Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Close-stool

CLOSE-STOOL, a chamberimplement of considerable utility to patients and invalids; though it has lately been in a great measure superseded by the invention of water-closets. These, however, being attended with such expence as to preclude many families from their acquisition, it may be useful to mention an easy method of suppressing the fetid exhalation arising from vessels of the former description, when kept in sick-rooms, especially during the night. A foreign writer suggests the following expedient: Take a handful (we suppose, three or four ounces) of green vitriol; dissolve it in half a gallon of boiling water; and, when cold, pour a quart of it on the feces immediately after each stool. In this simple manner, we are informed, the most unpleasant stench will be effectually neutralized; a circumstance of great importance in putrid and malignant fevers.