CULTURE MEDIA 



15 



cultivating fungi. Some of these names are Blakeslee, Uschinsky, Coons, 

 Czapek, Leonian, Sabouraud, Richard, Thaxter, Shear, Raulin. From a 

 historical standpoint this practice has much to recommend it. However, 

 this usage has many disadvantages. These distinguished names give no 

 clue to the composition of these media. The original formulas have in 

 many instances been changed. Some of these modifications have received 



A B 



Fig. 1. Growth of Phycomyces blakesleeanus on vitamin-free liquid medium solidified 

 with two different brands of agar. Growth in A indicates relatively high content of 

 thiamine of this agar. The trace of growth in B shows that this agar is relatively 

 free of thiamine. 



hyphenated names: e.g., Czapek-Dox. Frequently the originator of a 

 medium modified it from time to time. This introduces a further uncer- 

 tainty as to its composition. In our opinion the use of personal names to 

 designate media should be abandoned. It is much more helpful to 

 designate media by descriptive titles than by names which tell nothing of 

 the composition. The carbon and nitrogen sources are important con- 

 stituents of every medium. Thus, sucrose-nitrate medium, glucose- 

 asparagine medium, or malt extract-yeast extract medium are preferred 

 to Czapek's medium, Schopfer's medium, or Leonian's medium. These 

 descriptive terms afford valuable information that personal names do not. 

 Even when the reader is familiar with the composition of a named medium, 



