24 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jan 



When the steam escapes from the tube, in the cover, it is 

 evidence of the proper interior temperature. The oven 

 of a small gasoline stove answers the purpose of a dry- 

 sterilizer and incubator. The chemical reagents and 

 glassware are simple and inexpensive. Most of the large 

 cities now afford special instructors in bacteriology, but 

 when one cannot afford the time and means for such 

 a course, he must content himself with the only recourse 

 left, viz ; to work it out, by practice alone, with the aid 

 of a few good books. 



Every general practitioner should possess the ability 

 to give to his patients the benefit of as thorough diagno- 

 sis and scientific treatment as a progressive science af- 

 fords. At the present time there is no excuse for the 

 physician who does not prepare himself to perform 

 thoroughly the work demanded in routine daily practice. 

 Two of the most common errors in diagnosis apply to 

 typhoid fever and diphtheria, both of which are easily 

 recognized by means of laboratory methods. The clini- 

 cal impossibility of making an accurate diagnosis of 

 diphtheria without a bacteriological examination should 

 prove an inducement to a progressive physician to equip 

 his own laboratory for accurate examinations. Boards of 

 health in cities often supply the physician with sterilized 

 test tubes and swabs for collecting material from sus- 

 picious cases when they are returned for laboratory ex- 

 amination and report. Where such advantages are not 

 available, as in country practice, a careful bacteriologist 

 might make a satisfactory examination with a bake oven, 

 wash boiler and other kitchen utensils, as substitutes for 

 the regular sterilizers and incubators. 



The same truths apply to many other diseases common 

 to every day practice. If time does not permit the mak- 

 ing of the various necessary culture mediums, they may 

 be obtained ready for use from the laboratory of Parke, 

 Davis & Co., or that of some near-by bacteriologist- 



