Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-08

boiling zinc solution. He should be pro-
vided with uninfected clothing, and should
not be allowed to attend school, or other
assemblaees. until in the Judgment of q
competent medical authority 1t Is safe 10
do SO. The tenacity of the contagious
principle in diphtheIia is admitted 10 os
very great, and the period .. uus Aisss !e'
oovery from the disease when the danger
of its communication to others may be
considered past is as yet uncertain. There
is good evidence of the fact that the dis
ease has been conveyed by infected cloth
ing several weeks, and even months, after
having been worn.
(h) The room occupied by the sick
should, after the recovery or death OF the
latter. be vacated and completely disin-
fected. This is best done by the fumes OF
sulphur. AS already mentioned, articles
too valuable to be burned, such as linens,
fiannels, blankets, etc., may be treated With
tie boiling zinc solution.
Other heavy articles, as wooden cloth
ing, pillows, furs, and the like, which
cannot be boiled, should be suspended
and exposed in the room to be dlsinfected,
and, after the completion of this process,
hing in the open air. Mattresses and
other upholstered articles should be ripped
open. for better exposure to the fumes of
the disinfeciing agent. Carpets may be
left on the floor, but afterwards taken to
the open air and beaten.
In using sulphur, the rooms to be fumi-
gated must be vacated. Place the sui
phur in iron pans, supported upon bricks
set in a tub containing little water, and
ignite it by the aid of spoonful or two
of alcohol; or place the pan containing
the sulphur over hot Goals, in basin OF
hot ashes resting upon bricks. By the
adoption of either of these plans, danger
from fire will be avoided. During fuml-
CATION the windows, doors, and all hues
and crevices by which the fumes might
escape, should be closed, and SO remain
for twenty-four hours. The rooms may
then be opened and ventilated tor some
hours, the woodwork washed, and the
walls whitened or repapered. Two pounds
of sulphur will be required for room
ten feet square.
Drv heat, at 1900 or 25OO Fahrenheit,
where it can be applied, is likewise valu-
able disiDfectant.
THE PREVENTION OF DIPHTHER1A.
1. Under this clause are included many
of the precepts inculcated in the preceding
pages, especially such as relate to cteanh-
ness The cardinal principle to be observed,
applicable to all zymotic diseases, Is clean
illness. This term not only applies to the
person-to individual freedom from filth
ness-but to the surroundings of the dwell
ing, to accumulations of refuse or decaylng
animal or vegetable materials in the cellar
or about the premises, to the prlvy, cess
pool, drains and sewer, and to the water
supply, that it is not contaminated through
these sources.
See that the house drains are properly
laid, trapped ventilated and disconnected
by ventilation from the sewer, that disin-
fectants are properly used therein, and that
there is no leakage therefrom. For such
disinfecting purposes the solution OF cop
peras is the best and cheapest-fye pounds
TO bucketful of water.
2. Look to the cellar, that it is dry and
clean. containing no filthy water, concealed
filthy wells or cesspools-no heaps of de-
csying vegetables.
8. Whenever shallow wells are used for
drinking water, their surroundings should
be perfectly clean; they should be protected
against the slop-water and other filthy
liquids thrown in the vicinity; and they
should be at safe distance from unce-
mented priyles ana cesspoois.
The precise definition of the word "safe, "
in this connection, is perhaps, somewhat
luueuulIe. Nj CH Will ucpSHu upon tuc
geological character of the soil and the
topography. II is considered that the dis
lance from the well to the cesspool should
not, under ordinary circumstances, be less
than 100 feet.
In some of our valley towns, not easily
drained, in which leaky privy vaults and
cesspools have been used since their early
settlement-never emptied, but covered
when full and Others dug near blythe soil
must be saturated, and well water, under
any circumstances, is unsafe.
4. Avoid the sources of contagion. Be-
ware of crowded assemblies IN i'll venti-
lated rooms. When diphtheria occurs in
a family, other children connected there
with should be withdrawn from school
until danger of infection is past. There is
probably more danger of the communica-
ton of diphtheria in the school-room than
is the case with any other disease, from the
fact that it often occurs in SO mild form
as to be unrecognized yet from the mild
est case the most malignant may result.
s. Sore throat, when occurring in child,
particularly during the prevalence of diph-
iberia, should be looked upon with suspi-
cion, the more so when there is fever and
bad breath. The disease has often been
conveyed by such an one by kissing, or by
drinking from the same cup. AS scarlet
fever may occur without the rash, so there
may be diphtheria without the character.
istic membrane upon the throat.
6. Avoid the ordinary causes of disease
-imprudence in living, exposure, insult
able or insufficient clothing, and whatever
can tend to lower the vital resistance to
epidemic influence. Sound health is one
of the best preservatives against infectious
diseases.
The question is often asked: How long
must we keep The patient isolated, and from
school? In reply to this query We cannot
do better than give the result of the delib-
erations of the Paris Academy of Medicine
upon this subject, as applied to children
with contagious disease:
l. Pupils stricken with chicken-pox,
small pox, scarlet fever. measles, mumps,
or diphtheria, should be strictly isolated
from their comrades.
3 For smallpox, scarlet fever, measles,
and diphtheris, isolation should not be
shorter than forty days; for chicken pox
and mumps, twenty-five days is enough.
3 Isolation should last until after the
patient has been bathed.
4. The clothing worn by the patient at
the time he was taken sick should be sub
iected 10 temperature of 800 Centigrade
Q94o Fahrenheit), and TO sulphur vspor,
and then we'll secured.
5. The pupil of a school, after recovery
from one of The above contagious diseases,
should not be readmitted to the school IN
less furnished with the certificate of a
physician that the above precautions have
been observed.
The City Attorney in Luck.
City Attorney Hart had his overcoat
taken from his Office on Thursday last, and
yesterday it was recovered. The police