A NEW ANTISEPTIC COMPOSITION
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, of 39, Rue do
l'Echiquier, Paris, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, for the Inven
tion of "A NEW ANTISEPTIC COMPOSITION."
Sealed the 23rd October 1857, and dated the 2nd July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marguerite Antoinetta
Laurent at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition,
on the 2nd July 1857.
I, MARGUERITE ANTOINETTE LAURENT, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, and
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention of "A NEW ANTISEPTIC COMPOSITION," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in forming a new composition for disinfecting any
place or substances, and is composed as follows:-Charcoal and sulphur, of
each about two and a half drams; chlorate of potass, half a dram; nitrate of
potass, about two and a half drams. These substances are reduced to powder
in a mortar or by other means.
In applying the powder to paper, linen, cotton, or other like inflammable
material, I cover it with a coat of paste, made with flour or starch, which cont
is covered with the above powder; the material is then passed between rollers
to render the surface smooth. Or, I dissolve the nitrate and chlorate of potass
in water, in which solution I immerse the fabric, which, when dry, I cover
with paste and with the said powder. The fabric is then dried and passed
between rollers.

page_text: Whichever mode I employ to cover the material with the inflammable
substances, I place it finally in an alcoholic solution containing benzoin or
cascarilla, about one dram fifteen grains; lycopodium, half a dram; musk,
fifteen and a half grains; myrrh, amber, storax, or any other aromatic
substance, half a dram.
With the above prepared materials combined, or by making a solid mass by
adding some gum dragon dissolved in water, I form pastilles, drops, lozenges,
to be burned when used for disinfecting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marguerite Antoinette Laurent in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 81st December 1857.
· TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARGUERITE
ANTOINETTE LAURENT, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, Her special license that I, the said Marguerite
Antoinette Laurent, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
ns I, the said Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention of "A NEW ANTISEPTIC COMPOSITION," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my or their or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-

page_text: The Invention consists in the employment or certain substances combined
in or about the proportions herein-after stated, for the preparation of an
antiseptic composition, which I apply to paper, and in the form of pastilles or
otherwise; as desired, the object of which is to neutralise miasma and putrid
odours, thus replacing the use of chlorine in certain cases, serving to purify
the clothes and apartments of the sick or dead, and to prevent contagion.
In forming the new composition, I mix the following substances, in different
proportions according to the purpose for which they are intended :—
Inflammable Substances.
Nitrate of potass.
Odoriferous Substances.
Chlorate of potass.
Sugar.
Sulphur.
Charcoal.
Locopodium.
Camphor.
Benzoin.
Alocs.
Cascarilla.
Myrrh or incense.
Olibanum.
Amber or musk.
Dry storax, styrax.
In the ordinary composition I employ certain of these substances in the
following proportions: =
Charcoal, about two and a half drams (apoth.)
Sulphur,
"
two and a half
"
"
Cascarilla, one and a quarter
"
Lycopodium,,, half a dram
Nitrate of potass, two and a half
Chlorate of potass, half a dram
Benzoin, one and a quarter
Dry storax, half a dram.
Styrax, one and a quarter
"
33
"
"9
"
"
"
"
"
"
The other substances are employed ad libitum.
To render the composition more powerful, I increase the proportions of the
following substances, viz, sulphur, about fifteen and a half drams (apoth.);
chlorate of potass, two and a half drams (apotb.); nitrate of potass, two and a
half drams, apoth. I then add the perfumes.
In all applications for the purpose of purifying, it is necessary to add
sulphur, nitrate and chlorate of potass to the other constituents of the
composition.
Mode of applying the new composition to the preparation of the paper.-
I reduce the substances to powder, which I pass through a sieve; I then cover
with paste, starch, or glue, a sheet of ordinary paper, and sprinkle the powder
over it by any suitable means whilst it is still wet.

page_text: Another mode of applying the composition consists in making a solution of
the nitrate and chlorate of potass in water, and immersing the sheets of paper
in it, then spreading the paste or glue over each sheet, and applying the
powder, as before stated. Or, the sheets of paper may be dried after being
immersed in the nitrate and chlorate of potass solution, and afterwards dipped
in an alcoholic solution of aromatic substances.
Preparation of the pastilles.-I place the above stated substances in water
containing mucilage of gum dragon till the whole forms a compact mass;
I then mould or cut it by means of a tin tube or punch and leave it to dry.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine myself to the
exact proportions herein stated, but what I claim is, the employment of the
above substances, combined in or about the proportions herein stated, for the
preparation of an antiseptic composition, which can be applied to paper or
used in the form of pastilles for neutralising, when ignited, miasma and putrid
odours, and for purifying the clothes and apartments of the sick and dead, and
also for preventing contagion, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marguerite Antoinette Laurent, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
M. F. MENNONS.
M. A. LAURENT. (L.S.)