Ferdinand von Mueller

Letter not found. For the text given here see: J. Brendon Curgenven, ‘Eucalyptus as a disinfectant’, Nature, 10 September 1891, pp. 445-6. Curgenven writes: ‘In a paragraph on the use of Eucalyptus branches for disinfection, as recommended by Baron von Mueller, you have unintentionally stated that to be the manner in which I have used Eucalyptus. ... I read a paper before the Epidemiological Society last year on the subject. It is published in the Society’s Transactions, and in a separate form by Mr. Lewis, of Gower Street.’ See Curgenven (1891), a paper read on 12 March 1890. M's letter is dated to April 1891 on the assumption that M responded to the article at the same time as he summarized it in M to the Australasian Medical Gazette, April 1891 (in this edition as 91-04-00f).

Curgenven's letter to Nature is commenting upon the following passage from the issue of 13 August 1891, p. 353:

According to the Pharmaceutical J ou rn al of Australia , the practice has been introduced into Victoria, on the recommendation of Baron von Mueller, of placing green branches of eucalyptus in sick rooms as a disinfectant. Dr. Curgenven states, after twelve months' trial, that in cases of scarlet fever, if the branches be placed under the bed, the bedding undergoes thorough disinfection, the volatile vapour penetrating and saturating the mattress and every other article in the room. Its vapour is also said to have a beneficial effect upon phthisical patients, acting not only as an antiseptic, but as a sedative and to some extent as a hypnotic.

The article summarized by Nature appeared as ‘The Use of Eucalyptus Branches’, Pharmaceutical Journal of Australasia , vol. 4, no. 6 (20 June 1891), p. 125.

'The action of anointing; smearing with, or rubbing in of, oil or ointment' [OED].