INOCULATION OF CULTURE MEDIA. 23 
3. A Bunsen’s burner or a spirit lamp with a tall 
flame. 
4. A pair of dissecting forceps. 
5. Platinum needles. Each needle consists of a piece 
of platinum wire about three inches long mounted in 
the axis of a glass rod about six or eight inches in 
length. The wire should be just thick enough not to 
bend too easily. They are easily prepared. The rod 
is selected and the length of platinum wire is held in an 
ordinary pair of forceps. The end of the glass rod is 
held in the flame until quite soft; the end of the wire is 
then heated to redness, and pushed into the rod to the 
depth of about a quarter of an inch, taking care that it is 
Fig. 9. 
kept in the axis. The whole is allowed to cool and is 
ready for use. 
For some purposes we use needles which terminate 
in a small loop, so that they will retain a drop of fluid. 
These are prepared in the same way as the straight 
needles, the free end of the wire being subsequently 
twisted round a French nail or other suitable object. 
The method is as follows :— 
1. Hold the culture tube you are going to inoculate 
first between the index and middle fingers of the left 
