On charcoal as a disinfectant : being a letter to the editor of the "Times;" as published in that journal on the 22nd November, 1854 / by John Stenhouse.

Date:
[1854?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On charcoal as a disinfectant : being a letter to the editor of the "Times;" as published in that journal on the 22nd November, 1854 / by John Stenhouse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    deal not only with effluvia, but also with real mias- mata ; for, as is well known, the poisonous gases emitted by gangrenous sores not only affect the indi- vidual with whom the mischief has originated, but readily infect the perfectly healthy wounds of any individuals who may happen to be in its vicinity. So that in this way gangrene has been known to spread not only through one ward, but through seve- ral wards of the same hospital. Within the last few weeks the dissecting room at St. Bartholomew's Hospital has been perfectly deo- dorised by means of a few trays filled with a thin layer of freshly heated wood charcoal. A similar arrangement will, in all probability, be likewise soon applied to the wards of St. Bartholomew's, and every other well-conducted hospital. From these and other considerations, therefore, I feel perfectly confident that charcoal will prove by far the cheapest and best disinfectant. Unlike many other disinfectants it evolves no disagreeable vapours, and if heated in close vessels will always act, however long it has been in use, quite as effectively as at first. If our soldiers and sailors, therefore, when placed in unhealthy situations were furnished with charcoal respirators, such as the second form above described, and if the floors of the tents and the lower decks of ships were covered by a thin layer of freshly burnt wood charcoal, I think we could have little in future to apprehend from the ravages of cholera, yellow fever, and similar diseases by which our forces have