VIABLE BACTERIA IN YOUNG CULTURES 



431 



to seed a flask of 50 cc. of broth also wanned to 37°C. A total 

 and viable eount was made on the old culture, and from this the 

 acutal number of bacilli, alive and dead, in the inoculum was 

 calculated. Unfortunately it was only found possible to make 

 one determination of the total count; had three been made and 

 the arithmetic mean taken a closer approximation to the real 

 count would have been obtained. After thorough shaking, the 



TABLE 7 

 Experiment S 



flask was incubated at 37°C., and total and viable counts were 

 made on it at intervals during the ensuing twenty-four hours. 

 The early total counts were made by the Thoma-Zeiss slide, 

 using methylene blue for staining the organisms, and examining 

 the preparations under open illumination; the later counts were 

 made in the usual manner with the Helbe under dark ground 

 illumination. The results were as shown in table 7 and figure 3. 

 The irregularity of the total count during the first three hours 

 will be noted. This was due to the unsatisfactory method em- 

 ployed. Until the count reaches about fifty million per cubic 



