BACILLUS PRODIGIOSUS. II 



some other easily recognizaVjle bacterium outside the filters, 

 and its subsequent identification in the filtered water, was at 

 one time expected to become a method of practical import- 

 ance. In modern water supply work, however, dependence 

 is usually placed on the colony counts of total bacteria, 

 regardless of kind, to determine the bacterial efficiency of the 

 filters. 



Dacilliis prodigiostis is not an inhabitant of this locality. 

 Its occasional appearance is usually shrouded in mystery and 

 its occurrence "running wild" naturally attracts interest. 

 In the Spring of 1912 Mr. John Semple, a druggist of Chester, 

 T^a., in the course of some chemical operations in which meat 

 entered as a component, was struck by the peculiar red color 

 that appeared upon some of this substance. Becoming much 

 interested in the subject, he called the attention of Mr. T. 

 Chalkley Palmer, President of the Institute, to the phenom- 

 enon. Mr. Palmer cultivated the growth and sulmiitted it to 

 microscopic examination, finding it to be Bacillus prodigiosus. 

 From Mr. Palmer the writer obtained inoculations, and has 

 had continuously growing since that time more or less pure 

 colonies of the bacillus. The ease of culture and vigorous 

 growth of the bacillus have made it easy to observe. As 

 illustrating the vigor of its growth may be mentioned the fol- 

 l(jwing : In one instance, due to absence, the proper time for 

 re-inoculation of the colony was long allowed to pass and the 

 piece of bread serving as culture medium became so badly 

 infected as to appear nothing but a dried up mass of bacteria 

 and fungi. The writer supposed the colony lost, and was 

 most agreeably surprised, a few days later when the Petri 

 dish was opened up for cleaning, to find that the inside of the 

 putrefying mass of bread was like so much raw meat, so 

 intense was the growth of Bacillus prodigiosus within. In 

 other instancee, cultures of Bacillus prodigiosus which had 

 been allowed to dry up and apparently die out in the Fall, 

 and which were left without care until the following Spring, 



