1906.] Action on Bacteria of Electrical Discharges. 79 



Table VI. 



Species. 



Duration of 

 exposure. 



Experiments with current 

 at 100 volts (5 amperes) 

 supplied to motor driving 

 the alternator. 



Reaction of 

 emulsion at end 

 of exposure. 



Result. 



Experiments using 

 Rulimkoff coil. 



Reaction of 

 emulsion at end 

 of exposure. 



B. anthracis . 



JB. typhosus 



B. dysenteries (Shiga) 



B. coli communis 



B. pyocyaneus 



B. prodigiosus 



Micrococcus agilis .. 



mins. 

 30 

 60 

 60 

 30 

 30 

 60 

 60 

 30 



30 

 30 

 60 

 30 

 30 

 60 

 60 

 30 

 30 

 60 

 60 

 30 



Neutral 



j> 



33 

 ]> 



Faintly alkaline 



Neutral 



Neutral 



j) 



Faintly alkaline 

 Neutral 



1} 



:} 

 si 



:} 



:} 

 1} 



Neutral . 



Neutral . 



In two of the experiments the reaction of the emulsion was found to be 

 faintly alkaline at the end of the exposure, one experiment being that in 

 which B. typhosus was destroyed after exposure to the current from the 

 alternator for 60 minutes, and the other one of the instances in which 

 B. pyocyaneus survived exposure to the same current for 60 minutes. In 

 all the other experiments, whether the current was obtained from the 

 alternator or from the Euhmkoff coil, the reaction of the emulsion remained 

 practically neutral after the exposure. 



In the experiments of Table V the atmosphere of hydrogen was obtained 

 by passing the gas into the tube above the surface of the emulsion ; in the 

 other experiments the gas was passed through the emulsion with resulting 

 disturbance of the liquid and increased opportunity for electrolytic changes 

 to occur, and, moreover, in the experiments of Table VI a somewhat more 

 energetic discharge was obtained from the disc brush than from the twisted 

 wire brush used in the earlier experiments. We had, therefore, to consider 

 whether the germicidal effect which had been produced in some of the 



