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178 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jun 
attributed to the presence of putrid-algw in the water. 
BACTERIOLOGY. 
WIDAL’S REACTION IN TypHOID FEVER.—The typhoid 
culture must be in a suitable condition; this is best ef- 
fected by making the stock culture on agar agar,and keep- 
ing it at 837 deg. C.; and this must be renewed once a 
month. When the test is to be applied, a loopful of the 
culture on the agar is planted in a tube of sterilized bouil- 
lion and placed in the incubator for eighteen hours. At 
the end of that time a drop is examined under the micro- 
scope, to see whether the bacilli are active and that no 
clumping is present. 
The serum should be carefully diluted at least one in 
twenty before the culture is brought into contact with it. 
If the reaction is obtained with serum of this strength you 
may be sure that ninety-nine times out of a hundred the 
serum has been obtained from a patient who has been at- 
tacked with enteric fever. The 1 per cent is allowed for 
errors in technique, and also because it has been reported 
at serum obtained from cases of abdominal typhus has 
given the reaction. It is a question whether these causes 
are not a mixed infection of typhoid bacilli, with some 
other organisms. 
BACTERIOLOGY.—Dr. W. C. Mitchell is professor of mi- 
croscopy in Denver Medical College. The laboratory work 
consists in the use of culture media and staining re- 
agents ; cultivation and staining of pathogenic organisms ; 
clinical methods of detecting tubercle bacilli in sputum, 
urine, etc. ; method of detesting the bacillus of diphthe- 
ria; bacteriological examination of water, ice, milk, etc. 
PRESERVATION oF Eoeas.—Dr. N. Hanika (Landwirth, 
Woch. f. Bayern) says that he has found in the pores of 
even newly-laid eggs, micro-organisms which cause de- 
composition ; and that it is evident from this that. meth- 
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