VIABLE BACTERIA IN YOUNG CULTURES 



433 



latter part. Referring once more to the graph it will be seen that 

 during no part of the growth does the viable count equal that of 

 total. The relation of the two worked out as percentages of the 

 viable to the total is given in the third column of the protocol. 



Actually at the end of the logarithmic phase, at two hundred 

 minutes, the relation will be seen to be one of 65.45 per cent. 

 As it has previously been shown that the probable error of either 

 of the counts is not more than about 5 per cent, any question of 

 technical defects falls to the ground. 



TABLE 8 

 Experiment 7 



To confirm this, other experiments were performed, the tech- 

 nique being kept constant except for the nature of the inoculum. 

 This was varied in several ways to see whether the previous his- 

 tory of the culture from which the 5 cc. tube of broth was seeded, 

 whether old, recent, or very young, had anj^ effect on the sub- 

 sequent growth. This was found not to be the case. Again, 

 it was thought that possibly the discrepancy in the relation of the 

 two might be due to the presence of a lag phase, but obliteration 

 of this factor by inoculating the flask of broth from a young 

 culture growing at 37°C. failed to substantiate this either. In 

 other experiments the inoculum was from the last of a series of 

 rapid subcultures of the organism, no subculture being allow'ed 



