The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-03-04

Ing tne producing causes OF which there
is so little care, individual or general.
Any information respecting the means
of prevention should be widely pub
lished and needed. For the benefit of
all communicate few, if any, are ex-
empt from the presence of the baleful
malady-we publish the following cir
cular from the Massachusetts, board of
health, and earnestly commend it to the
attention of individuals for the bearing
it may h We on them personally and on
the communities in which they live:
"The following circular is issued for the
purpose of more widely extending the
knowledge of a few well-attested facts con-
corning diphtheria, and reminding all per-
sons that greater care should be exercised
to prevent the spread of this much-dreaded
disease. Diphtheria is contagious and in
fictitious, and may be easily communicated,
either directly or Indirectly from person to
person 1t may be conveyed directly in the
act of kissing, coughing, splitting, sneezing;
or indirectly 10y injected articles used, as
towels, napkins, handkerchiefs, etc. The
poison cliugs with great tenacity TO rooms,
houses, articles of furniture and clothing,
and may occasion the disease even after the
lapse of months. Diphtheria attacks all
year. BY preference it attacks children and
those who are debilitated from exposure to
filth, dampness or foul air from whatever
source. When a C ,se of dphthera occurs
in any family, the sick person should, If
possible, be taken to hospital, or other
wise should be placed in an upper room
apart from the other inmates of the house,
and should be nursed, as far as possible, by
one person only. The sick chamber should
be well warmed. exposed to sunlight and
well aired; its furniture should be such as
will permit of cleansing without injury and
all extra articles, such as window and table
drapery, WOODEN carpets, upholstered furni-
ture and all hangings, should be removed
from the room during the sickness The
physician and nurse, as a rule, should be
the only persons admitted to the room. Wis
itors to the infected house should be warned
of the presence of a dangerous disease
therein, and children especially should not
be admitted. All clothing removed from
the patient or the bed should be at once
placed in solution of corrosive sublimate-
two drachms to the gallon of water in
wooden vessel-by the nurse before being
carried through the house or handled by any
other person. They may be soaked in this
fluid for a convenient time and then boiled
for one hour. 1t is better not to use hand
kerchiefs for cleansing the nostrls and
mouth of the patient, but rather soft rags,
which should be Immediately thereafter
burned. All vessels for receiving the dis
charges of the patient should constantly
contain some of the disinfecting liquid.
Water closets and privies in the house
| should be disinfected daily with a solution
of fresh chloride of lime-half pound to
the gallon of water Every kind and source
of filth in and around the house should be
thoroughly removed, and disinfectants
! freely used. Cleanliness tends both to pre-
vent and mitigate the disease. Drains
! should be put in perfect order and venti-
lated by four-inch straight pipe ex-
tended above the highest point of
the roof of the house in every instance,
terminating at distance from any chimney
or other ventilator. Children in the family
should not attend school or mingle with
other children until the patient has wholly
recovered, and all infected articles have
been disnfected, and these facts certified
by a responsible physician. On the recov-
cry, removal or death of the patient, the most
thorough disinfection should follow. Close
up all apertures in the room tightly, hang
up, unfolded, all articles of bedding cloth
ing, etc. remove all mattress covers for the
| free exposure of their contents; place in an
iron pan four pounds of birthstone for each
| one thousand cubic feet of space in the
room; place the pan on two bricks or an
iron rest in a tub containing water; pour a
| little alcohol on the birthstone, ignite il with
a match, and leave the room closed tightly
| and guarded for not less than ten hours.
The fumes of burning birthstone are dan
BtTOuS 10 Dredunt, anu Will XIII animals anu
plants. After furngating has been done
the room and everything in it should be
thoroughly aired. The walls and ceilings
should be brushed, and the floors and other
wood work washed with water containing
two drachms of corrosive sublimate to the
gallon of water, and all vessels and utensils
used in the room should be thoroughly
washed with the same solution. All wash
bowls, water-closets, sinks, and slop-hop.
pers should be throughly washed with a
solution of fresh chloride of lime-onehali
pound to the gallon of water. When death
occurs the body should be Immediately
placed in the coffin, wrapped in IA sheet sat
urated with solution of corrosive subli-
mate-two drachms to gallon of water
and the coffin tightiy and finally closed. No
public funeral should ever take place at the
honse where the patient died, or else
where, unless the coffin remains hermet-
ically sealed Corrosive subimate is a
| poison"