ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 709 



B. Technique.* 

 (.1) Collecting: Objects, including- Culture Processes. 



New Apparatus for Cultivating- Anaerobes. | — Dr. Herman has 

 devised an apparatus for anaerobic cultivation which works very satis- 

 factorily and is easily manipulated. It consists of twin flasks connected 

 by a tube. Each flask has also a separate neck into which fits a 

 caoutchouc stopper. In one flask is placed the medium, in the other 

 the pyrogallate solution. 



Glucoproteins as Cultivation Media for Micro-organisms. | — C. 

 Lepierre states that nearly all microbes, pathogenic or not, grow per- 

 fectly well in liquid media in which the nitrogen is exclusively furnished 

 by the a-glucoproteins. The composition of the media used is as 

 follows :— Water 100 grm. ; glucoprotein (from C 6 to C u ) 1*5-2 grm., 

 used alone or with the addition of 2-3 grm. of glycerin, glucose, or 

 saccharose ; chloride of sodium ■ 5 grin. ; sulphate of magnesium • 5 grm. ; 

 glycerophosphate of calcium 0*2-0 - 3 grm.; bicarbonate of potassium 

 0'l-0*2 grm. In these media 22 pathogenic and 23 saprophytic fungi 

 were successfully cultivated. Some microbes exhibited a preference for 

 certain glucoproteins ; e.g. anthrax, plague, tetanus grew well on media 

 in C 8 and C 9 , while tubercle preferred those in C 10 and C u . 



Method for Rapid Solution of Gelatin and Agar in the Prepara- 

 tion of Nutrient Media.§ — Dr. J. W. H. Eyre, in the course of some 

 observations on the standardisation of nutrient media, mentioned the 

 following method which he had recently adopted for the more rapid 

 solution of gelatin and agar in the preparation of the nutrient media 

 rendered solid by the addition of these substances, and which, although 

 still in the trial stage, can be strongly recommended. The method is 

 better explained by describing the preparation of an actual batch of 

 1000 ccm. of 2 p.c. agar. 



500 grm. of lean beef, finely minced, were added to 1000 ccm. of 

 distilled water in a 3-litre flask, which was placed in a water-bath, 

 and the temperature of its contents raised to and kept at 45° C. for 

 20 minutes; then rapidly raised to 100° C, and maintained there for 

 10 minutes. The mixture was then filtered, and the filtrate found to 

 amount to 650 ccm. 10 grm. of pepton, 5 grm. of salt, and 20 grm. of 

 powdered agar were weighed out, mixed, and made into a thick paste 

 with 150 ccm. distilled water, then added to the 650 ccm. of Fleischwasser 

 in the flask, which was returned to the water-bath. By the side of this 

 was arranged a 10-litre tin can (with copper bottom, such as is used in 

 the preparation of distilled water), filled with boiling water, and fitted 

 with a long safety tube and a delivery tube, bent twice at right angles, 

 sufficiently long to reach to the bottom of the interior of the flask. The 



* This subdivision contains (1) Collecting Objects, including Culture Pro- 

 cesses ; (2) Preparing Objects ; (3) Cutting, including Imbedding and Microtomes ; 

 (4) Staining and Injecting ; (5) Mounting, including slides, preservative fluids, &c. ; 

 (6) Miscellaneous. 



t Bull. Acad. Roy. Med. de Belgique, xv. (1901) pp. 259-63 (3 figs.). 



% Comptes Rendus, exxxiii. (1901) pp. 113-6. 



§ Brit. Med. Journ., 1901, ii. pp. 788-91. 



Dec. 18th, 1901 3 b 



