New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-16
A NEW DIsINFECTANT.
THE VALUE OF FoRMALDEHYDE AM
HOW 1T IS USED.
DR.. DorY's EXPERIMENTS AT oUARASrNE-rU
FORMALLY CT AMBER"-REsULrs OF
THE TRIAL IN PORTLAND.


FORMALLY CT AMBER'-REsULrs OF
THE TRIAL IN PORTLAND.
In scientific and public health circles IN ths
country. we'll as In France, Russia and ftaly
considerable attention has been aroused during tina
last few months In new process Of dsinfectiou
which is acknowledged to have great possbilitisa
In II. The world IN general has heard little OF n
for the reason that the experiments have been
buried In a mass OF chemical technicallties ana
because the practical value Of the discovery has
seemed uncertain until Just lately. The new d,r
fectant is a gas known formaldehyde or form,A
aldehyde and, when In solution, formalin II IA nm
duced by burning methyl or wood alcohol IN a
peculiar manner. and this much IL already assured
that !. IL germicde OF great power and efficiency
The only question now in the minds OF the do..
tors and chemists who have been experimenting
with 1t for some time is Just how well II will pens.
trate. SO far 1t has not been proved tina, II viii
dsinfect tightly tied-up bundles Of clothing (Which
can be accomplished by steam perfectly and In Al
short time). and the experiments In this direction
have been rather DISCOURAGE But though tia
new gas does not seem 10 penetrate, II Is mar
vellously certain when goods and fabrics are spread
out and exposed to its vapors. and for "house-t "a
house disinfection" 0he scientific cleansing OF IN.
fected rooms drapery and furniture) 1t Is a com.
plete success.
Not only have practical tests been made OF II MI
several of the largest cities in this country but d
number Of health officials have put the new sys
tenn into actual use and have built "formss
chambers In conjunction with their steam d!sin
fecting plants. Such chamber" was installed
several weeks ago on the NewYork quarantin
boat by DR.. Doty. and many articles pass through
1t weekly While DR.. Doty does not think IL can
take the place Of steam he believes It 10 be vaiu
able adjunct to any disinfecting plant. for the
reason that 1t leaves the finest fabrics uniniured
Steam and sulphur destroy colors and surfaces
and until formaldehyde gas was discovered there
nothing known to science that would Kill every
germ and still leave valuable articles untouched
by chemical action.
In his office down al Quarantine Dr. Doty hs
A curious and interesting proof Of this in the snar
~ three large scrap books. which have fabrics OF
s,Ik 'delicsteiy tinted muslins and other stuns
samples Of upholstery. draperes, furs, leather and
Ella borate wall papers. arranged In three psraHs
columns 10 page The hrst column SHOWS 'ns
goods before they have been submitted 10 any
dlsinfection whatever: the second the same soocs
treated with formaldehyde gas. the third as trea,e
with sulphur In every instance the samples ON
infected with form ldehyde gas have retaina
their original delicacy Of tint and surfaces lno~
treated with sulphur are, In many cas~s' com'
pletely destroyed. The gold In wan papers mas
heen faded and the colors Of intricate patterns
have run into each other. Literary nu"',.as Z"
oxner,noerts have been recorded In these DOCKS ana
IN every case formadehyde gas mas $1,000 'ne 'esA
DR. Herman II. Biggs. bacteriooeS' VI !"
Health BOARD Of this city. has just had fornans
chamber built in the steam disinfec'ihg bureau,
East Sxteenth-st., and expects mucn from H. W.
ing 20 impcrfec. mechanical conditions, ho"evef
| this plant is not yet in good WORKING oraer ana
definite results have so far been OBTAINED. !"
! earded nevertheless, valuable ADDITION 20 tna
! .,ean chambers and practical work Will re doN
| on IL this summer. The Boston Beard OF Hsaim
under DR.. Durgin. has been dong snS has me-
Wi,h pleasing success In Maine Professor
Robinson the chemist IN BowioIn Goes ss S W.o
met with great success in his experiments Ig
the State Board of Health OF Maine ne dis'h'ee"
| a house in Portland with this result
AN EXPERIMENT SUCCESSFUL
1.-The rooms were all taken separately IN IN
way" he says in his report. Throughout the noU
| Z, portland mansion where there had been thru r
cases Of diphtheria one fatal. one DOR at ums
beginning with the Basement. The generator
were then placed in the halls, all the room dss
most part upon the beds The closets and bures
drawers were opened. and the bric-a-orac' pvct
and nc tn foR tS wet gas 10 Circulate about
| II took about twelve hours 10 go over tne wh"
hSse o and on nnt 20 every @ cubic feet Of
| Threads infected with diphtheria cultures wMI
between ve steriized boters OF the twelve cutus
| made from these every one was sterile Il
| Abroad even more has been done with torlne
| dehyde gas than here. Paris has ofhclaly adoEI
| cd II as n dsinfectant has also the municipGI
ity OF Marseilles The Italian Government Is shot
| ing much interest in IL, and the Russian GoveRI
ment recently ordered from Trillat' VINO IS reaE
the father of forma ldehyde gas several tnousa"
| of his little lamps or generators
DIFFERENT FORMS OF GENERATORS
Already four or five different generators hawI
| been devised. The most curious and practical u
lamp that can stand outside the room 10 uI
| disinfected and therefore can be properly resvI
| lated and watched. This has thin pipe runnin!I
from the cylinder where the gas Is produced -
the alcohol which Is intended 70 pass tnroueh ~
keyhoe of a door. In all the lamps however, ~.
| gas ia made in much the same way WOOD alcohvl
is allowed to flow little by little into the bottom oil
this pan there is sheet of platinized ASBESTOS PEI
! forated with many small holes. The aIcohoi III
J ignted and in a few moments the asbestos Is ~
a white heat Then the flame Is blown out. Inc a.
| bestos and the alcohol. both at high degree ".
heat continue to act upon each other and yap1i AL
the ton of the cylinder In some generators, NJ
| ried away in others through a small pipe; Wnen
there is a "formalin chamber FOR portable gooo
! the pine leads directly into this. For fine fabric
| and for house dslnfecton the efficacy OF this ga
has been established Dr. Doty thinks II will ais
he OF great value In disinfecting mails from ir
fected ports He has had his best results in mxin
.fornalin' with chloride OF calcium II is qulr
possible that other chemical compounds Will h
discovered that will give formadehyde eves
greater value than II seems 10 possess to-day.
MEDICAL EFFECTS OF ELECTRICITY.