1. The first thing to be done is - to select a room for the patient as much isolated as possible from the rest of the house; a room through which no one has to pass and by which there are as few passers as possible; the top of the house is best, as a rule. The room should have a window opening directly into the fresh air, and an open chimney and fireplace, and it should be supplied with not less than 1,000 cubic feet of fresh air every hour for each occupant, whether patient or attendant. (See Ventilation, etc., p. 14.) Whenever practicable, a second room should be set apart, near the patient's room, for the attendants to cook and take meals in, and to sleep in when off duty.

2. The second thing to be done is - to remove from the room or rooms selected everything that cannot be washed, boiled, baked, or burnt, and then to hang over the outside of each doorway a curtain kept constantly wet with Carbolic acid.

3. The third thing is - to decide who is to attend upon the patient. There should always be two persons and no more. They should cover their hair with washing caps, dress in washing clothes, and not associate with the rest of the household or with any other persons. They should each take at least six hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. They should each walk out in the fresh air one hour per day. They should wash their hands and faces with Condy's fluid and water when they leave the patient's room. They should avoid inhaling the breath or exhalations of the patient, and they should neither eat nor drink in the sick-room.

4. The fourth thing is - to place in a corner of the patient's room a large glazed pan containing water and Carbolic acid. Into this pan everything that can be washed or boiled should be put, directly it is done with, before it leaves the sick-room. The pan should be emptied night and morning, or oftener.

5. The patient should be sponged all over with warm water and Calvert's carbolic-acid soap twice a day (except during periods in which it may be thought unadvisable by the doctor); and if the skin is peeling or powdery, it should be anointed after the sponging with olive oil containing a little Carbolic acid (about 10 per cent.).

6. Carbolic acid or Chloride of lime and water should be put into every utensil before it is used by the patient, and after being used the contents should be immediately thrown. down the drain, together with some fresh Chloride of lime or Carbolic acid.

7. The patient's teeth and mouth should be washed with Condy's fluid, or Calvert's carbolic-acid soap, and water several times a day, and when there is any discharge from the nose or other passages, these should be cleansed in the same way. When the discharges from the body are fetid, Savory and Moore's carbolic-acid vaporiser (as designed by me) should be burnt in the room.

8. It must constantly be borne in mind that no amount or kind of disinfection will take the place of fresh air, and therefore the sick-room must be kept freely ventilated, carefully avoiding draughts. (See Sleep) Gas should not be burnt in a sick-room.

9. The doctor should not communicate with any other members of the household after he leaves the sick-room, and he should always be provided with a basin of water, Calvert's strong carbolic-acid soap, a nail brush, and a clean towel, with which to wash his hands on leaving.

10. Let it be especially remembered that the main points are the prompt disinfection of the infecting media, enumerated in the beginning of this Chapter, and the free circulation of fresh air.

After the acute specific disease has run its course, infection may last as long as there are any unhealthy discharges left by the disease, as long as there is any peeling or powdering of skin, shedding of hair or the like; and precautions are needed for disinfecting these means of spreading disease so long as they exist.

No doctor who has been in attendance upon Erysipelas, Scarlet fever, Puerperal fever, Typhus, Gangrene, Pyaemia, etc., or who has been engaged in a post-mortem examination, should enter a lying-in room until he has subjected himself to effectual purification and disinfection; and it is a safe rule, under all circumstances, for a doctor not to touch a lying-in patient until he has washed his hands with some disinfectant.

The difficulties of carrying out this rule are very great in the hurry of practice, but every doctor engaged in Obstetric practice is bound to provide for doing so. And he should never go upon his rounds without some disinfectant with him to mix with the water in which he washes his hands in case of unexpected need.

To facilitate this important hygienic precaution, Messrs. Maw have at my request provided a little metal case containing a piece of strong Carbolic-acid soap, a nail-brush (for it is useless to wash the hands without brushing out the nails), and a little tube of Carbolic acid - for medical men to carry constantly in their pockets when on their rounds. The whole is no larger than a small snuff-box, and is called "The Pocket Disinfector." It ought to be used by nurses and visitors upon the sick, as well as by doctors.

When the infectious period of the illness is over, and the patient removed from the sick-room, it must be properly disinfected.