Report on, and schedule of, experiments with disinfectants / by Lt.-Col. R.H. Firth, F.R.C.S., D.P.H., R.A.M.C., (Fellow) and Allan Macfadyen, M.D., B.Sc., F.I.C.

  • Firth, R. H. (Robert Hammill), 1858- 1931
Date:
1906
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on, and schedule of, experiments with disinfectants / by Lt.-Col. R.H. Firth, F.R.C.S., D.P.H., R.A.M.C., (Fellow) and Allan Macfadyen, M.D., B.Sc., F.I.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    3/30
    [Excerpt from Vol. XXVir., No. 1 (1906), of the Journal of J lie Royal Sanitary Institute.] SPECIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE ROYAL SANITARY INSTITUTE. DISINFECTANT STANDARDISATION COMMITTEE. In the course of their consideration of the above subject, the following Report of Experiments made on behalf of this Committee has been submitted to them by Lieut.-Col, R. H. Firth, f.r.c.s., d.p.h., r.a.m.c., and Professor Allan MaCFADYEN, M.D., B.SC., F.I.C. FOR the further elucidation of the question as to what method is best adapted for the routine standardisation of disinfectants, your Com¬ mittee requested us to carry out additional experiments to those which have already been submitted. The accompanying schedule presents the results of a large number of observations which have been made under our supervision by Major C. E. P. Fowler, R.A.M.C., in the hygiene laboratory of the Royal Army Medical College on behalf and at the expense of The Royal Sanitary Institute. The general plan of these experiments has been to test the comparative value of three methods, namely “the Garnet,” “the Thread,” and the “ Drop,” using as test micro-organisms (1) spore bearing anthrax bacilli, (2) various strains of the B. typhosus, and (3) the B. prod/giosus. The selection of these particular varieties of bacterial life was made because they respectively represent a typical resistant pathogenic form, a typical faecal pathogenic micro-organism, and a typical saprophytic microbe. A few observations have been made with the cholera vibrio. Further, the experiments have been carried out to determine, if possible, whether bichloride of mercury could be utilised as the standard reagent in place of phenol, as had been suggested previously, and also to test the three methods with a variety of commercial disinfectants in common use.