which may render such article injurious to the health of a person consuming it: Provided that the State Board of Health may, with the approval of the Governor, from time to time declare certain articles or preparations to be exempt from the provisions of this act: And provided further, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to mixtures or compounds recognized as ordinary articles of food, provided that the same are not injurious to health and that the articles are distinctly labelled as a mixture, stating the components of the mixture.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the State Board of Health to prepare and publish from time to time lists of the articles, mixtures, or compounds declared to be exempt from the provisions of this act in accordance with the preceding section. The State Board of Health shall also from time to time fix the limits of variability permissible in any article of food or drug, or compound, the standard of which is not established by any national pharmacopoeia.

SEC. 5. The State Board of Health shall take cognizance of the interests of the public health as it relates to the sale of food and drugs and the adulteration of the same, and make all necessary investigations and inquiries relating thereto. It shall also have the supervision of the appointment of public analysts and chemists, and upon its recommendation whenever it shall deem any such officers incompetent, the appointment of any and every such officer shall be revoked and be held to be void and of no effect. Within thirty days after the passage of this act, the State Board of Health shall meet and adopt such measures as may seem necessary to facilitate the enforcement of this act, and prepare rules and regulations with regard to the proper methods of collecting and examining articles of food or drugs, and for the appointment of the necessary inspectors and analysts; and the State Board of Health shall be authorized to expend, in addition to all sums already appropriated for said Board, an amount not exceeding ten thousand dollars, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act. And the sum of ten thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the purposes in this section provided.

SEC. 6. Every person selling or offering or exposing any article of food or drugs for sale, or delivering any article to purchasers, shall be bound to serve or supply any public analyst or other agent of the State or Local Board of Health appointed under this act, who shall apply to him for that purpose, and on his tendering the value of the same, with a sample sufficient for the purpose of analysis of any article which is included in this act, and which is in the possession of the person selling, under a penalty not exceeding fifty dollars for a first offence, and one hundred dollars for a second and subsequent offences.

SEC. 7. Any violation of the provisions of this act shall be treated and punished as a misdemeanor; and whoever shall impede, obstruct, hinder, or otherwise prevent any analyst, inspector, or prosecuting officer in the performance of his duty shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to indictment and punishment therefor.

SEC. 8. Any acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 9. All the regulations and declarations of the State Board of Health made under this act, from time to time and promulgated, shall be printed in the statutes at large.

SEC. 10. This act shall take effect at the expiration of ninety days after it shall become a law.

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RESOLUTIONS REGARDING MIXTURES.

Resolved, That under and pursuant to Section 4 of Chapter 407 of the Laws of 1881, the following mixtures, when distinctly labelled in the manner provided in subdivision 7 of Section 3 of said act, are within the conditions hereinafter prescribed declared to be exempt and permitted to be sold under the provisions of the said act.

"1st. Coffee mixtures containing no other substances except chicory, peas, or cereals, and in which mixtures the pure coffee shall not be less than fifty per cent. of the whole mixture or compound, provided that the exact percentage of coffee be printed upon the label of each package.

"2d. Mustard mixtures with wheat or rice flour, to which no other substance, or article, or any coloring matter, except turmeric is added, and in which mixture the pure farina of mustard shall not be less than forty per cent. of the whole mixture or compound, exclusive of the mustard hulls.

"The labels on the above mixtures shall contain the names of each and every ingredient of the mixture.

"The labels shall also exhibit the percentage of the characteristic constituents; for example, the percentage of coffee in the coffee mixture and the percentage of mustard in the mustard mixture.

"The above-mentioned information shall be printed on the labels in black ink, in legible antique type, of a size easily to be read, on one side of the package.'

Approved March 24, 1883.

DISINFECTION AND DEODORIZATION.

BY ROGER S. TRACY, M.D.,

Sanitary Inspector of the Board of Health, New York.

The Nature of the Contagia.-The theory that the zymotic diseases are dependent on and are propagated by micro-organisms has been gaining ground recently in America as elsewhere. Dr. Cabell, however, has called attention to the prevalence of typhoid fever in Virginia, at various times, in places where periodic (malarial) fevers had been common, the latter diseases subsiding on the appearance of the former.' A similar succession of these diseases has been noticed of late years in New England, and malarial disorders have made their appearance in districts hitherto entirely free from them, but where typhoid fever has been almost endemic. Here also the enteric fever has diminished as the periodic fever has increased. These facts suggest some subtle relation of these diseases to each other, and raise a doubt as to the dependence of either disease upon a specific organism.

In 1875, Drs. Edward Curtis and Thomas E. Satterthwaite made a series of investigations into the pathogeny of diphtheria, but found that very much the same symptoms were produced in rabbits by the inoculation of diphtheritic membrane, scrapings from the human tongue, or Cohn's fluid in a putrescent condition." They found that, after filtering out the particulate matters, the fluid was harmless.

A strong presentment of the micro-organism theory was made by Dr. William T. Belfield, of Chicago, in the Cartwright Lectures, delivered before the Alumni of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, in February, 1883.*

PURIFICATION OF THE AIR BY CHEMICAL METHODS.

It is not believed that aërial disinfectants are of any use, except in such quantity as to be destructive of human life. Experiments on the microorganisms show that they resist the action of poisons and destructive gases in proportions that are fatal to higher organisms. Gases and vapors

liberated in a tenanted room must therefore be looked upon only as deodorants. The best of these is probably ozone, which may be added to the air of a room by the methods suggested in the text. The various patented ozone generators possess no advantage, except that of neatness, over a

The Etiology of Enteric Fever, by J. L. Cabell, M.D., Trans. Am. Med. Association, 1877, p. 411.

Report of the Board of Health, New York, 1874-75, p. 657.

On the Relations of Micro-Organisms to Disease, N. Y. Medical Record, February and March, 1883.

simple stick of phosphorus in a saucer of water, and the mechanical devices for discharging the vapor of carbolic acid and other ill-smelling substances into the atmosphere are of no practical value except as deodorizers.

As regards the effect of poisonous solutions on the low forms of organic life, the experiments of Dr. George M. Sternberg, United States Army, show that mercuric chloride (corrosive sublimate) is the most powerful disinfectant we possess.' The results given below were obtained by experiments with the micrococcus of gonorrhoeal pus, which appeared to resist the germicide agents longer than the other organisms which were tried. After exposure to the poisons the vitality of the germs was tested by introducing them into sterilized bouillon.

A much weaker solution (from one-half to one fourth the strength above given) was found to prevent further development of the micrococci, and ferric sulphate, which failed in a saturated solution to destroy the vitality of the germs, arrested their development in a one-half per cent. solution. Zinc sulphate was found to have no germicide value in a solution of twenty per cent. The action of zinc chloride and sulphate, and of ferric sulphate in arresting the development of germs seemed to be due to the precipitation of organic matter in the nutritive medium rather than to any direct action on the living organisms.

PURIFICATION OF ROOMS AFTER INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

By some persons chlorine is preferred to sulphurous oxide for fumigation. For 100 cubic feet of space it would be necessary to use about one-half or three-fourths of a pound of black oxide of manganese, and from threefourths to one pound of strong commercial muriatic acid; or the same amount of manganese oxide may be used with an equal weight of salt and from one to one and one-half pound of oil of vitriol; or between one and two pounds of chloride of lime with nearly an equal weight of acid diluted with about twice its bulk of water. Sulphurous oxide and chlorine cannot be used together, as they neutralize each other. Any of the above mixtures should be made in an earthen dish large enough to allow for “frothing up." The evolution of the gas is so rapid that it is difficult for a person to make the mixture complete before he is driven away by the fumes.'

'Experiments to Determine the Germicide Value of Certain Therapeutic Agents, Am. Jour. of Med. Sciences, April, 1883, p. 321. These experiments confirm the conclusions of Dr. Koch, of Berlin. See also an article in the same number of this journal by Dr. J. C. Wilson, p. 345.

2 Waller Art. Disinfectants in Buck's Hygiene, vol. ii., p. 555.

DISINFECTION IN VARIOUS DISEASES.

For disinfection of bed-linen, towels, and body clothing of patients ill with contagious diseases, it has been recommended to use a solution of four ounces of zinc sulphate and two ounces sodium chloride to the gallon of water (practically a solution of zinc chloride).' Discharges to be received in vessels containing a solution of ferrous sulphate (one and one-half pound to the gallon). When such articles can be burned, that is the best way to dispose of them. Straw-beds should always be destroyed by fire, and hair mattresses and stuffed furniture should be ripped open and the contents spread out so as to be thoroughly exposed to the sulphurous fumigation. When rags are used about the mouth and nose of the patient, as in diphtheria, scarlatina, or phthisis, they should be immediately burned. Recovered patients should never be allowed to mingle with well persons again, until the body and especially the hair has been thoroughly washed with soap or borax, and cleaned of all scurf.

Isolation of such patients is essential. The sick-room should be visited only by those in immediate attendance on the patient. Ventilation should be brought about by means of an open fire and windows opening to the external air. It has been suggested by Dr. Malcolm McLean, of New York, that the cracks, keyholes, and other openings about doors or windows communicating with other parts of the house should be hermetically closed by pasting strips of paper over them, excepting of course the door of entry, which should have a large sheet constantly wet with a solution of carbolic acid hung over it on the inside.

In view of recent experiments, it would seem that mercuric chloride would be a better disinfectant for use in such cases than the commonly used zinc chloride. Dr. J. C. Wilson' suggests that the physician should himself carry this substance with him, and in such cases should put two drachms into a gallon of water, to be used in disinfecting the discharges. This would make a solution of the strength of about 1 to 500. One drachm (1 to 1,000), or even thirty grains (1 to 2,000), would probably answer the purpose, and as the drug costs only fifteen cents an ounce, it is probably the cheapest and best disinfectant in the market, having neither color nor odor.

LOCAL USE OF DISINFECTANTS.

Apartments.-Ozone, produced by phosphorus two-thirds covered with water, or by mixing potassium permanganate and sulphuric acid. Fumigation.

Bed-linen, Towels, etc.-Zinc chloride (two ounces to the gallon of water) or mercuric chloride (one drachm to the gallon of water).

Cellars, Outhouses, Stables, etc.-Quicklime sprinkled about. Whitewash. Carbolic acid, strong solution (1 to 100).

Cesspools, Privy-vaults, Water-closets, etc.-Ferrous or ferric sulphate, saturated solutions. Zinc sulphate (two pounds to the gallon) and chloride (one-half pound to the gallon). These latter are better for water-closets, be

'See Instructions for Disinfection, prepared for the National Board of Health by Profs. C. F. Chandler, Henry Draper, G. F. Barker, S. O. Vander Poel, E. G. Janeway, and Ira Remsen. Printed in New York State Board of Health Report for 1881-82, p. 118. * In article previously cited in foot-note, p. 519.