FINAL DECISIVE EXPERIMENTS 273 

are opened was thus fully shown. It is impossible 
for me to believe that contamination of the fluid had 
occurred by the passage into it of the sterilised 
pipette, or from its brief exposure to air. The fluid 
itself remained free from organisms ; these, as usual, 
being found only in and on the substance of the 
flakes of sediment, lying at the bottom of the tube. 
A companion tube containing some of the same 
BB solution, which had been prepared and heated 
at the same time to 130° C. for twenty minutes, was 
opened and its contents examined on July 13th—that 
is, after only six weeks. The first sample of the 
sediment taken from this tube with a sterilised 
pipette showed many groups of Micrococci, both 
free and loculated, and also some Torula corpuscles. 
A drop of eosin was slowly drawn beneath the cover 
glass, so as partly to stain the organisms, and sub- 
sequently several photographs were taken from this 
single specimen of the sediment. The tube itself 
was at once resealed, and subsequently left in a box 
for another six weeks at the temperature of the air— 
which was mostly over 70° F. for some weeks. 
The loculated Micrococci found in the first drop 
were exactly like those shown in Figs. 30 and 9g. 
One of the large groups of free Micrococci, together 
with three Torula cells, all stained of a deep red by the 
eosin, are shown in Plate XI., Fig. 33, A; while 
another group of free Micrococci, only a few of 
which are stained, is represented in B, from two of 
the units of which partly stained filaments are pro- 
ceeding. From another small group of free Micro- 
cocci two much twisted filaments were seen issuing, 
Ss 
