An attempt to show that the walls and flooring of ordinary hospitals are largely concerned in the production of those septic poisons which give rise to pyaemia, erysipelas, and puerperal fever : with suggestions for remedying the evil / by John Day.

  • Day, John, 1816-1881.
Date:
[1875]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An attempt to show that the walls and flooring of ordinary hospitals are largely concerned in the production of those septic poisons which give rise to pyaemia, erysipelas, and puerperal fever : with suggestions for remedying the evil / by John Day. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    7/8 (page 7)
    coat them over with silicate paint, and then rub them down and varnish them. Very beautiful enamelled ceilings are now being made by the Enamelled Iron Company in Birmingham, which would answer admirably, not only for the ceilings, but I think also for the walls of hospitals. The furniture of a hospital might easily be rendered disinfectant in a variety of ways. For instance, it might be occasionally brushed over with either gasoline or benzine, in which a little benzoic acid has been dissolved. The smell from these hydrocarbons soon passes off, but their disinfecting properties will remain for a very long time. Or it may be rubbed with any of the ordinary compounds sold as furniture polish, provided they do not contain an alkali. They nearly all contain some ingredients which generate both acids and peroxide of hydrogen, such as oil of turpentine, linseed oil, and resin. With regard to atmospheric disinfection, either in our hospitals, our public buildings, or our dwelling-houses, common sense tells us that we should turn out the foul air, and let in pure fresh air in its stead ; but this alone has often been found insufficient for the purification of hospital air, more particularly in the surgical wards, where pus-cells are apt to accumulate, and to give rise, whilst under- going decomposition, to the most dangerous consequences. Now if it be true that pus decomposes peroxide of hydrogen, and sets free nascent oxygen, which not only oxidises the pus, but also any other putrescible organic matter which may be present; we may I think rationally conclude, that certain volatile substances, such as gasoline, benzine, and eucalyptus oil, all of which possess the property of generating peroxide of hydrogen, would be found suitable disinfectants for the atmosphere of a hospital. STILLWELL AND KNIGHT, PRINTERS, COLLINS STREET EAST.