The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-08-12

mended that an ounce of crude carbolic
acid be added to each quart of this solu-
ton. These materials also form good
disinfectant for privies, drains and other
foul places, and may be prepared for this
purpose by adding eight pounds of cop
peras to five gallons of bot water, to
which half pint or more of crude car
bolic acid may be added if the place be
very foul. From pint to quart of this
solution used twice day will suffice to
keep down foul doors; much larger
quantity, however, is needed for the first
application.
Another disinfectant recommended by
the New York Board of Health, which
may be freely used in the sick chamber,
and which is especially adapted for the
reception of soiled clothing until it can be
further cleansed by boiling, is composed
of sulphate of zinc (or white vitrioD eight
ounces, carbolie acid one ounce, and wa
ter three gallons.
Still another convenient and efficient
disinfectant is the solution of chlorinated
soda known as Labarraque's Disinfecting
Solution, which, diluted with from eight
to twelve parts of water, may be used for
cleansing utensils, washing the hands of
attendants, etc.
THE RECOVERY,
of the sick person should be complete,
and the cleansing of the person through,
before he again mingles with the well,
and, during the presence of Diphtheria
in any family, all members of that family
should be excluded from the public
schools and refrain from attendance upon
public assemblies or unnecessary inter
course with others; and this isolation
and practical quarantine should continue
until, In the judgement of some Compel
ent physician, it is safe to remit the pre-
caution. The record of this Board show
that to the neglect of such rules many
sad and severe epidemics may be clearly
traced.
IN CASE OF DEATH,
the funeral should be conducted with lit
tie publicity and without exposure of the
body, which should early be placed i'll a
tight coffin with some of the disinfectants
above mentioned. In no case should
children be permitted to attend such fun
erals. The non observance of these pre-
cautions is known to have been the cause
of the death of many persons, in this
state and elsewhere.
SUBSEQUENT CARE OF THE PREMISES.
Rooms from which patients who have
had Diphtheria have been removed should
be thoroughly disinfected by fumigation,
and if there has been any special malig-
nancy of the disease, ali paper hangings
should be removed from walls covered
herewith; all other walls and all ceilings
should be freshly whitewashed, and the
wood work and floors be thoroughly scrub
bed.
To the lack of thorough disinfection of
houses or rooms where Diphtheria has
occurred may often be traced new out
breaks, even after intervals of complete
exemption. The poison which has been
retained in such apartments reveals itself
and reasserts its fatal power over the first
chance conner whose system may be in n
condition favorable for its reception.
Sulphurous acid gas, or the fumes of
burning sulphur, is an efficient, conven-
lent and inexpensive disinfectant. Two
pounds of sulphur Will suffice for room
twelve feet square and ten feet high. 1t
needs but to be burned in the room by
putting it, in powder or small fragments,
on live Goals, in safe vessel; all doors,
windows and other apertures should be
tightly closed during the burning of the
sulphur, and for several hours afterward,
ard the room should then receive free
and prolonged ventilation.
GENERAL PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
Finally, while isolation and disinfec-
ton should be thorough and persistent
in the presence and for the restriction of
Diphtheria or other contagious and in
fectious disease, it should be remembered
that no care to isolate patients or to dis
infect premises already contaminated can
atone for the neglect of those precautions
which all experience has demonstrated to
be capable of mitigating the violence of,
if not wholly preventing, almost all con-
tagious diseases. The continued prevail
ence of Diphtheria should be.a sufficient
reason for careful scrutiny into the sani-
tary conditions of any community.
Cleanliness and purity of air are the
deadly foes of all contagion. Pure air,
pure water and pure soil are essential
conditions of healthful life and the surest
safeguards against disease of every kind.
Secure drynes for every part of your
dwelling by thorough drainage; secure
cleanliness for every part of your prem
iS'n y vi
animal or vegetable matter, by allowing
no garbage heap or cess-pool to remain
near the house, and by frequently cleans
ing and disinfecting the privy, the con-
tents of which may at all times be kept
entirely inoffensive by the plentiful use
of dry earth or coal ashes. Examine and
correct any defects of sewerage. In
short, let there be nothing,left to pollute
the atmosphere or poison the water sup
ply. Let the sun and air have free access
to the house, and especially to the sleep
ing rooms. Secure proper and well pre-
pared food, and comfortable clothing,
and "the pestilence that walketh in dark
ness" and revels In filth viii pass YOU by
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