OF THE ALIMENTARY TRACT 143 



10 cc. of 10% casein, tryptic digest, while the medium 

 of most proHfic cultures was composed of the solidi- 

 fied egg slant of Boeck and Drbohlav, given in the cul- 

 tivation of Endamoeha histolytica, covered by a 

 liquid composed of Locke's solution 1000 cc, with 

 the white of one egg and rabbit blood serum, one drop 

 to each 2 cc. The blood serum was added asep- 

 tically to each tube, introduced at the base of the 

 slant just before inoculation of the culture. This 

 investigator believes that the split products of pro- 

 tein are essential in the cultures and that bacteria 

 are necessary for the purpose, he having failed to 

 grow Trichomonas in the absence of bacteria. On 

 the other hand, some bacteria were definitely harmful 

 to the growth of the protozoa. 



Cultivation of Trichomonas, in the writer's ex- 

 perience, while subject to success in considerable 

 proportion and in a variety of media in which a pro- 

 tein in solution in a physiological salt solution are 

 the essentials, is in a measure uncontrollable. We 

 do not know, except in a very rough fashion, what 

 the essential elements are. When we do we shall be 

 able to cultivate it without bacteria. The culture 

 method does not seem available for general practical 

 use at the present. Most of the methods described as 

 successful will fail at times under exact imitation, 

 so far as is possible, of other occasions when they 

 succeed. 



