HOUSEHOLD BACTERIOLOGY. 



Resistance 

 of Spores 



Dust Plants 



in the 



Refrigerator 



moisture, warmth, or more food, the resting, resist- 

 ant spore starts into growth again and continues its 

 life as before. 



The species that do not form spores are much 

 more easily killed. Those that form spores readily, 

 being difficult to kill, are more likely to cause dis- 

 ease or destruction of property. Fortunately for us, 

 most of the disease or "pathogenic" germs do not. 

 form spores readily, if at all. It is these spores that 

 make necessary the repeated "scalding" by which the 

 housewife tries to save the food which she finds spoil- 

 ing. 



The lowest temperature known will not kill some 

 bacteria, while some varieties in the spore state will 

 resist the temperature of boiling water. Indeed the 

 heating sometimes seems to favor their changing into 

 the active state. 



Dust readily finds access to the ice box or the refrig- 

 erator, even if the ice is thoroughly cleaned before it is 

 put in. The dust-plants will grow on any bits of food 

 carelessly dropped and by their gaseous products may 

 taint the meat, milk, and other foods. The escape pipe 

 of a refrigerator needs to be often and carefully 

 cleaned throughout its entire length, else it will be 

 covered with a slimy mass of bacterial erowth. Many 

 of the bacteria found here are the germs of putrefac- 

 tion. 



This pipe may be cleaned with a swab of cloth or 

 sponge tightly wrapped around a long stick, rat- 

 tan or whalebone, with a small, long-handled brush, 



