CHAPTER XXIX 
GENERAL CARE OF THE LABORATORY 
Cleanliness should be the watchword. The laboratory 
should be cleaned at regular intervals; the floors and 
working desks should he cleaned once a week with a 5 
per cent carbolic acid solution; all infected culture 
should be properly disinfected. In case of an accident— 
such as breaking a culture tube—a towel soaked in car¬ 
bolic acid should be applied for an hour to the infected 
area, before the broken glass is removed and the place is 
cleaned. The desk should always be “ cleared’’ at the 
end of the day’s work. The workers should wear gowns 
while in the laboratory and should change them before 
leaving. They should carefully disinfect the hands after 
working with infectious material. 
All stock cultures should be transferred at regular in¬ 
tervals varying according to their nature; staphylococci, 
typhoid-colon-dysentery group and other vigorous or¬ 
ganisms may be transferred every month, but had better 
be kept in the ice box, as should be pneumococci, which, 
however, must be transferred more frequently. Animals, 
usually rabbits and guinea pigs, should be kept in clean 
places, fed oats, cabbage, and water, and the cages should 
be cleaned daily. 
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