BACTERIOLOGY OF THE OYSTER. 



27 



" But the liquid contents of the oyster's stomach are certainly much 

 less than 1 c.c, probably about 0.1 c.c. It is probably that the coli- 

 like microbes isolated from the macerated oyster bodies in the fore- 

 going experiment were totallj^, or in great part, derived from the 

 contents of the stomach and intestinal tract. In fact, it is conceivable 

 that the 100 coli-like microbes, which each washed oyster was found 

 to contain, were all, or to a great extent, derived from the stomach 

 juice which, for comparative purposes, may be assumed to be about 

 0.1 c.c. But if the body volume of each oyster be taken as 9 c.c, the 

 volume of the stomach contents on the above assumption is only about 

 one-ninetieth of the total bulk. 



" This view alters considerably the complexion of affairs. For the 

 ratio between the number, per unit of volume, of coli-like microbes 

 present, respectively, in the oyster liquor and stomach juice, would 

 then be 33:100. In other words, acting on this assumption the coli- 

 like microbes were three times more numerous per unit of volume in 

 the stomach or intestinal juice then in the oyster liquor. 



*0n the assumption that all the coli-Uke microbes obtained from the macerated bodies of the 

 oysters were derived from the stomach juice (taking the volume of the stomach juice as O.lc.c. 

 and the volume of the oyster apart from its liquor as 10c. c.)." 



