There are certain points connected with the nursing of contagious diseases and the subject of disinfection that are worthy of mention.

In every case of contagious disease, allow in the room only those who are necessary to nurse the sick. The nurse must avoid overfatigue, have regular meals of digestible and nourishing food, and fixed hours for sleep and relaxation. The chamber selected for the sick-room should be large, well ventilated, and as near the top floor of the house as possible. Upholstered and stuffed furniture, curtains, hangings, carpet and other articles capable of holding disease germs, are difficult to disinfect, and should be removed before the entrance of the patient; in fact, to put this matter in a few words, the sick-room should contain only such furniture as will be absolutely needed by the patient and nurse. Scrupulous cleanliness is essential. Remove dirty dishes, vessels with discharges, soiled napkins, and the like, at once.

Disinfectants are substances that destroy the infective power of infectious materials, and must not be confounded either with antiseptics, or arrest-ors of putrefaction, or with deodorizers, or neutral-izers of bad smells.

In the use of disinfectants, it is important to bear in mind that contagious virus must be destroyed at its source. As this, of course, is the body of the sick, all discharges must have their power for evil destroyed as soon as possible. Receive discharges from the mouth and nose, especially in cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria, in bits of rags, and burn them immediately after use. When the skin is affected, as in scarlet fever, for example, the flakes that fall away are highly infective. To prevent these becoming disseminated, the surface should be anointed several times a day with vaseline, lard or cocoa butter, all of which substances will be rendered more efficient by the addition of carbolic acid (1 to 40). After recovery from scarlet fever the child, before breaking quarantine, should be thoroughly scrubbed with soap and water, and then sponged with a solution of carbolic acid in water (1 to 50) or of bichloride of mercury (1 to 5000) and finally washed in pure water. Two such baths, given at an interval of about twenty-four hours, are usually quite sufficient, and after each bath fresh clothing must be put on. The patient's hair must be cut short and the scalp cleaned and disinfected.

Articles used about the patient, such as sheets, pillow-cases, blankets and clothes, should not be removed from the chamber until they have been soaked for at least an hour in the following disinfecting fluid:

Sulphate of zinc...................

Carbolic acid......................

Water............................

8 ounces. 1 ounce. 3 gallons.

After this, place the soiled articles in boiling water for washing.

Articles not requiring to be frequently changed, such as pillows and mattresses need disinfection. This may be done at the termination of the sickness, and is best accomplished by steam, or, if this be impossible, they must be burned.

Keep a small quantity of the above fluid or of a solution of corrosive sublimate (1 to 1000) in all vessels provided for receiving the discharges of the patient, and, after these are used, empty quickly and clean with boiling water. Water closets or privy wells into which these discharges are poured must also be disinfected each day with a solution of copperas (one pound to the gallon). In case of scarlet fever and diphtheria the floor of the sickroom should be washed once each day with a solution of bichloride of mercury (1 to 2000) and the walls and furniture near the patient wiped frequently with cloths moistened with the disinfectant. In diphtheria a tray of carbolic acid solution (1 to 40) should be at hand for spoons, syringes, or other instruments employed in the treatment; and spoons, cups and dishes used in feeding must be carefully sterilized by boiling for twenty minutes.

Fumigate the sick-room as soon as the patient leaves it. To do this, tightly close the room and stuff all apertures, such as keyholes, loose window sashes, spaces under doors and so on, with cotton or rags. Then, by means of a lamp provided for the purpose, or by a Lister fumigator, the air is saturated with formaldehyde gas and the room kept closed for at least twelve hours and then thoroughly aired.

Wood-work and walls, if painted, should be wiped down with a solution of bichloride of mercury (i to 2000) and then scrubbed with soap and hot water, and the floor should be thoroughly scrubbed with the same solution. Repapering and fresh painting are necessary after cases of scarlet fever or small-pox.

The person of the nurse may be disinfected in the way already indicated for the patient.

Both milk and water will carry disease germs, and hence both must be sterilized when there is any danger of their being contaminated. Never give delicacies or articles of food that have stood in the sick room to other members of the household.