102
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

mail, owing to the shortness of the notice, the supply
has been made up of pure carbolic acid for use inside
houses and for medicinal purposes.

A further supply, and also a supply for external
use, will be sent by the next mail.

I enclose a set of instructions for the guidance of
those to whom its use is intrusted, and also the
report of Dr. Gover, Resident Medical Officer at
Millbank Prison, who was sent, at my suggestion, to
Terling, in Essex, by the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, to endeavour to check the fever
raging there.

I also enclose reports connected with the use of
carbolic acid (Calvert and Co.) which may be of
interest and use to the Government of the Mauri-
tius, and I trust that the use of this valuable and
powerful disinfectant may be as successful in the
Mauritius as it has been elsewhere.

I have, &c.,
E. Y. W. HENDERSON,
Surveyor-General of Prisons.

Sir F. Rogers, Bart., &c., &c., &c.

(Sub-Enclosure 1 in Enclosure No. 1.)
Instructions for arresting the spread of Fever by
means of Carbolic Acid.

1. All discharges from a fever patient to be received
   into a vessel containing three or four table-spoonfuls
   of carbolic powder, or half a pint of the solution of
   crystallized carbolic acid. The solution to be made
   by dissolving one pound of crystallized carbolic acid
   in five gallons of water.

2. The floors of all inhabited rooms to be cleansed
   daily with mops dipped into the above solution.

3. Tainted bedclothing or body linen to be placed,
   immediately on its removal, in the solution diluted
   with four or five parts of water.

4. One pound of the crystals to be mixed with
   five or more pounds of wet sand, and shallow vessels
   containing either this mixture or the carbolic powder
   to be placed in each room, and renewed daily.

5. Cesspools and middens, or any other accumula-
   tions of excremental matters, or of house refuse, or
   of other offensive or decaying animal or vegetable
   matters, to be disinfected daily by means of a mixture
   of liquid carbolic acid and water. The liquid mixture
   to be prepared by mixing the liquid carbolic acid
   with water in the proportion of one gallon of acid to
   twenty gallons of water. Care must be taken to
   shake it or stir it thoroughly to prevent the carbolic
   acid and water from separating.

6. When the matters to be disinfected have an
   offensive odour, the liquid mixture to be used till the
   smell has entirely ceased.

7. Unpaved earth around dwellings to be well
   moistened daily with the liquid mixture. Earth
   which has become offensive by soakage to be covered
   to the depth of two inches with the carbolic powder.

8. Foul ditches in the neighbourhood of houses,
   sewers, and drains, to be frequently flushed with the
   liquid mixture.

9. Uncleanly premises to be washed and lime-
   whited. Half a pint of liquid carbolic acid to be
   mixed with each bucketful of lime-wash.

10. The solution of the crystals to be used indoors
    only. The liquid mixture, i.e., the mixture of liquid
    carbolic acid (quality No. 5) and water to be used
    chiefly for out of door purposes.

11. The bodies of the dead to be wrapped in sheets
    saturated with the liquid mixture or the solution of
    the crystals. A pound of the powder to be spread
    over the bottom of each coffin.

12. For internal administration proceed as follows:
    -Place a pound bottle of the pure medical solid
    carbolic acid (quality No. 1) in warm water. When
    the acid has become liquid, mix it with four gallons
    of water; stir well and bottle off the solution, which
    must be kept well corked. A tea-spoonful of this
    solution to be taken every four hours in a little weak
    brandy and water.

Paragraphs Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11 apply to the
crystallized carbolic acid, of which a supply is sent
by the mail steamer leaving Marseilles on the 9th
April.

No. 12 paragraph refers to pure medical solid
carbolic acid (quality No. 1) for internal use, of
which one box is sent by the same mail steamer.

The cheap liquid solution, for out of door use, will
be sent by next mail.

E. Y. W. H.

(Sub-Enclosure 2 in Enclosure No. 1.)
Dr. Gover to Colonel Henderson.

26th March, 1868.

SIR,—I have the honor to report that I visited
Terling, as requested, on the 16th ultimo, and
remained there during the week following.

My instructions were to assist in the endeavour to
arrest the epidemic of intestinal or typhoid fever,
prevailing in the village, by means of carbolic acid.
I was desired to take with me a supply of carbolie
acid for immediate use; to superintend its applica-
tion in the first instance, and to give every informa-
tion to the local authorities as to its use and manage-
ment.

I now beg to state briefly the means to which I
had recourse for carrying out these instructions, and
the apparent effect of the use of carbolic acid in
arresting the spread of the fever.

On Monday, February 17th, with the concurrence
of the local authorities, I caused a strong solution of
Calvert's carbolic acid to be distributed over the
entire village. Large quantities of the solution were
poured into the cesspools, and it was freely applied
to the filthy yards, courts, and stagnant ditches, by
which many of the houses were surrounded, as well
as to the manure heaps, collections of refuse, and
other nuisances with which the place abounded. The
village may be said to have been soaked with the acid,
and the atmosphere became highly charged with its
vapour, which found its way in very considerable
volumes into the dwellings of the sick and healthy
alike. This process has been daily repeated up to
the present time, and I have advised the local autho-
rities to continue the use of carbolic acid during the
ensuing spring and summer months.

Many of the inhabitants at first fancied that the
smell of the acid produced headache, and, for a few
days, the Inspector of Nuisances who was employed
in its distribution was the most unpopular person in
Terling.

This objection, however, has been overcome, and
at my second visit on the 18th instant no complaints
were made, although the presence of carbolic vapour
in the atmosphere was to be detected at a consider-
able distance from the village.

The epidemic prevailing at Terling was the common
intestinal or typhoid fever, a preventable disease,
which kills annually no less than 20,000 of the
population of this country.

This fever is as specifically distinct from typhus as
is small-pox from the measles, or scarlet fever from
erysipelas; its causes are different, its symptoms are
different, it runs a different course, and proceeds to
a different termination.

Such being the case, it is unfortunate that it should
continue to be designated by a term of which the
meaning is "like typhus."

The essential difference between the two fevers
may be shown as follows:-