Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-06-28
Justification.
For the Sunday AppeaI.l

public good. The Board of Health ha
been unwisely abolished, and with it thu
Office of Secretary, and there is now nj
authorized head to warn, instruct or adj
wise the people. Hence | hope to b.
pardoned for this intrusion. The sea
son is now upon us when malarious in
fuences are rife, and if we wish to SPAR
our city and its inhabitants from tn,
Wravages of epidemic diseases and all thu
i sad, depressing eoncomitants which ar
e sure to follow, let there at once be com
a menced a systematic and thorough
aasytsem of disinfection, both by the city
s authorities and by individuals. In thu
d first place, let there be Board o
i Health at once established and healtl
'T'oficer appointed, under whose direction
a thorough and systematic course o
cleaning and disinfection should at once
be inaugurated. 1t is a crime upon hui
manity, that city as large as Memphis
and with its prolific sources of miasmata
and contagion, should be without +;
Board of Health, and even a health off
Ger. 1t is penny wise and pound fool
ish policy that may cost the life of many
a citizen, to say nothing of the thous-
ands of dollars lost in trade, commerce
and emigration.
A few suggestions as to the bestmeanS
of disinfecting in private families is i'm
portant, and viii only cost a trife to
each one to disinfect their premises thor
oughly. We condense, from a very able
paper upon this subject, by Prof Kletz-
inksky, the cheapest, most available and
best disinfectants, with the proper man.
ner of using them, with few prelimi-
nary remarks.
There are two enemies that threaten
US particularly at this time, and will con-
tinue so to do until the appearance of
frost, viz Hliasnla, a poisonous efluyia
emanating from decomposing organic
substances, and lately proven to be mi
croscopic spores or fungi, which float in
the atmosphere like particles of dust IN
miasmatic districts, and by being inhaled
in the act of respiration, produce sick
ness and death. Another is coRtdgid,
viz: germs or microscopical parasites,
animal or vegetable in their char
acteF, or they may be simple cells
floating in the ocean of the at
mosphere. Prof. K. remarks that MAS
mata is fought and conquered by arida-
ron and precipitation principally. The
first is effected by developing chlorine in
humid air. Chlorine and water form in
the sunlight hydro chloric acid and
ozone, powerful disinfectants, but is
somewhat Objectionable on account of
its offensiveness to the respiratory or
gans. The best way to develop chlorine
is by pouring over a mixture of chloride
Of sodium Common salt, and binoxide
of manganese in equal quantities, the
double amount of English oil of vitriol.
Second, by hypochlorites, the solution
of hypochlorite of soda with chloride Of
sodium, the so-called eau de jarelle OF
bleaching soda, and the so-called chic
ride of lime, OF bleaching lime, being
the two most common forms of these
two very effective disinfectants. In the
light and heat when these are brought
in contact with decaying matter, pro-
duce inoeuous chlorides, oxygen or ozone.
Third, by fumigations with nitric acid
as employed in the English navy
About equal parts of nitrate of pOtassa
(saltpetre) and hydrated suiphuric acid
being mixed together, hydrated nitric
acid is developed, which, when diluted
with atmospheric air, is tolerated even
by affected lungs, which in the light and
in the presence of miasmata possess
highly disinfecting properties. Fourth,
by melting together equal parts of bin
oxide Of manganese, soda and nitrate of
potassa, the mass produced in this way
is of dark green color, which changes
into deep-red when dissolved in boil
ing water, decomposing at the slightest
impElse, setting free oxygen this
sprinkled upon the floors, stairYays,
etc, is an excellent disinfectant. Next
by precipitation, through the sulphates,
IS sulphate of lime [plaster of Paris
which precipitates the carbonate of lime
of decaying matters, forming carbonate
of lime and suIphate of ammonia The
most powerful representative of this class
IS the impure sulphate of manganese and
and the splphate'sf irgp, sithlr BY them
selves OF mixed with a solution Of lime.
Sulphate of lime and su1phate of iron
transform the foetid pestilehtial contents
C. the sewers of Paris into an inodorous
useful manure, called pqEdEette, which
thus becomes a source Of large profit.
Second, through sulphurous acid, by the
burning of sulphur in damp air Efee-
tive in cholera, but irritating to the air
passages.
ContagiG.-These specific germs,
spores ., cells which produce our cpl
denies, are destroyed or rendered iRoeu-
GUS by FIRST, physical means, molecular
coagulation and by chemical means. The
best physical means efecting the de-
struction of contagion are thorough
draining, a temperature of over 2120
(bOi1ipg pointJ This method of heat
ing suspected substances, Clothing
linen, etc., to high temperature, is ab-
solutely sure to destroy the germs or
spores that give rise to contagion. The
vitality of all germs depend upon the
presence of a soluble n9l-eoagulated al
bumenoid substance, and the life of those
germs must necessarily be destroyed in
such high temperature These spores
or germs may also be destroyed by mo-
lecular cSagqlati9a thhFeggh the various
alcohols, of which the creosate of
wood tar is most effective, and that even
in small quantities, or when largely di-
luted Also through certain acids, as
earbolie acid (coal tar creosote), which
differs from other acids in not destroying
substances subjected to it. This is a
very reIiapie GiiisiEfectant, even in small
quantities, largely diluted, or in comhi-
nation With alkahes or alkaline earths,
the carbolate Of soda and the carbolate
of lime both being very cheap, are the
most convenient and most reliable disin-
fectants we possess. These embrace the
most of the available and best means we
have for destroying the causes that pro-
duce endemic diseases and those who