124 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
tracting the last drops of the contents when the syringe is filled 
from it. They each hold from 25 to 30 c.c., i.e., five or six 
doses, and are closed with rubber stoppers. The bottles before 
being filled are plugged with cotton wool and sterilised by dry 
heat at a temperature of 150° C. (300° F.) kept up for two hours. 
This is done in an oven holding 1400 bottles at one time, which 
number usually suffices for a day’s work, though in times of 
pressure the stove has to be filled twice a day. The rubber 
stoppers are sterilised by soaking in a 5 per cent, solution of 
Fig. 5. — The Decanting Room. 
formaline for three days, though by experiment it was found that 
three hours was sufficient for this purpose. 
Each decanter has supplied to him a tray full of bottles and a 
dish of stoppers immersed in formaline solution, and he manipu- 
lates these latter by means of spring forceps. The wool plug is 
withdrawn, the neck of the bottle sterilised in the flame of the 
bunsen burner, the end of the syphon inserted into its mouth, the 
clip loosened, the bottle filled, and the stopper inserted in a 
wonderfully short time, and without the slightest danger of con- 
tamination from the operator’s fingers. Before the filling of 
