28 BACTERIOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS. 
floor and away from any inflammable materials. This 
will be found to answer admirably and can easily be 
fitted up in an emergency. 
It would be better to use a tin box specially made for 
the purpose and having a door at the side and a per- 
forated false bottom so that the culture tubes do not 
rest directly on the metal exposed to the flame. This 
latter had best be made of copper. 
If the practitioner is fortunate enough to possess a 
conservatory which is kept at a temperature approxi- 
mating to that of the body, this will serve admirably. 
The culture tubes must be kept in a box which will 
exclude light. 
In the absence of this a cupboard near the kitchen 
fire or the hot water cistern may be found that will 
answer the purpose; a thermometer should be placed 
in it and examined from time to time throughout the 
day, and if the temperature does not fall below. 30° nor 
rise above 40° it will serve at a pinch, though a tem- 
perature which is more constant near 37° is desirable. 
It has to be remembered that we are not now speaking 
of the incubation of cultures for purposes of research; 
we are dealing with methods of cultivation which are 
necessary for diagnostic purposes, and for these it is 
usually sufficient if the temperature remains nearly 
constant at the proper point for some eighteen hours. 
The author once succeeded in making a diagnosis in 
a case of supposed diphtheria by the following method. 
The tube of medium was inoculated from the throat 
and placed in a jam pot which was partly filled with 
water at 37° C.; a thermometer was also inserted and 
the whole placed near the fire. It was watched from 
time to time and moved near the fire if the temperature 
showed signs of falling, and vice veysé. Next morning 
