Report of the President 75 



other minor exhibits are being prepared, dealing with the 

 general subject of insects and disease. 



The museum of living bacteria, under the immediate charge 

 of Mr. Kligler, continues to grow in size and particularly in 

 its widening usefulness to the college and research laboratories 

 of the United States and Canada. On December 1, the 

 collection numbered 578 different strains, representing 374 

 named types. In the somewhat less than two years since the 

 organization of the laboratory, 1,700 subcultures have been 

 sent out free of charge to 122 different institutions. The 

 opportunity which this collection affords to investigators to 

 obtain promptly authentic type specimens for comparative 

 study has been warmly appreciated, and brings frequent letters 

 expressing the gratitude of the bacteriologists of our leading 

 universities for this unique public service rendered by the 

 Museum. A printed list of the cultures has been pre- 

 pared, which will further increase the usefulness of the 

 collection. 



The department has continued its cooperation with the 

 Department of Public Education and has prepared a set of 

 bacterial cultures and vials containing specimens of the vari- 

 ous stages of the fly and the mosquito, to be used as traveling 

 collections in the schools, with a considerable series of photo- 

 graphs and diagrams for albums, dealing with the bacteria and 

 with insect-borne disease. 



Two contributions were published from the Department 

 during the year, one by the Curator, on " The Classification 

 of the Streptococci by their Action upon Carbohydrates and 

 Related Organic Media," and one by the Curator and Mr. 

 Kligler on "A Quantitative Study of the Bacteria in City 

 Dust with Special Reference to Intestinal and Buccal Forms." 

 Mr. Kligler has completed two other pieces of work, a study 

 of the nitrate-reducing power of bacteria and a systematic 

 revision of the Coccaceae in the Museum collection. The 

 Curator spent a part of August and September in Minneapolis 

 where he was called in collaboration with Dr. Hermann M. 

 Biggs of the New York City Department of Health to make a 

 study of the city health department and prepare a plan for its 

 reorganization. 



