acquitted through defect of evidence-the Greek had made his escape.

We shall now give M. Labarraque's directions for proceeding to disinfect a putrefying corpse.

may

"Before approaching a corpse in putrefaction, a tub should be procured in which be put a load of water (24 litres, about 49 pints); pour into this flagon half a kilogramme(1 lb. 1 oz. 10 dr. avoirdupois) of the chloruret of lime, and stir the mixture.

"Dip a sheet in the water contained in the tub, and unfold it so as to be able to withdraw it with facility, and particularly so as to be enabled to extend it very quickly over the corpse.

"To effect this, let two persons open the sheet and place it in the liquid, holding the ends upon the edges of the tub: let this be carried to the side of the body in putrefaction, and at the same instant let the wet sheet be drawn out of the tub and laid over the body.

"Soon afterwards the putrid odour ceases.

"If blood or any other fluid proceeding from the dead body have flowed upon the ground, pour upon this liquid one or two glassfulls of the chlorureted water; stir with a broom, and the putrid odour will disappear.

"This operation, however, ought not to be thus performed whenever the liquids spilled upon the ground may become the subject of a chemical analysis: in this case the greatest quantity possible should be carefully collected; and it is when this has been effected that the disinfection of the ground should be performed in the manner above mentioned.

"If the infection have spread in the neighbouring places, in the corridors, stairs, &c. the infected places are to be sprinkled with one or two glasses of liquid chloruret of lime, and the fetid odour will cease.

"Care must be taken to moisten frequently with the liquid contained in the tub, the sheet which covers the corpse: the reproduction of the putrid odour will be thus prevented.

"As soon as the body has been removed, the sheet which has served for the disinfection should be washed in large quantities of water, dried and folded."

It is evident that the process may be applied in cases where it is required to preserve a corpse from putrefaction, either for the purposes of lying in state, or remaining for the inspection of relatives. The body of the late King of France, Louis XVIII. was presented to the public, to use the French phrase, without odour. M. Labarraque was present at the embalming, and this may be considered as the triumph of his art. There are objects, however, of much greater importance than the mockery of funeral pomp, or the useless gratification of morbid feelings of affection, to which the chlorurets may be successfully applied. The most severe cases of typhus are found amongst students of anatomy, who thus fall a sacrifice to their love of science. Dwelling over a putrid mass of animal substance for days and weeks, and constantly inspiring an atmosphere loaded with the pernicious exhalations which it throws out, the student sickens, and rapidly falls the victim of an irresistible malady. A judicious application of the solution of the chlorurets, when joined with the usual precautions of cleanliness, may be shown to divest the dissecting-room of all its noxious qualities.

The floor should be washed with chlorureted water, and afterwards with plain water when necessary. With these general precautions, the prevention of putrefaction is not difficult; the aspersion of the solution of chloruret of lime or of soda over the subject each time before beginning to dissect, removing with a sponge all superfluous moisture, and renewing the sprinkling should it be required during the work, will be sufficient to counteract putrefaction, and the odour resulting from it. When the dissection is discontinued, the covering of the subject with a coarse cloth or cloths moistened in the solution of the chloruret, should not be omitted; and the moistening

of the cloths should be renewed night and morning. The proportions for this purpose, may be from twenty-five to thirty, or even forty parts of water to one of the chloruret.

In hospitals, manufactories, and all other places where persons are exposed to the contaminating effects of an atmosphere impregnated with pernicious exhalations, M. Labarraque's method has been used with the most triumphant success.

M. Labarraque relates experiments made during two nights at the Bicêtre in eight wards, inhabited and very infected. These wards, to the great satisfaction of the patients and of the physician who attended them, (Dr. Pariset, general secretary to the Royal Academy of Medicine, &c.) have been purified by means of sprinklings made with one bottle of the concentrated chloruret diluted with thirty parts of water. The remainder of the liquor served to disinfect the tubs placed outside the wards and the privies of the lunatic patients.

Ships may be thus purified from the effects of a number of individuals living crowded together; and the water, which frequently becomes putrid at sea, may likewise be rendered perfectly sweet by the same process.

"The chloruret of lime is previously dissolved in water, and added gradually, stirring the vessel of putrid water till the disinfection be complete. If the chloruret predominate, it is sufficient to expose the chlorureted water for some moments to the air, and to filtrate it or leave it to settle, in order that it may become drinkable.

"We may readily conceive of what utility this process may be, whether at sea, or in marshy countries where the water is insalubrious, or even where persons are obliged to drink the water of cisterns, which is often corrupted."

One of the most striking examples of the efficacy of M. Labarraque's disinfectants, occurs in the cleansing of one of the horrid sewers of Paris. The subject may not be considered as one of the most delicate-our regard, however, for the important interests of health, and the prevention of misery, leads us to despise that which may, in the present instance, be considered a false delicacy. Without hesitation, therefore, we shall record M. Labarraque's own account of the purification of the Egout Amelot.

M. Paulin, manager of the general administration of the drain of St. Martin, came to me the 11th August, 1825, to solicit, on the part of M. Berard, vice-president of the Council of Health, some chloruret of lime, with the manner of using it to disinfect a portion of the drain or sewer, Egout Amelot, where several workmen had fallen into a state of suspended animation the preceding day. I offered my assistance in the projected operation. The nightmen were ordered for the cleansing of a portion of the sewer, from about twelve to fourteen feet, which was to be effected the next day at eight o'clock. The slime and filth to be raised were four feet and a half deep.

I caused to be placed, not far from the sewer, a tub containing about sixty litres (about fifteen gallons) of water, with one pound of the chloruret of lime well diffused in this liquid. A pailful of this liquor was placed by the side of the workmen occupied in demolishing the wall; and these workmen, at the moment of raising the demolitions, washed their hands and arms, and moistened their nostrils with the chlorureted water. The mightmen took the same precaution in carrying away the soil, which, thrown some feet above their heads and mine, was watered with the solution of the chloruret, then projected by a workman on the surface of the ground; this slime, by means of a renewed sprinkling, was further disinfected. The operation lasted more than four hours, and without any accident occurring, Whether through deference to me, or, perhaps, because I had impressed upon them my conviction of the efficacy of the disinfectant employed, these workmen were obedient to my advice. The security in which they witnessed me during the whole of their dangerous and unpleasant work,-merely holding a smelling-bottle of chloruret in my hand, and sometimes under my nostrils, may have also contributed to that effect. Nevertheless we were in a sewer infected and impracticable for more than forty years, and in which eight

See the interesting work of M. Parent-Duchatelet, entitled, "Essais sur les Cloaques ou Egouts de la Ville de Paris."

workmen were seized with asphyxia a short time after having penetrated into it. This unhappy event, which occurred in 1782, was the subject of an essay by M. Cadet de Vaux, which gave rise to the splendid researches of the celebrated professor Halle, and may more recently have contributed to those of Messrs. Thenard, Dupuytren, Barruel, &c.

It may be seen that the Egout Amelot, left to itself on account of the just dread which it inspired in the workmen and the authorities, contained a considerable augmentation of filth, which augmenting daily, would in the end have entirely obstructed it.

Will it not be possible to effect the emptying or cleansing of it without having to deplore these fatal accidents ?-such was the question which I proposed to myself whilst I was surrounded by deadly emanations,--a question which I believed myself able to answer in the affirmative but to attain this end it would be necessary to combine the wind furnace of Darcet, (one of the most useful applications I am aware of,) with the abundant use of the chloruret, and with many other precautionary means relating to health which should be indicated by localities.

As I was preparing to descend into the sewer, a woman in tears came to solicit assistance from the chief of the workmen. Her husband was one of those struck with asphyxia, and who had been attacked in the severest form; he had lost all recollection during a long time, since he had been carried to No. 48, rue des Tournelles, without having recovered his senses. A vomit was administered: the physician, considering the frightful misery of the patient, advised him to be carried to an hospital, and believed his advice had been followed. The patient nevertheless wished to remain at home: he had been vomiting for forty-eight hours the weak tea which had been given him, and several times within this period he had lost his recollection. I directed some remedies: acidulated water, &c.

The emptying of the sewer being almost finished, I desired to be conducted to the patient. The vomiting had ceased after the first cup of acidulated gum-water. This man, aged forty-one years, had the appearance of decrepitude. Pierre Aimé lay upon a pallet; his pulse was miserable; he complained of severe pains in his head, and of great weight; he said he had great difficulty in breathing, and that he was tormented above all by the bad taste which he had constantly in his mouth, and which he said was that of the stench (plomb) which had made him lose his recollection: his voice was almost extinct, and he believed that he had but a few moments to live. I raised the spirits of this unfortunate man, by assuring him that he should speedily be cured, and that his wages should be paid the same as if he had been at work: at the same time I made him respire the vapour of some concentrated chloruret, which he seemed to suck in with delight; his features appeared less shrunk. Pierre Aimé assured me that he breathed more freely, and that he had no longer the bad odour in his mouth. The next day I learned that the patient had slept five hours; he called for the water which had relieved him from so great a weight and pain in his head; I sprinkled diluted chloruret in his chamber. The 14th August Pierre Aimé was cured; he had been able to get up and I informed go out. myself of the circumstances of his accident: A building stone," said he, "having fallen among the filth of the sewer, and having stuck there, I raised it a little with my pickaxe; and stooping, my two hands before me, to lay hold of it and raise it, I fell without recollection, and as if struck with death."

The effect of the chloruret will perhaps appear surprising in this instance, considering the time which had elapsed since the asphyxia (forty-eight hours). However, persons who have respired the gas which is disengaged from animal substances in putrefaction, must have remarked that they are pursued for a long time by the fetid odour, and that even their excretions are partly impregnated with it. It therefore appears to me rational to make the patients respire the chloruret of oxide of sodium or of lime, in all cases of asyphyxia arising from sewers or privies, however long after the event the patients may have been under the influence of the deleterious gas.

It is scarcely possible that any doubt can remain in the mind of the most sceptical, of the powerful agency of these preparations. Should this, however, be the case, it will surely be removed by the following case of asphyxia. It occurred in August, 1824.

A workman of a vermicelli maker was exposed to a current of deleterious gas, which proceeded from an accumulation of filth and rubbish heaped together from a pit of night-soil which was undergoing repair. He fell without consciousness. M. Labarraque was called to the patient soon after the accident;-the symptoms were, pulse strong, but fugitive on pressure, excessive rigidity of the limbs; arms stretched, stiff

and almost cold; head thrown backwards; veins of the neck turgid; face violet coloured, also the lips, which were much swollen; eyes closed, dull and insensible; respiration appeared extinct; the danger seemed imminent. The physician did not arrive; vinegar, æther, and strong ammonia, placed under the patient's nostrils, produced no effect. The sensibility could not be recalled. M. Labarraque details the train of reasoning which led him to adopt immediately the concentrated solution of the chloruret of oxide of sodium. A napkin moistened in the solution was placed under the patient's nostrils, and in less than one minute he uttered an acute and plaintive cry or groan the rigidity ceased; his eyes opened to shut again in a few seconds: the tetanic rigidity had reappeared with its frightful train. I (Mr. L.) had withdrawn the chloruret too soon. The usual stimulants again tried produced no effect. The chloruret was reapplied in less than a minute the rigidity of the limbs ceased, and the patient sent forth a piercing cry, which was stopped by the linen impregnated with the chloruret. A full inspiration took place; the air necessarily passing through the moistened linen, was therefore charged with chloruret, saturated with water. The disinfection of the gas contained in the chest, was no doubt complete, since the symptoms ceased. He was made to walk into the street, keeping the chloruret under his nostrils. His countenance regained its natural appearance. Two spoonfuls of an æthereal potion were administered, and he was soon in a condition to resume his work; but this was not deemed prudent after so severe a shock. Repose and the open air were prescribed.

The patient's name was Jean Deliau. He recovered his health as perfectly as before the accident.

The Commission of Health at Marseilles, charged with making experiments on the use of the chlorurets of soda and of lime, in the lazaretto, have made a report confirmatory of their utility, and have added many useful directions for their application. The report is dated in December, 1825, and was communicated by the Member of the Interior to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, at its sitting on the 3d February, 1825.

The following are extracts from the experiments recommended by the commission, to be made in the hospitals for persons labouring under the plague.

1. Washings and aspersions with the chlorureted water to be made in the wards several times every day.

2. Tubs containing chlorureted water are to be placed in the same wards, so as to keep up a continual evaporation of the chlorurets.

3. The physicians, almoners, servants, and all those who take care of the sick, before approaching them, and in quitting them, to wash their hands in chlorureted water.

4. The same persons to make use of smelling bottles filled with chlorurets, and to moisten the openings of the nostrils therewith.

5. Applications of the chlorureted water to be made to the buboes, the carbuncles, and the gangrenes of persons labouring under the plague.

6. Smelling bottles or sponges imbibed with the chlorurets are to be frequently brought near to the nostrils of the same patients.

7. Water containing half a dram or one dram of the concentrated chloruret of oxide of sodium to each pint, to be given to the patients afflicted with plague, as their common drink.

8. The baggage, apparel, &c. of pestiferous patients, and of those suspected to conceal some contagious principle, to be exposed to the evaporation of chlorureted water, which is to be heated to give it greater activity.

9. The apparel which is not likely to be deteriorated by the chlorurets to be washed in these solutions.

In concluding the first part of this account of the properties of these chlorurets, viz. their usefulness in checking the decomposition of animal substances without life, it will be advisable to give M. Labarraque's view of the comparative properties of the two great agents.

These two chlorurets are equally proper to arrest putrefaction: but nevertheless they have not the same secondary properties. He explains in the act of the disinfection of a putrid animal substance, the chloruret passes into the state of hydro-chlorate, and the hydro-chlorate of lime having the property of absorbing humidity from the air,

fixes it upon the disinfected body. Now, one of the conditions of putrefaction being humidity, it follows, that once the disinfection performed, the chloruret, after a long or shorter time according to its quantity, has changed its state, and furnishes one of the conditions fit to reproduce the putrefactive odour. The chloruret of oxide of sodium, on the contrary, in passing into the state of hydro-chlorate, gives place to the formation of a very dry salt, which acts as a preservative by coagulating the principle which commences putrefaction. This is what he calls a secondary property. Thus the chloruret of oxide of sodium will suit whenever we wish to disinfect a body, and prevent the renewal of putrefaction; it will be fitted above all for applications to wounds of a bad character, by the property which it possesses of detaching the portion of the tissue already disorganized from that which retains its vital properties: whilst the chloruret of lime, if it be well saturated, for by keeping, the disinfecting and bleaching property of the chloruret of lime is weakened, can only serve for a simple disinfection, that is, for the exhumation of a corpse which is to be immediately examined; it is also fitted for the disinfection of the dead bodies deposited at the Morgue, because the sprinklings with chlorureted water are renewed several times daily if it be necessary.

The use of the chlorurets in the healing of wounds, mollifying ulcers, and otherwise checking decomposition, has not been so much the study of M. Labarraque as the other branch of their influence. His ideas have, however, been taken up by several medical men of ability, and the results are of the most satisfactory kind. Mr. Alcock has here had a more extended field from which to make his collection. Hitherto he has been entirely indebted to M. Labarraque; but for this object has gathered from the different medical journals and reports, the experience of his friends, and his own researches, all that has been done or is to be known relative to the subject. It would be impossible in this slight review of the history of the application of the chlorurets, to give more than a very few of the cases which Mr. Alcock has collected: it is, moreover, in a miscellaneous work like the present, which goes into hands of every description, to detail the particulars of some of the cases. Such extracts as we can make will sufficiently show the further efficacy of the disinfectants, and at any rate excite curiosity, and perhaps promote experiment.

M. Jules Cloquet, adjoint surgeon in chief of the Hospital Saint Louis, has used the chloruret of oxide of sodium successfully to gangrenous ulcers: in several of these extremely severe diseases this able surgeon has caused the mortified limb to be bathed in the chloruret diluted with ten or fifteen parts of water, and has given inwardly from twenty-five to thirty drops of the chloruret of oxide of sodium in a pint of ptisan. His observations will be published.

Professor Marjolin, surgeon in chief of the Hospital Beaujon, has used the same chloruret to gangrenous affections, whether this state occurred after the amputation of a limb, or from any other cause; he observed that the eschar became quickly detached, and that the disease was limited in the greatest number of instances.

The following is an English case :—

The chloraret of oxide of sodium, was used with very good effects in the ulceration resulting from gangrene of the cheek, in a boy aged about nine years, a patient of Mr. Ollier, Surgeon to the Western Dispensary. The boy had laboured under fever, and the destruction of the cheek had taken place, before he came under Mr. Ollier's care. The dead parts had separated, leaving a great part of the lower jaw perfectly denuded; there was a copious and offensive discharge, which evidently, by the fetid odour of the breath, must have tainted the air respired by the patient. A solution of the chloruret, in the proportion of one part to six of water, was applied to the ulcerated surfaces, and the dressings moistened with the same solution from time to time: the putrid odour immediately disappeared; the necessary attention was paid to the general health, which was extremely disordered, the patient laboured under excessive diarrhea, (a circumstance far from unusual, when the system is under the influence of putrid emanations,) and was in a state of extreme danger. The condition of the ulcerated surfaces rapidly