DISINFECTION, AND ON DR. SIR WILLIAM BURNETT'S DISINFECTING FLUID, THE SOLUTION OF THE CHLORIDE OF ZINC. •A By T. STRATTON, M.D., Surgeon, Royal Navy, Particular Service. MONTREAL: J. C. BKCKET, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER, SAINT PAUL STREET. 1848. REMARKS ON DISINFECTION, &c. Having during the last nine months, since August, 1847, made extensive and varied use, in various emi- grant fever hospitals and elsewhere, of Dr. Sir Wm. Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid, the Solution of the Chloride of Zinc, I beg to offer a few remarks on some of its effects and uses. I shall consider, first, its antiseptic; secondly, its deodorizing; and thirdly, its disinfecting properties. I. As an antiseptic it is exceedingly useful for pre- serving dead bodies for the purpose of dissection. The strength is one part of the fluid to forty parts of water; with this the blood-veesels are injected before using the common paint injection ; afterwards, while the dissec- tion proceeds, the parts may be occasionally spunged with the diluted fluid, or the body may be immersed in it for an hour or so every four or five days. Some other antiseptic agents have the effect of blunting the knives used in dissection, which is not the case with this fluid. Other solutions are apt, when the parts become dry, to leave gritty particles. The Chloride of Zinc is so deli- quescent that this cannot happen with it. For preserving anatomical preparations, the diluted fluid may be used instead of spirits of wine. Besides preventing further decomposition, the fluid destroys any disagreeable odour from decomposition that has already commenced. It is needless to enlarge on the beneficial consequences of using this fluid in dissect- ing-rooms, where students breathing the contaminated air for several hours a-day, have their digestion impaired, their general health injured, and are thus made, more than others, liable to suffer from exposure to infectious diseases. A great obstacle to making post-mortem ex- aminations in private houses, is the disagreeable odour 4 attendant thereon, and which is only questionably reme- died by the odour from chloride of lime; but as the Burnett fluid is odorless, it is consequently greatly supe- rior to this last, and it also perfectly overcomes the autopsic odour. When one has made an autopsy, there is generally some odour attaching to his hands for several hours, but by dipping them for a minute or two in the fluid, this odour disappears. In Montreal the Burnett fluid has been successfully used for anatomical purposes by Dr. G. Campbell, Dr. Arnoldi, jr., Dr. Wright, Dr. Baker, and others, and has come up to the re- commendations* given of it by Professor Sharpey, Mr. Partridge, Mr. Bowman, and Mr. Pettigrew, of London, Sir James Murray, of Dublin, and others con- cerned in the teaching of anatomy. In Quebec the fluid was_emp!oyed by Dr. Racey, while making post- mortem preparations, and I showed to several medical men there the tlifference between a portion of subject treated with the fluid and another part left untouched. II.— Of the Deodorizing properties of the Burnett Fluid. I. With regard to its action on feculent odours, we may observe that feculent matter contains—1, ammonia ; 2, sulphuretted hydrogen ; 3, decomposing animal matter, combined with ammonia; 4, occasionally fresh animal matter (as in some diseases where there is a motion soon after taking food). When the fluid is added to the above matter, the chloride of zinc acts on the fresh animal matter, prevents decomposition, and the consequent evo- lution of disodour; also, on the decomposing animal matter, presenting further decomposition : part of the chloride of zinc gives its chlorine, and the sulphuretted hydrogen gives its hydrogen to the ammonia to form odorless muriate of ammonia; the sulphur combining with the zinc to form sulphuret of zinc. As the am- monia is the vehicle of the feculent odour, feculent mat- * In a publication entiili d " Reports on the Solution of t'hlo. ride of Zinc, (Sir VVm. Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid.) London : Printed for her Majesty Stationery Office, 1847." Reviewed in Dr. Hall's Journal for March, 1848. 5 ter ceases to have any effluvium as soon as the ammonia becomes muriate of ammonia. 2. With respect to the action of the fluid on urinous odours; among the ingredients of the urine are—1, ammonia; 2, decomposing animal matter (mucus); 3, according to Prout, phosphuretted hydrogen is occasion- ally present; 4, water. The solution instantly and permanently removes the odour of fetid urine by their being formed muriate of ammonia and phosphuret of zinc; while part of the chloride of zinc, or oxid of zinc, acts on the decompos- ing animal matter. 3. The odour of bilge-water depends on sulphuretted hydrogen ; and this gas is produced on board ship from the wood decomposing and resolving itself into carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and these acting on the sulphates of lime and magnesia, in sea-water. I find that the fluid instantly destroys the odour of bilge-water ; there being formed sulphuret of zinc and muriatic acid. Any remaining chloride of zinc which has no sulphuretted hydrogen on which to act, has a preservative effect on the wood, and contributes to prevent the further forma- tion of sulphuretted hydrogen. 4. In crowded transports and emigrant ships, and especially in bad weather, the air becomes very foul; also in crowded barracks, badly constructed as regards ventilation, the use of the diluted fluid (1 to 40) is highly conducive to comfort and health. 5. The plan of many jails is so faulty, that there are many cells which it is nearly impossible to ventilate, and which (even after removing all the bedding, &c. in them) retain a peculiar and disagreeable odour. I found that this odour was removed by waving, for a minute or two, a flannel cloth wet with the diluted fluid; as in the case of ships and barracks, or any other crowded places, there may also be some of the fluid sprinkled over the floor.* 6. When the diluted fluid (one part to sixty parts of * Where the fluid is applied to wood work, the use of sonp, soda, or potash, should be avoided immediately before or after its amplication. A.2 6 water) is applied by sponging to the persons of typhus- patients, it removes the peculiar odour emitted by them. Except where cold sponging is indicated, the fluid ought to be used of the temperature of the patient. 7. In hospital-wards full of typhus and dysentery cases, the air becomes exceedingly impure, and in cold weather, and at night, ventilation often cannot be had recourse to. In such cases the disagreeable odour is removed by waving flannel cloths wet with the diluted fluid (1 to 40) two or three times a day for a few mi- nutes at a time, and by sprinkling some fluid on the floor. Where there is dysentery, a small quantity of fluid may be poured into the utensils over night. The odour emitted from the surface of the body of a dysen- tery paiient is much lessened by sponging him with tepid diluted fluid (1 to 60). I found that having the fluid used in the way of waving and sprinkling once a day, when the same process was repeated next morning, there was no disagreeable odour, or almost none, perceptible ; this, too, was in badly ventilated wards crowded with fever and dysentery patients. I found that the propor- tion of one ounce of the strong fluid (making 41 ounces of the diluted fluid) was sufficient for every ten persons : the price of the fluid, (as at present advertised,) is three shillings sterling a quart, or about a penny an ounce ; so that, to give the sick the daily benefit of having the fluid used, it would cost an hospital tenpence a day for a hundred sick, and eight shillings and fourpence for a thousand sick. The expense of any article for hospital use on the large scale is an important consideration, and besides the great superiority of the Burnett fluid in other respects, it is much cheaper than chloride of lime, and other agents used for similar purposes, as these are usu- ally sold, and considering the comparative quantities of them that are requisite. As for the Ledoyen fluid, (not to speak at present of the radical error its proposer made in taking such a poisonous substance as lead for a base,) I believe it is advertised for sale at sixpence sterling for a bottle containing about 18 ounces, while the same sum will purchase about 246 ounces of the diluted Burnett fluid. 7 Nearly all the medical practitioners of Montreal and Quebec have made trial of, and are completely satisfied with, the antibromic powers of the Burnett fluid. III.—Of the Disinfecting Properties of the Burnett Fluid. Some of our best medical authorities* do not agree in the meaning they appear to attach to the word disinfect, some restricting it to an action on infectious miasm, and others, apparently extending it to an action on offensive odours not in any way connected with infectious mias- mata. By a disinfecting substance, I mean one which either, 1—destroys infection, or, 2—greatly lessens its intensity. The question of infection is one of the most subtle and difficult in medicine, and has called forth the most de- cided and opposite opinions from writers on the subject ot fever. As infection is known only by its effects, and eludes any attempt to subject it to experiment, it is, in consequence, allowable to call in the aid of theory, as long as this is reasonable, and not at variance with facts. As Professor Alisonf observes,—" If hypotheses are introduced sparingly, and the grounds on which they rest fairly stated, they are admitted to be part of the process by which the knowledge of the truth is attained, even in the most strictly inductive sciences; and those who profess to reject and despise them, are not those whose opinions are the most exempt from their influ- ence." According to Liebig,J ammonia is always generated in sick-rooms, and particularly so where the disease is in- fectious ; he also considers that this ammonia is the ve- hicle of the infectious principle, and what renders it vola- tile, so that if the ammonia be removed, the infectious essence ceases to act. By freely using the chloride of zinc solution in a sick room, the ammonia becomes muriate of ammonia, and the air of the apartment is, * See Copland's Dictionary of Medicine; Brown in Cyclopae- dia of Medicine ; Dunglison's General Therapeutics. t Physiology, page 1. t Chemistry applied to Agriculture and Physiology, chap. 13. 8 according to this theory, completely disinfected : this is presuming, that all the air in the room has been brought under the action of the chloride of zinc solution. If the chloride of zinc has not been sufficiently used, there may still remain some infectious principle, but in a degree much less intense, so that—to take a crowded typhus-ward—instead of many visitors to it being at- tacked, and this with a severe form of the disease, only a few are attacked, and that slightly. We may also theorize on the effect of the fluid on the patients themselves. We suppose, for example, a person has • received one dose of infection, giving him typhus fever; he then comes into a crowded typhus ward, where he and the others are constantly emitting infectious miasm from their lungs and the Surface of their bodies ; this is respired by them over and over again, so that instead of there being one, there are two chances against them ; instead of the original quantity of infection to which they were exposed, they continue to inhale additional doses of it during their illness ; now, if by using the fluid we wholly, or even only partly, re- move the typhous principle in the air, we are giving them a better chance of recovery.* Likewise, during con- valescence, if the air in the ward be tolerably pure, the digestion and appetite of the patients improve much more rapidly than if the atmosphere be foul; their strength returns more quickly, and their convalescence is much shorter ; they run less chance of a relapse, and the hospital gains their beds to accommodate new pa- tients. By using the fluid, the medical attendants, students, and nurses, are either protected from infection, or at least run much less risk of being taken ill. If we had a fever hospiial, throughout the whole of which the fluid was daily used, and if physicians, stu- dents, and nurses, who had not had typhus, continued for four or five months to visit without being taken ill, this * In different hospitals in Ireland, it was found by Mr. Cronin, Dr Lindsay, and Mr. Drurnmond, that the mortality became less alter they began to use the chloride of zinc solution.' See Report on the Solution of Chloride of Zinc, page 20, 21, and 23. 9 might be considered a proof that the fluid perfectly de- stroyed infection. To use the fluid in part of the hos- pital only, would not be sufficient, as air from non-fluid- ized wards might be admitted, or the nurses might be visiting these, and be there infected. In the past season I had not an opportunity of making a trial like the above, as, generally speaking, the physicians and nurses had already had fever. In the autumn of 1847, in the Quebec Marine and Emigrant Hospital, I had the fluid used (latterly) in se- venteen wards and sheds containing 317 patients, (being about a third of the whole number in the hospital,) of whom about two-thirds were ill of typhus, and the re- mainder of dysentery. When I began visiting them, these wards were the worst in the hospital for ventila- tion,