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Date: | Fri, 22 May 1998 13:30:56 -0500 |
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During a cholera epidemic in 1867 military surgeons at Fort Harker,
Kansas required the soldiers to use "disinfectants" in the company sinks
(privies) on a regular basis. "Disinfectants" were also used in the
officer's privies and the hospital privy. Unfortunately, the surgeons'
reports do not specify the exact nature of the disinfectants used. If they
were recommending the use of lime or charcoal, it seems that they would
have said as much. The word "disinfectant," especially used by a doctor,
suggests a chemical substance.
No evidence of chemical "disinfectants" was noted during excavation of
an enlisted company sink or of the commanding officer's privy at Fort
Harker in 1997. Intermittent lenses of lime and considerable amounts of
charcoal were present in the commanding officer's privy. There was little
or no evidence of lime or charcoal in the company sink.
Excavation of a mid- to late-nineteenth century privy behind a residence
in Manhattan, Kansas, did not reveal the use of lime, charcoal, or any
other additive. However, this privy had been capped with a thick layer of
clay and burned soil.
Marsha K. King
Special Projects Archeologist
Kansas State Historical Society
http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/kshs/kshs1.html
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