310 BACTEllIOLOGICAL VALUE OF 



(2) Different cultures of the same germ may vary largely in 

 their resistance to germicidal agents. 



(3) Corrosive sublimate forms with cellulose, with silk, with 

 albuminous bodies, and with some parts of bacteria, a compound 

 that cannot be removed without washing. When acting on a germ 

 it forms a capsule around the germ, which protects it from the 

 further action of the germicide, and in turn presents the growth of 

 the germ unless removed. But this capsule may be removed by 

 the solutions, as in the blood. The action of sublimate on bac- 

 teria is probably closely analogous to that of alcohol, etc. 



(4) The presence of a gelatinous envelope in many, if not all, 

 bacteria has not received due attention from writers on this subject. 



(5) In albuminous fluids — and practically all disinfection has to 

 do with such — corrosive sublimate of any strength whatever is not 

 a reliable germicide. 



(6) While sublimate has no great germicidal powers, it does not 

 follow that it may not be a valuable disinfectant. This point 

 remains to be proved.* 



A question relative to the subject of germicides and disin- 

 fectants is the correct definition and meaning of the words. With 

 some authors they both occupy the same place and have no dis- 

 tinction. If the new dictionaries are consulted, a great diversity 

 of opinion will be found ; in others, no distinction amongst them 

 at all. Let us ask our readers to consider the agents known as 

 antiseptics, and compare their action with the germicidal agents 

 and the deodorisers, and with disinfectants and antizymotics, and 

 the difference between the process of fermentation with that of 

 putrefaction. To understand the agent's action we must know its 

 classification, its position in the drug list, its value as a specific 

 agent, its use and its composition, and certainly its meaning. 



Drugs classified from a practical standpoint and not a purely 

 scientific, as the actions of few drugs are well known. 



Antiseptics (avTi, ^tjttw^ to make putrid) are agents which ])re- 

 vent the decomposition of organic substances, and destroy infec- 



* This is a most important question in the Held of Bacteriology, Surgical 

 Pathology, and Clinical Surgery and Medicine, and is worthy of the attention 

 of every man who aims at bacteriological work, and we hope these experiments 

 may be continued and further worked out. — £iil. 



