i8o 



BACTERIOLOGICAL METHODS 



liquid in the tube. Dip tlie free end of the tube into the meat 

 pulp, meat extract or meat broth and, after shaking the tube in 

 order to fill it with the acid vapors, insert the rod, closing the tube 

 with the rubber stopper. If the juice or the meat particle is 

 from decayed meat, a grayish smoky vapor appears at the end 

 of the glass rod, which settles to the surface of the liquid. There 

 must be no free ammonia in the room while making the test. 



The test is not appHcable to 

 pickled meats. This test 

 should be made supplementary 

 to the microscopical, bacterio- 

 logical and toxicological exami- 

 nations already explained. In 

 place of the test-tube or 

 reagent glass above recom- 

 mended, the small perfume 

 sample bottles with glass rod 

 stoppers may be used in mak- 

 ing the test. 



Sausage meat binders or 

 fillers are very readily detected 

 by means of the compound 

 microscope. Corn starch and 

 wheat starch fillers are most 

 commonly employed, the object in adding them being to increase 

 the water content of the sausage meat. Some brands of sausage 

 contain corn meal and other cereal products. Egg albumen and 

 tragacanth fillers are used occasionally, and it is said that it is 

 possible to increase the water content of the meats by 30 per 

 cent, with only 3 per cent, of the tragacanth filler. The increase 

 in water content through the use of the starch fillers is about 5 

 to 10 per cent. In examining meats for starch fillers or added 

 cereal it must not be forgotten that some of the spices used 

 contain starch (pepper, allspice). 



Fig. 59. — Bacillus telani as seen in a 

 scraping from a wound. Some of the 

 organisms show spore formation while 

 others do not. The pale globules are 

 blood corpuscles. (X 1000). — {Kolle and 

 Wasserman.) 



