The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-07-20
BOARD OF HEALTH
Report on DlSiDf1CtantS for Use
on Merchandise.
F0RMALIN WONT KILL MICROBES
But Sulphur Straight Gave Them
Their Ouietus Fun Description
ofthe Recen. Experiments.
fORMALIN WONT KILL MICROBES

discussion of microbes and methods
Iof numbering them filed the air at yes
terday's meeting of the Board OF
Health. The occasion was the pres
entation of DR.. Alvarez report re-
garding the fumigatioD experiments
carried On at the Mail dock. The sum-
mary of the report was as follows:
Formalin had failed to- kill the
germs; on the contrary they had thriv-
ed upon the diet, but it was proven that
sulphur exterminated them.
After reading the report the Board
discussed several vital matters in ex-
ecutive session. In fact the whole
meeting was behind closed doors.
The report of DR.. Alvarez is as fol-
| lows:
Mr.. III. T.. Cooper, President OF the
Board of Health.
| Dear Sir: 1 have the honor to sub
nit the report of the experiments made
to determine the efficacy of formalin
and also of sulphur as disinfectants of
merchandise.
On the 18th instant, under the direc-
ton of DR.. f. r. Day, the port physi-
clan, and Mr.. G.. Il. Reynolds, the exec
utive officer of the Board of Health. |
prepared six agar-agar Petri dishes
and inoculated them as follows; Two
with bacilli of bubonic plague, one
with the bacilli of typhoid fever. one
with the bacilli of diphtheria, one with
the bacilli of pseudo o-diphtheria. and
one with the bacillus prodigiosus.
| | prepared also twelve agar-agar test
1
pathogenic germs above mentioned
and also with the bacillus of pneumo-
MIA.
| The Petri dishes and the test tubes.
containing the germs of the diseases
mentioned, were placed all over the
room used for fumigating freight at
the Pacific Mail wharf. Wire netting
was used to cover them as protection
tagainst rats and mice.
| The doors were closed and the for
malin lamp discharged its vapor
through a small hole in the door for
nine hours and a half.
On the following day the doors were
opened and the Petri dishes and test
tubes gathered. 1t could be seen at n
glance that all the disease germs were
growing and showed vigorous colonies.
The bacillus prodigiosus grew with
such rapidity that the greater part of
the Petri dish was covered with bright
red colonies.
! Two days later numerous moulds
and ordinary germs found in the air
have grown in the dishes and test
tubes.
From the foregoing facts draw the
following conclusions:
Formalin. as used in this expert
| I;-;,
1t is not capable of destroying the
germs of any disease nor of arresting
their development. 1t did not show
any deleterious influence over the ordi-
nary germs that float in the air.
Owing to the higher temperature OF
the disinfecting room at the Pacific
Mail wharf, the germs, while exposed
TO the formaline vapor. grew faster
and more luXuriant than they grow in
the laboratory.
However. it would be erroneous to
conclude that formalin is worthless
as disinfecting agent. because IL
proved TO be of no value in this expert
ment. Its reputation as a reliable dis
infectant is well established and our
IeXperience with il merely shows that
the room at the Pacific Mail wharf is
not adapted to its use.
IT
used in a room that is not too large
for the size of the lamp. and. above all.
the room must be air-tight.
On the following day-the 16th-the
experiment was repeated, placing new
cultures of all the germs used the pre-
vious day about the room at the Pa
cific Mail wharf. using the same pre-
cautions against rats and mice.
Sulphur was used instead of forma-
lin for four and half hours. On the
18th the doors were opened and the
Petri dishes and test tubes examined.
All the germs OF the different dis
eases were found dead and no colonies
of moulds or other germs that float in
the air have appeared on the agar
agar.
Several bright silver coins which Mr..
Reynolds had wrapped in many folds
of a cloth showed clearly the effects OF
the sulphur fumigation.
We may conclude that sulphur. as
used in this experiment, is capable OF
destroying the germs of the different
diseases which We're exposed to its
fumes.