290 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Oct. 



cury, and especially so of sterilizing the whole appara- 

 tus previous to immersion in the water. "Who, also, it 

 may be asked, can fill and keep a glass-stoppered bottle 

 sterile even were it possible to take the water samples 

 at the desired depth, and replace the cork under bacte- 

 riological conditions ? 



It may thus not be inopportune to propose what is be- 

 lieved to be a more convenient and efficient method and 

 apparatus. The latter consists of a self sinking stand- 

 ard, which may be sterilized in total, by steam, dry heat 

 or by flaming, intended to allow the filling of a ? to § 

 vacuum in a sterile test tube at any desired depth of 

 water. (The collecting vessel, including the method of 

 sealing and the test tube, is essentially the form and 

 method used by Russel in his work with deep waters. 

 Otherwise the appliance is constructed as found most 

 convenient for taking water from bored wells.) 



Aside from the collecting vessel, it may be made of 

 iron or other metal. A quickly constructed, simple type, 

 and the one first used in this laboratory, from which the 

 accompanying drawings were made, may be constructed 

 of wood, but it becomes slightly more cumbersome and 

 admits only of convenient flame sterilization for the ex- 

 terior — unless one is possessed of a rather large steril- 

 izing apparatus. 



Metal construction : Make (a) a standard 18 in.x lin. x 

 2 in. (b) a striking bar 14 in. x j in. x H in., to be 

 worked by a trigger (e). The falling of this bar upon 

 the sealed tube of the collecting vessel as it passes the 

 rest upon which that tube lies, opens up the vacuum of 

 the vessel to the inflow of water. The bar contains a 

 slot at (f) which allows the unimpeded entrance of the 

 water. The structure marked (c)is a box to hold the col- 

 lecting vessel in proper position ; at (d) is one of three 

 wire guards holding the striking bar in position. The 

 trigger and trij) cord is shown at (e). At (g) is a metal 



