260

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

and generally in such cases the cargo requires the
same treatment as the ship. So far, therefore, as the
cargo has not been completely disinfected in the
course of the disinfection of the ship, and so far as
is practicable, it ought, before it is landed, and part
by part as it is moved, to be disinfected by free
sprinklings with the solution of chloride of lime or
soda. Also in these cases it is to be remembered
that persons from on board the infected ship
(especially those who have been most in its hold)
may carry infection about their persons-in pre-
caution against which danger it is desirable that the
persons should have complete baths of soap and
water, and that their clothes should partake of the
general fumigation of the ship. The person who
conducts the fumigation of a ship (especially where
there is question of yellow fever) ought not at first
to enter the hold, but merely to hang down the
hatches, or otherwise place within the hold, the
vessel which contains his chemical mixture.

JOHN SIMON.
Medical Department of the Privy Council Office,
July, 1866.

GENERAL MEMORANDUM ON THE PROCEEDINGS
WHICH ARE ADVISABLE IN PLACES ATTACKED OR
THREATENED BY EPIDEMIC DISEASE.

1. Wherever there is prevalence or threatening
   of cholera, diphtheria, typhus, or any other epidemic
   disease, it is of more than common importance that
   the powers conferred by the Nuisances Removal
   Acts, and by various other laws for the protection of
   the public health, be well exercised by those in whom
   they are vested.

2. If the danger be considerable, it will be expedient
   that local authorities, in taking measures against it,
   avail themselves of the best medical advice which
   their district or its neighborhood can supply.

3. Proper precautions are equally proper for all
   classes of society; but it is chiefly with regard to
   the poorer population, therefore chiefly in the courts
   and alleys of towns, and at the labourers' cottages
   of country districts, that Local Authorities are called
   upon to exercise vigilance, and to proffer information
   and advice. Common lodging-houses, and houses
   which are sub-let in several small holdings, always
   require particular attention.

4. Wherever there is accumulation, stink, or
   soakage, of house refuse, or of other decaying
   animal or vegetable matter, the nuisance should as
   promptly as possible be abated, and precaution
   should be taken not to let it recur. Especially all
   complaints which refer to sewers and drains, or to
   foul ditches, and ponding of drainage, or to neglect
   of scavenging, should receive immediate attention.
   The trapping of house drains and sinks, and the
   state of cesspools and middens should be carefully
   seen to. In slaughter-houses, and other places where
   beasts are kept, strict cleanliness should be enforced.

5. In order to guard against the harm which
   sometimes arises from disturbing heaps of offensive
   matter, it is often necessary to combine the use of
   chemical disinfectants with such means as are taken
   for the removal of filth; and in cases where removal
   is for the time impossible or inexpedient, the filth
   should always be disinfected. Disinfection is likewise
   desirable for unpaved earth close to dwellings, if it
   be sodden with slops and filth. Generally, where
   cholera or typhoid fever is in a house, the privy
   requires to be disinfected.

6. Sources of water supply should be well examined.
   Those which are in any way tainted by animal
   or vegetable refuse, above all, those into which
   there is any leakage or filtration from sewers, drains,
   cesspools, or foul ditches, ought no longer to be
   drunk from. Especially where the disease is cholera,
   diarrhea, or typhoid fever, it is essential that no foul
   water be drunk.

If unfortunately the only water which for a time
can be got should be open to suspicion of dangerous
organic impurity, it ought at least to be boiled before
it is used for drinking, but then not to be drunk
later than twenty-four hours after it has been boiled.
Or, under medical or other skilled direction, water in
quantities sufficient for one day's drinking in the
house, may be disinfected by a very careful use of
Condy's red disinfectant fluid; which should be
added to the water (with stirring or shaking) in such
number of drops that the water, an hour afterwards,
shall have the faintest pink colour, which the eye
can distinctly perceive. Filtering of the ordinary
kind cannot by itself be trusted to purify water, but
is a good addition to either of the above processes.
It cannot be too distinctly understood, that dan-
gerous qualities of water are not obviated by the
addition of wine or spirits.

7. The washing and lime-whiting of uncleanly
   premises, especially of such as are densely occupied,
   should be pressed with all practicable despatch.

8. Overcrowding should be prevented. Especially
   where disease has begun, the sick room should, as
   far as possible, be free from persons who are not of
   use or comfort to the patient.

9. Ample ventilation should be enforced. It should
   be seen that window frames are made to open, and
   that windows are sufficiently opened. Especially
   where any kind of infective fever has begun, it is
   essential, both for patients and for persons who are
   about them, that the sick room and the sick house
   be constantly well traversed by streams of fresh air.

10. The cleanliest domestic habits should be
    enjoined. Refuse matter which have to be cast away
    should never be let linger within doors; and things
    which have to be disinfected or cleansed, should
    always be disinfected or cleansed without delay.

11. Special precautions of cleanliness and disin-
    fection are necessary with regard to infective matters
    discharged from the bodies of the sick. Among
    discharges which it is proper to treat as infective,
    are those which come, in cases of smallpox, from the
    affected skin; in cases of cholera and typhoid fever,
    from the intestinal canal; in cases of diptheria, from
    the nose and throat; likewise, in case of any eruptive
    or other epidemic fever, the general exhalations of
    the sick. The caution which is necessary with regard
    to such matters must, of course, extend to whatever
    is imbued with them; so that bedding, clothing,
    towels, and other articles, which have been in use by
    the sick, do not become sources of mischief, either in
    the house to which they belong, or in houses to which
    they are conveyed. Moreover, in typhoid fever and
    cholera, the evacuation should be regarded as capable
    of communicating an infectious quality to any night
    soil with which they are mingled in privies, drains, or
    cesspools; and this danger is best guarded against
    by thoroughly disinfecting them before they are
    thrown away: above all, they must never be cast
    where they can run or soak into sources of drinking
    water.

12. All reasonable care should be taken not to
    spread infective disease by the unnecessary associa-
    tion of sick with healthy persons. This care is
    requisite not only with regard to the sick house, but
    likewise with regard to day schools and other
    establishments wherein members of many different
    households are accustomed to meet.

13. Where dangerous conditions of residence
    cannot be promptly remedied, it will be best that the
    inmates, while unattacked by disease, remove to
    some safer lodging. If disease begins in houses
    where the sick person cannot be rightly circumstanced