The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1895-10-04
Electrolysis Of Sea Water by Means
of Electric Current.
LIQUID Is SURE GERM KILLER.
Manufacture of the Disinfectant Com
menced Yesterday by Hawaiian
Electric Company - odor is Per-
ceptible After Four or Five Days.

With the development OF cholera il
the city has arisen the question o
disinfectants, more forcibly perhap:
than at any time in the past. The
matter of efficiency has, of course,
been followed by that of cost. Much at.
tention has been gwen the subject by
professional men here. The first, and
what seems to be very good scheme,
has just been inaugurated by the Ha-
waiian Electric Company. 1t is
known as the Hermite system.
The so-called system is based upon
the electrolysis of sea water. By
means of an electric current passed
through the water the chloride of mag
nesium is decomposed, while the
chloride of sodium serves as con-
ductor. The result is liquid disin-
fectant of great power, which is almost
odorless, and leaves no residuum when
used for purposes of flushing. 1t is
absolutely inoffensive. 1t is said that
the solid matters in sewage are con-
sumed or dissolved in this liquid,
leaving an odorless fluid, incapable of
fermentation, and containing only
few phosphates, the salts OF ammonia
and the salts of the dislnfectant itself,
The action of the disinfectant on
germ life is peculiar. In an address
delivered at the Hotel de Vile,
Havre, on the sanitation of the city,
Audre Dubosc, the eminent sayant,
gave very clear explanation of the
way in which microbes are destroyed
by the Hermite liquid. He said:
microbes may be divided into two
great classes-anaerobic organisms,
which exist without air, and aerobic
organisms, requiring air to live. On
the anaerobes, or microbes, living with
out air, the action of the compound
of chlorine is simple, as the freeing of
its oxygen causes their instant death,
inasmuch, as in presence of that gas
in excess, as their name indicates,
they cannot exist. The fatty princi-
Piles, particularly abundant in sewage
matters, are specially concerned;
the oxygen is absorbed, the volatile
fatty acids liberated, and these under
go SO strong an oxidation that they
often result in the appearance of
formic acid. The equilibrium of the |
chemical medium of the microbe be-
ing thus destroyed, it perishes as an |
would perish after swal- |
lowing v:triol or inhaling sulphurous |
acid gas.n
The Hawaiian Electric Company |
started yesterday to manufacture, or
produce, this disinfectant, which is |
said to be such a good one. An ordi. |
nary watering cart, such as is used for
sprinkling the streets, was filled with
n far nd Of ataatri0ifxr
allowed to pass through.
After five or six hours, it is said,
The water will be charged with chlor-
inc so that the odor is quite percepti-
ole. Even when the oder cannot be
detected, it is said the liquid is sure
yerm-k killer. The chlorine is present
N the nascent state.
Small quantities of the new disin-
ectant have already been made here.
DR.. Smith tested it and thought the
liquid good one for disinfecting pur-
poses.
1t may be said that the application
If the system would have the advant-
lge of saving large proportion of the
water usually employed in the flush
ng of soil and drain pipes, as well as
he much larger quantity used in
lushing sewers and washing cutters.
t can be conveyed into houses, and
he contents of water closets, after
,eing treated with the disinfectant,
will help to purify the main drains
md sewers.
The disinfectant is thought to be a
-ery valuable one, and particularly
applicable to this country, where
here is an abundance of salt water to
'e obtained at all times. In the ex-
'eriments that have been made here
he disinfectant has given good salts
d aAinn