18 BACTERIOLOGY OF THE OYSTER. 



preliminary step may partake of the nature of the examination of 

 the last sample of sea water imbibed by the oyster before finally 

 closin g the shell. Indeed, the experiments detailed elsewhere seem 

 to indicate that per unit volume the gastric juice of the oyster may be 

 more impure bacteriologically than the oyster hquor. 



" For cultural purposes the following quantities were made by proper 

 dilutions:— 100 c.c, 10 c.c, 1 c.c. 1-10 c.c, 1-100 c.c, 1-1000 c.c." 



It appears that this was the first attempt to determine the number 

 of B. coil or coli-like organisms within the oyster. The supposition 

 was that the supernatant liquid above the oysters contained in an 

 even distribution all the bacteria that were present in the shell liquor, 

 the juices of the body, and on the outside of the oyster. Whether 

 this assumption is true or not will be discussed later when the writer 

 takes up his own experiments. Houston also performed "a series of 

 experiments to ascertain the relation between the biological (bacterio- 

 logical L. A. R.) composition of (1) the shell liquor and surface 

 "washings" of the oyster, and (2) the "washed bodies of the oysters." 

 In this series of experiments, four in number, by rapid fire calculation 

 and assumptions, Houston arrives at some very startling conclusions.^ 

 From these experiments he states that volume for volume the stomach 

 of the oyster contains more bacteria than any other part of the 

 oyster. The method of conducting the experiments and the premises 

 assumed and conclusions drawn will be discussed more at length 

 when the writer takes up similar experiments of his own. 



Fuller in the article cited above describes his method as follows: — 

 "In the examination, inoculations were made from the liquor 

 contained between the shells, from the contents of the intestines, 

 stomach, and rectum, and in some cases from portions of the visceral 

 mass. In order to obtain samples of the juice from an oyster under 

 aseptic conditions, the speciments to be examined were scrubbed 

 thoroughly in tap water with a stiff brush, washed off in running 

 sterile water, and dried on a sterile towel, after which they were 

 opened with a sterile knife. To obtain cultures from the stomach, 

 the top of the mantle covering the interior end of the oyster was slit 

 open and the large palps on either dide of the mouth pushed aside; 

 the mouth region was sterilized by passing a hot scalpel over these 

 parts and a portion of the stomach contents was drawn out by means 

 of a fine pipette or platinum loop introduced through the mouth 

 opening. Cultures from the intestines were made in the following 



