Carbo Gasoline Method for the Disinfection of Books.

Abstract

The difficulties that prevent the disinfection of books seems to be numerous. If a gaseous disinfectant is used it is very hard to have it penetrate all parts. Steam injures the book to some extent. An ideal mfiethod would therefore seem to be to use a liquid that would not be injurious and still kill all the pathogenic organisms that frequently infect them. The writer has found that gasoline does not injure books even after they are soaked in it for two to three hours if they are quickly dried. Gasoline has the advantage of dissolving fats and oils and theoretically it would appear that if a germicide was added it would act on bacteria in a dry and perhaps a wet medium. Several disinfectants which were soluble in gasoline were tried but carbolic acid was the only one that seemed to be efficient.In testing the efficiency of carbo gasoline it was necessary to devise special technique. A very volatile gasoline which is termed 88 Baume or gas machine gasoline was used. Liquified carbolic acid crystals were added to the gasoline in different amounts and the disinfecting properties tested on several organisms by the following procedure. A small amount of a 24-hour bouillon culture of the organisms to be tested was smeared on a half of a 22 m. m. cover slip which had been cut in two with a glass cutter. They were then dried in a petri dish in an incubator at 350 C. for 15 to 20 minutes. After drying they were put in a tube of carbo gasoline and removed at intervals of two and one-half minutes up to fifteen minutes. The gasoline was allowed to evaporate and the cover slip was placed in a tube of sterile bouillon. It was found that the carbolic acid which remained on the cover slip immediately went into solution in the bouillon. The amount of carbolic acid which went into solution had no inhibitory effects on the growth of the organisms. In nearly all cases a parallel test was made with an aqueous solution of carbolic acid of the same strength as the carbo gasoline, either by the above described coverslip method or the drop method.t Tests with the staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, B. typliosus, B. coli communis, Bact. diphtheriae, Bact. anthracis by this method resulted as follows: * Read before the Laboratory Section of the American Public Health Association at Milwaukee, September, 1910. t The procedure in this method is to add five drops of a 24-hour culture of the organism upon which the disinfectant is to be tested, grown on beef broth, to 5 c. c. of the disinfectant. The mixture is then well shaken and subcultures are made from it at intervals of two and one-half minutes to fifteen minutes.

The mycobiota associated with paper archives and their potential control

“…Different chemicals were commonly used to compact mold growth and contamination of different substrates. However, there are numerous difficulties that prevent the disinfection of books such as gaseous penetration inability, and steam injuries of the books (Beebe 1911). Thermal fogging with alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride solution has been employed for cleaning of the libraries atmosphere contaminating by fungi (Rakotonirainy et al 1999).…”

“…Although large number of toxic chemicals has been utilized to sanitize papers, some of these chemicals result in pigment discoloration and damage the books and artworks. Carbo gasoline, formaldehyde, thiabendazole, ethylene oxide, and essential oils were commonly used against mold growth on books and archives (Beebe 1911;Rakotonirainy et al 1999;Rakotonirainy and Lavédrine 2005). However, most of these chemicals have adverse effects on paper and mild fungal control.…”