CHAPTER XV. 



THE PROCURING OF MATERIAL FOR BACTERIOLOGICAL 

 EXAMINATION FROM THOSE SUFFERING FROM 

 DISEASE. 



A LONG experience has taught me that physicians 

 very frequently take a large amount of trouble, and 

 yet, on account of not carrying out certain simple but 

 necessary precautions, make worthless cultures or send 

 material almost useless for bacteriological study. 



In making cultures from diseased tissues various pro- 

 cedures may be carried out, according to the facilities 

 which the physician has and the kind of information 

 that he desires to obtain. From the dead body culture 

 material should be removed at the first moment possible 

 after death. Every hour's delay makes the results less 

 reliable. From both dead and living tissues the less 

 the alteration that occurs in any substance between its 

 removal from the body and its inoculation upon or in 

 culture media or animals the more exact the informa- 

 tion which will be obtained from its examination. If 

 the material is allowed to dry many bacteria will be 

 destroyed in the process, and certain forms which were 

 present will be obliterated, or, at least, entirely altered 

 in the proportion which they bear to others. If pos- 

 sible, therefore, culture media should be inoculated 

 in the neighborhood of the patient or dead body. For 

 that purpose a bacteriologist should take the most suit- 



