little_details

Setting is London, 1897. Silver nitrate is being applied in a diluted solution to a bite wound as an antimicrobial.

What does silver nitrate solution smell like, if it has a smell? If so, can you compare it to anything to give me an idea, or just throw adjectives at me?

Would it smell like whatever else is in the solution with it? And while we're at it, what would that be? Ammonia? Vinegar? Water? Alcohol?

I know that it's still used in infants' eyes shortly after birth, so I figure there's a good chance of someone here being able to help me out with this.

Also, anyone who can tell me what it feels like in a wound compared to, say, raw alcohol, would get bonus e-brownies. I doubt that'll happen, but hey, can't hurt!

I've tried reading about silver nitrate on various historical/Victorian medicine sites and on Wikipedia, and got bupkis for olfactory impressions, as usual. I've Googled "silver nitrate" and "silver nitrate solution" with "smell," "scent," "odor," "aroma," etc.

For composition, I've tried "silver nitrate solution" with "composition," with and without other applicable modifiers ("medical," "medicine," "disinfectant," etc.). All I've been able to find specifically listed is propylene glycol, which is obviously not very Victorian.

Any help would be appreciated!

Setting: America, probably a midwest state. Haven't narrowed it down yet, could be in the South even.

When: Now, give or take a few months. In any case, it's contemporary. :>

What I've tried: I've wiki'd Catholic Priests, Catholicism, Catholic Church. I've googled search terms: catholic priest, seminary school, catholic priest personal life (not useful, as you can imagine), and a whole host of variations on personal life (any suggestions for a better phrase?). I've talked to all of my Catholic friends but unfortunately none of them really know about priests on a personal level. I've called a local Catholic church but so far no dice on getting back to me. I've read through the whole religion: christianity: catholicism tag on here, and visited the links in comments (most useful: http://www.fisheaters.com/).

Unfortunately, the information I need is not so much about the priest's involvement in the church itself, although any info you want to give me about that could be useful.

Basically, I need as much info on Catholic priests as you can give. I need information specifically about their personal life; or their offtime, I guess. What do they wear? What are they going to do if they have some hours to themselves? Read, pray, make dinner? Aside from the obvious, what are some restrictions they have? I've got a lot of info on how the priests interact with parishioners in the church, so I'm not really lacking on info as to their professional capacity.

It takes roughly 8 years to become a priest, yes, so a 31 year old priest would be on the young side, but not unheard of?

Let's see, what else. If said priest was an orphan and raised in a Catholic Orphanage, would he have had direct mentoring (religious or otherwise) from the priests/deacons/etc? (Ooh, and while on topic, anyone know anything about Catholic Orphanages?)

How much contact would a priest have with that of a neighboring parish?

Could a smaller sized parish reasonably have just one priest and a few deacons or seminary students?

I know this is a lot of stuff to muddle through, but I wasn't remotely raised Catholic and google hasn't been very helpful so far. ANY info you have on priests would probably be useful in some way or another.

ETA:

Sorry for yet another addition, but I can't find any info on this, either! Eeek. If the priest is the only one at his church, who would he turn to for guidance or counsel? A neighboring priest? Someone who mentored him in seminary school?