FUMIGATION, in medicine, signifies the mutation of different fumes, for the relief of catarrhs, coughs, sore throats, Sze. The term is also applied to the process of fumigating rooms during the prevalence of contagious dis ease. This has been long practised, but perhaps with little success, till the discovery of the method proposed by Dr Carmichael Smith. We cannot expect much benefit to have been derived from the fumes of pitch, nor even from vinegar, which is more modern.
If it be true that contagious diseases are derived from the presence of some elastic fluid existing in the atmosphere, which has been called miasma, and since these, of which there must be varieties, as well as the disagreeable odours resulting from putridity, in all probability are inflammable matter, having hydrogen for their basis, it seems highly rea sonable, that good effects may result from fumigating the places where they prevail, with substances which easily combine with hydrogen. Hence we are to attribute the good effects which were produced on board ships, and other places where contagious disease prevailed, by the use of the fumes of nitric acid as practised by Dr Smith, who, for this discovery, received a premium from parliament.
After the discovery of the oxymuriatic acid, Guyton Mor vcau, the French chemist, tried the effects of this gas in the hospitals of France, with such decided success, as to put its efficacy in destroying the contagious matter beyond all doubt. The mixture which furnishes the oxymmiatic acid consists of three parts of common salt, one part of black oxide of manganese, and two parts of sulphuric acid. The salt and manganese are first mixed together, and pla ced in vessels of stone-ware or glass, in the various rooms. The sulphuric acid is to be added by a little at once, from time to time, observing that the whole must not exceed the proportion above stated. The gas should never be evolved in a quantity, to excite coughing, nor to be otherwise disa greeable to the lungs. When we consider the beneficial effects of this gas, we cannot fail to see the necessity for using some of its liquid preparations for washing the hands and other bodies employed in cases of contagious diseases. These may be the oxymuriate of lime used in bleaching, or simple water impregnated with the gas. (c. s.)