Some Thoughts Relative to Sanitary Legislation.

break of contagious disease that in the judgment of the said board might seem necessary and proper, there has, within the past eighteen months, occurred a circumstance well worth while to consider. The law very plainly provides that it shall be the duty of the state board of health to adopt such rules and regulations as in its judgment seems necessary and proper, and that such rules shall have the effect of law throughout the state. The state board, in obedience to that provision of law which has not been questioned since the organization of the board, adopts rules and regulations that are consistent with the law, and with the view of all sanitarians, and a lower court has decided that the law giving the state board power to make such rules and regulations is unconstitutional on the ground that the state legislature cannot delegate any such powers to any board. As a result all the rules adopted by the state board of health, according to the ruling of this court, are null and void, and the board practically has nó authority, although acting in good faith for the past twenty years, to adopt any rules that have the effect of law throughout the state, and its only function is advisory.

Of course this case has been appealed to the supreme court for final decision, but this process requires, from the time the authority of the state board was questioned to the time of the decision of the supreme court, nearly two years.* Had such laws been promulgated by a national sanitary authority, and handed down to the state authorities, all such delays and difficulties would have been prevented, and the cause of sanitation would have received an impetus and power which has long been denied it, but which it well deserves.

Let us have a Department of Public Health in Washington.

*Since the writing of this article, the Supreme Court has sustained the decision of the lower court, and declared the rules adopted by the State Board of Health null and void, and unreasonable and unnecessary, although they were adopted in the face of an epidemic of small pox.

Formaldehyde as a Disinfectant.

FORMALDEHYDE AS A DISINFECTANT.

The word "formaldehyde" is a comparatively new word, except to chemists. Aldehyde is an alcohol from which a portion of hydrogen has been removed, in other words it is a dehydrogenated alcohol. By taking the first syllable of alcohol, and the first two syllables of hydrogenated, we form the name "Aldehyde."

It is a very easy matter to change the aldehydes into acids, and the names of the different aldehydes are obtained from the acids into which they change. For instance, an aldehyde which results in the formation of formic acid is called formic aldehyde, by dropping off the last syllable of formic we have the word "Formaldehyde." The alcohol from which formaldehyde is named is known to the chemists as methyl alcohol and in the arts is known as wood or spirit of wood alcohol, and is a very cheap form of alcohol. By heating wood alcohol in contact with platinum over the glow of an ordinary spirit lamp, a vapor is quickly produced, and this vapor is known as formaldehyde. When a lamp is lighted and then quickly extinguished, the platinum having been heated to a cherry redness, it will continue to glow as long as there is any alcohol to be evaporated. By this process the formaldehyde will be constantly generated.

Many lamps have been devised for generating this formaldehyde, and are now easily procured from the different instrument makers' stores, and many of the large drug stores, in nearly every city. The cost of these apparatus varies from five to twenty-five dollars, depending upon their size and durability. The larger size is better adapted for boards of health who have a number of rooms to disinfect at once.

At the last meeting of the American Public Health Association, held in Buffalo, in September, 1896, two generators were described, one by Dr. F. C. Robinson, professor of chemistry at Bowdoin College, whose experiments were made at

Formaldehyde as a Disinfectant.

the instance of the state board of health of Maine. The lamp or generator which he presented was made with the object of generating the gases with the greatest possible rapidity, inas-` much as owing to the fact that it is when heated about the same specific gravity as air, it readily escapes from cracks and crevices, and in the second place, that it must be obtained in a comparatively dry condition. It consisted in a disk of moderately thick asbestos board and perforated with small holes and platinized by the use of a strong solution of platinic chloride. This disk is placed over a shallow dish filled with wood alcohol. The platinized disk is wet with wood alcohol, seized in a pair of forceps or small tongs, removed from the disk and quickly lighted. By the time the alcohol burns away this disk will be so heated that when placed over the dish it will continue heated and change the alcohol to formaldehyde. The dish being made of proper depth, and sufficiently loose for the admission of air, the disk keeps at the necessary heat to produce the evaporation required.

Experiments made by Dr. Robinson were in a room containing about 3,000 cubic feet of air space, and having three large windows with very loose sash. In about three and one-half hours the evaporation of from two and one-half to two quarts of alcohol resulted in complete sterilization of diphtheria and typhoid cultures. All parts of clothing, including seams, inside of pockets, and so on were sterilized in every part of the room. The typhoid bacillus was destroyed, even when buried for half an inch deep in sand. The cultures of typhoid and diphtheria were embedded under bed clothing, pillows, mattresses, and killed by the use of two quarts of alcohol in seven hours.

It is desirable, in its use, that each room should be treated separately rather than that a number of rooms of a whole house should be disinfected at once. Any ordinary living room would require at least a quart of alcohol. With three lamps, such as the Professor exhibited, he disinfected a house of sixteen rooms, using ten gallons of alcohol.

Formaldehyde as a Disinfectant.

The other method was presented by Dr. E. A. Schweinitz, Ph. D., M. D., Chief of the Bio-Chemical Laboratory, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. The experiments of this gentleman were made rather with reference to the destruction of animal parasite, and for this purpose he found it admirably suited. The amount generated in a given time, however, by this method is probably not as great as that generated by the apparatus of Prof. Robinson, just described.

An ordinary lamp wick is made use of, which may be either round or flat, and to the top is attached by a wire a piece of sheet asbestos about one and one-half inches in length. The asbestos is impregnated with platinum and copper, or with one of these lined. The wick is then placed in an ordinary lamp, which it will fit. The lamp is filled with wood alcohol and the capillary attraction of the wick throws up a sufficient quantity of alcohol to generate the gas. A lamp with a central draft gives by far the best results. The lamp is first lighted and allowed to burn for a minute until the asbestos begins to glow with a cherry colored heat, the flame then being extinguished the asbestos will continue to contain its red heat as long as there is any alcohol left.

Undoubtedly more perfect lamps will be devised in the future than perhaps exist at the present time, but lamps are now upon the market which, as stated before, can be furnished through almost any surgical instrument house, that will do good work, and prove to be exceedingly satisfactory in the work of disinfection.

The advantage of formaldehyde over the burning of sulphur is not to be compared. The generation of formaldehyde, as above stated, will destroy all of the pathogenic germs of disease in the course of six or eight hours, and it can be used without the objections that result from the use of sulphur. The expense of wood alcohol is slight, costing about seventy-five cents per gallon. A great advantage in the use of this agent as a disinfectant is that while it is the most positive germicide known

An Incident in the History of Vaccination.

it can be used freely without any injurious effects to any articles found in ordinary living rooms. Experiments made by Dr. Kinyon of the Marine Hospital service showed that over 225 samples of wool, silk, cotton, linen, leather, and hair subjected to the action of formaldehyde in concentrated solutions and gaseous condition no change was observed in the textile character in any instance.

The Secretary of the State Board of Health intends to keep posted in regard to any advancement made relative to the use of this agent, or any others, as a disinfectant, and will be glad to answer any questions that may arise concerning it, on application from any health officer or physician in the state who may apply to him. Address Secretary State Board of Health, 204 Biddle Street, Milwaukee, Wis.

AN INCIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF VACCINA

TION.*

By W. S. Everett, M. D., Hyde Park, Mass.

The subject of vaccination may have been exhausted long ago so far as any interest attaches to its discussion, and its fabric may be worn threadbare even to darning and patching-by the attrition of argument by friend and foe. But there are some incidents in the history of the war that it has waged in winning its way to its present unassailable position that are worthy, not only of lasting remembrance, but of being placed fairly and squarely upon some prominent and elevated pedestal, to be observed, known, acknowledged and remembered by all men everywhere. There are some facts demonstrative of its value, and of its power as an annihilator of one of humanity's greatest scourges, that are too valuable and too decisive to be permitted to be forgotten, and that must never be lost to sight or hidden under oblivion's veil.

*Taken from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, July 2, 1897.