eggs of the flies. Such a state of things must have been highly injurious to the health of the soldiers, who had to eat meat which had been thus exposed. Latterly this evil has been completely remedied by the free use of the powder. I have been induced to bring forward these circumstances, as I think the practical benefits to be derived from so powerful an
agent
as
a
deodorizer, disinfectant, antiseptic,
are not
fully
should be without a I have found a solution, or rather I should say a mixture?for it does not readily dissolve in water?of five ounces to the gallon completely efficacious in destroying the odour of the most stinking clothes. Such an agent must be most useful in times of cholera in disinfecting bedding, &c., tainted with the discharges of the patients. McDougall's powder is a compound of the sulphates of lime and magnesia and carbolic acid. The former appear to act by the rapid oxygenation of animal matters, and the consequent prevention of putrefactive fermentation. Some very interesting facts with regard to the physiological and therapeutical properties of the sulphites have been lately brought forward by an Italian, Professor Giovanni Polli, and, if true, would tend to show that they possess equally marked powers when taken internally as when employed as disinfectants to decomposing animal matter. The sulphites have been found in the hands of Italian physicians of great diseases in general ; and use in the treatment of zymotic such observations would recommend a fair trial of them in cases of cholera.
recognized. In my opinion, liberal supply of the powder.
ON McDOUGALL'S DISINFECTING POWDER. By JAMES E. JACKSON, Meerut. Superintendent, Central Prison, On the 14th July were admitted into the jail hospital fourteen men, victims of an accident at a brick-kiln, by which burns of a most severe nature were inflicted. Many of these men had complete desquamation of the greater part of the cuticle of the legs and arms?the skin, equal in some cases to one-fourth of the entire surface, being destroyed. Of these men seven died from their wounds. My object in thus briefly stating" this accident is to bring to notice the -wonderful efficacy of McDougall's Disinfecting
Powder"
as
a
deodorizer.
The state of a hospital ward, with fourteen men suffering from such extensive wounds, in the rainy season, may be imagined. I had from the first ordered a solution of the powder to be freely sprinkled about the beds of the patients, and blankets, soaked in the same, hung up at intervals. On one occasion, when my orders had been neglected, as I entered the hospital door, a strong breeze blowing down the ward at the time, the stench was overpowering. I was most struck with the immediate removal of the stench, on the free use of the agent which I at once had recourse to. There was one other point which could not fail to attract attention, the absence of flies wherever the solution was properly used. By those who have experience of campaigning in the plains of India during the hot season, especially the rains, and who know what an intolerable plague and serious evil to wounded men are the swarms of flies which abound under such circumstances, an agent so completely efficacious against these winged pests will be recognised as a great boon. McDougall's powder is extensively used in large stables in England {vide Dr. Clark's "Hygiene of the Army in India"), where one of its chief recommendations is its power of banishing flies, the pertinacious torments to horseflesh. My friend, Major Lever, Deputy Commissary General, informs me that till lately the swarms of blue-bottle flies, et hoc genus omne, which infested the slaughter sheds at this station, were a great nuisance. The ground immediately below where the slaughtered oxen were hung, became saturated with the drippings from the carcases, and in this decomposing animal matter were hatched the
no
hospital
agent
as
a
deodorizer, disinfectant, antiseptic,
are not
fully
should be without a I have found a solution, or rather I should say a mixture?for it does not readily dissolve in water?of five ounces to the gallon completely efficacious in destroying the odour of the most stinking clothes. Such an agent must be most useful in times of cholera in disinfecting bedding, &c., tainted with the discharges of the patients. McDougall's powder is a compound of the sulphates of lime and magnesia and carbolic acid. The former appear to act by the rapid oxygenation of animal matters, and the consequent prevention of putrefactive fermentation. Some very interesting facts with regard to the physiological and therapeutical properties of the sulphites have been lately brought forward by an Italian, Professor Giovanni Polli, and, if true, would tend to show that they possess equally marked powers when taken internally as when employed as disinfectants to decomposing animal matter. The sulphites have been found in the hands of Italian physicians of great diseases in general ; and use in the treatment of zymotic such observations would recommend a fair trial of them in cases of cholera.
recognized. In my opinion, liberal supply of the powder.
ON McDOUGALL'S DISINFECTING POWDER. By JAMES E. JACKSON, Meerut. Superintendent, Central Prison, On the 14th July were admitted into the jail hospital fourteen men, victims of an accident at a brick-kiln, by which burns of a most severe nature were inflicted. Many of these men had complete desquamation of the greater part of the cuticle of the legs and arms?the skin, equal in some cases to one-fourth of the entire surface, being destroyed. Of these men seven died from their wounds. My object in thus briefly stating" this accident is to bring to notice the -wonderful efficacy of McDougall's Disinfecting
Powder"
as
a
deodorizer.
The state of a hospital ward, with fourteen men suffering from such extensive wounds, in the rainy season, may be imagined. I had from the first ordered a solution of the powder to be freely sprinkled about the beds of the patients, and blankets, soaked in the same, hung up at intervals. On one occasion, when my orders had been neglected, as I entered the hospital door, a strong breeze blowing down the ward at the time, the stench was overpowering. I was most struck with the immediate removal of the stench, on the free use of the agent which I at once had recourse to. There was one other point which could not fail to attract attention, the absence of flies wherever the solution was properly used. By those who have experience of campaigning in the plains of India during the hot season, especially the rains, and who know what an intolerable plague and serious evil to wounded men are the swarms of flies which abound under such circumstances, an agent so completely efficacious against these winged pests will be recognised as a great boon. McDougall's powder is extensively used in large stables in England {vide Dr. Clark's "Hygiene of the Army in India"), where one of its chief recommendations is its power of banishing flies, the pertinacious torments to horseflesh. My friend, Major Lever, Deputy Commissary General, informs me that till lately the swarms of blue-bottle flies, et hoc genus omne, which infested the slaughter sheds at this station, were a great nuisance. The ground immediately below where the slaughtered oxen were hung, became saturated with the drippings from the carcases, and in this decomposing animal matter were hatched the
no
hospital
