"Sunlight is the best disinfectant" (1903)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

SUNLIGHT IS THE BEST DISINFECTANT--1,620 Google hits, 626 Google Groups hits
SUNSHINE IS THE BEST DISINFECTANT--550 Google hits, 349 Google Groups hits
SUNLIGHT IS THE BEST OF DISINFECTANTS--67 Google hits, 1 Google Groups hit
SUNSHINE IS THE BEST OF DISINFECTANTS--18 Google hits, 6 Google Groups hits

   Some politician brought up this phrase again (about torture in Iraq).  Jon
Stewart lampooned it on THE DAILY SHOW last night (repeat tonight at 7 p.m.).
   Maybe some as-yet-unpublished tomes from Yale and Oxford will have it?
   Brandeis said it.  Perhaps he coined it in its media/political context,
but the phrase was previously used in an advertisement.


(GOOGLE GROUPS)
From: William C Waterhouse (wcw at math.psu.edu)
Subject: Re: Who said "Sunshine is the best disinfectant"?
Newsgroups: alt.quotations
Date: 1999/01/21

In article <36A6A5AD.97B4B027 at homeXXX.net>,"Steve Conover, Sr." <
scsr at homeXXX.net> writes:
> I believe one of the USA's past Supreme Court Justices said
> "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."  Can anybody remember which
> one?

 I didn't remember, but I was able to look it up:

"Publicity is justly commended as a remedy of social and
inductrial diseases.  Sunlight is said to be the best of
disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman."
-- L. Brandeis, _Other People's Money_ (1933 edition, p. 62)

William C. Waterhouse
Penn State


   The AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN QUOTATIONS, pg. 303, has
"LOUIS D. BRANDEIS, _What Publicity Can Do_, in _Harper's Weekly_, Dec. 20, 1913."


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS) ("best disinfectant")
    PLATT'S CHLORIDES, THE BEST DISINFECTANT
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Feb 21, 1901. p.
15 (1 page) :
chemically destroys disease breeding matter.
(This tiny ad appeared frequently at the bottom of news stories in many
newspapers--ed.)

     The Power of Sunlight.; THE USE OF LIGHT IN CURING DISEASE.
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: May 26, 1903. p. 4 (1
page) :
   THE best disinfectant of all is sunlight.  It destroys by its very
brightness all sorts of germs and at same time helps the growth of plants and animal
life.
(Ad for the "Common Sense Medical Adviser"--ed.)

    THE POWER OF SUNLIGHT
The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Dec 2, 1904. p. 3 (1 page)

(Same as above--ed.)