DESCRIPTIVE CHART 319 



prepared and was printed in the Journal of Bacteriology as the 

 report of this committee for 1917. One copy has been furnished 

 with every order of 100 or more charts, and additional copies 

 have been on sale at about cost price. More detailed information 

 as to the acid and nitrate tests was given in the 1918 report, of 

 which, also, copies are on sale. The edition of the 1917 report 

 is not so nearly exhausted that it has been reprinted in slightly 

 revised form as Part I of this report in the last number of this 

 Journal. 



Among the special investigations on methods which the com- 

 mittee has undertaken is a study of the Gram stain, and the fol- 

 lowing paper is the result. This modification of the Gram stain 

 looks very promising because of the stability of the solutions. 

 The committee is recommending it for provisional use, but is not 

 endorsing it until it has been more thoroughly tested. Of the 

 more commonly used methods, the Stirling technic 2 seems to give 

 the most satisfactory results, and can be safely recommended for 

 general use until the value of this more recent technic has been 

 determined by practical use. 



2 Method 1 described in Committee Report for 1918, J. Bact. 4, 113. 



