A Disinfecting Agent | Whitman Archive

About This Item

Title: A Disinfecting Agent
Date: 29 June 1858
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: per.00713
Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 29 June 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
Contributors to digital file: Alli Slowiack Jenna Weber Tara Ballard Stephanie Blalock Karie Cobb
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "A Disinfecting Agent." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: per.00713.xml (TEI)

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A DISINFECTING AGENT.—

As it is the season of the year when our citizens needs some disinfecting agent for their sewers, cess-pools and vaults, we would recommend an article which is cheap and easily to be obtained—it is copperas.¹ It slowly decomposes, which makes it preferable to chloride of lime or chloride of soda, while at the same time it is equally powerful in destroying the virus or peccant principle of all contagious diseases.

Notes:

1. Copperas consists of the proto-sulphate of iron and can be used in water treatment applications. [back]