None of these steps worked properly, be it due to the resistance and sabotage of those involved, or because of negligence or corruption on the part of employees or “constables”. If just one of these steps was not executed properly, the entire operation was thwarted, while other participants—people of good will—were discouraged from future participation.
I myself was a conscientious and responsible employee by nature. At first, [16] I put practically my entire soul into my work. I was told that I used to approach igniting the sulphur in the chamber with the solemnity of a surgeon getting ready for surgery. Sometimes I woke up at night trembling, worried that I had overlooked a precautionary measure and caused an accident. Even though I have set up the largest number of chambers, I can take pride in the fact that in my practice I have never had any fire or other disaster. But gradually, I started neglecting my work. To use the sulphur “jargon”, it would be nonsense to seal a small crack in a chamber while the window is wide open. I knew that disinsection of objects contained in the chamber was not important, as most people would avoid a bath, and a very large proportion of bedding and other such items would be taken away or hidden, with or without my colleagues knowing. So after all, why make the effort, why make sure that chambers are sealed, why measure the amount of sulphur, why untie and loosen the bundles—I might be blamed if a dress were to disappear! In my soul, I stopped feeling any remorse for my disregard and negligence. This was all the easier since I did not have to fear an inspection. Even now, it almost angers me that all that time none of my superiors came to see my work and its results. A significant portion of disinfection work [17] was left without supervision, at the mercy of the conscience of one employee or another. And strangest of all, no one ever (except for 1 instance) came on the following day to check the results of the brigade’s work.
As for how lightly the technical side of disinfection was treated—let us take, for example, the ignorance as to how sulphur dioxide works. According to the instruction of the Municipal Health Centre (which had also been repeated during the disinfection course), the dish with sulphur should be placed high above the objects being subject to disinfection. This is because sulphur dioxide is heavier than the air and as such falls to the ground; if the dish with sulphur is placed lower, gas cannot evenly reach objects placed above. But anyone who has looked carefully at least once at sulphur being ignited will notice that, irrespective of the level at which sulphur is put, gas is at first
