The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-05

pert skilled mechanic; his work must
be done with untiring patience. indus
try and precision: and above all he
IS In constant danger of poisonous in
lection from any number of virulent
germs. He proceeds very similarly TO
the expert gardener or florist: grows
cultivates and studies the innumera-
BILE forms and varieties. habits and
/ requirements of micro-organisms
much as the florist proceeds with his
seeds and growing flowers. The first
thing is to carefully prepare the soil;
this is called culture media" and
proper receptacles for this media or
soil TO grow the organisms in: one or
TWO hundred culture tubes, glass
tubes much like the test tubes the
chemist uses, other somewhat larger
having construction and hollow bali
| like end called potato tubes for cul-
tivating microbes on prepared potato
media: all these tubes are first
cleaned and thoroughly sterilized
with antiseptic soap and boiling, dried
and plugged with cotton and put in
steriliZer and with either dry or
moist heat subjected to a temperature
of 220 to 400 degrees F. for several
| hours; the culture media is now pre-
pared and while quite warm poured
into the tubes; great care is neces-
sary to prevent any germs floating in
| the air from dropping in the steril
media. Agaragar. glue like sub
stance prepared from certain varie-
ties of Asiatic seaweed. a peptone
meat, are the most common culture
media materials. They are prepared
according to the organism desired to
| cultivate and study; small glass shall
| low dishes with close fitting covers
| are also used as well as glass plates
| to make plate cultures. When all is
ready the culture is infected with
small platinum loop, or needle fixed
| in a glass handle: the smallest visi-
BILE speck of microbe material is taken
up on the wire and the media in the
| culture tube, or on plate is put in
the culture media. the cotton stopper
replaced, or the cover put tightly on
the 'petri dish and carefully put
away for a day or two, when numer-
Gus colonies of the microbe will have
grown: a microscopic slide is now
prepared from the different colonies,
stained with different delicate stain
| ing fluid. the slide sealed with Canada
| balsam. and the specimen is leisurely
studied with the highest magnifying
! powers of the microscope. The mi
crobeS are obtained from floating
germs and spores in the air. and from
man and different animals affected
with different diseases.
Good and Bad Microbes.
| Psychologists divide them into two
! general classes as to their relation to
disease, namely, pathogenic or dis
! ease producing microbes, and the
n-pathogenic or not disease caus-
ing or non-virulent: in fact the non
virulent or harmless microorganismS
are far more numerous than the viru-
lent or poisonous microbes, for in
stance, in the stomach, bowels, in all
| the eXcretiOns OF the healthieSt man.
woman or child anywhere. are mil
| lions of HETEROGENEOUS that act as
scavengers to relieve oVerburdened
nature from the laborious task of eli
!
would accumulate from riotous living
overlooking, and the inicuitous sor
msndism of oday; for instance. the
| Bacillus Coli is :. natural inhabitant
of the large intestine, indeed we could
not live and have health without this
! large population of friendly microbes
and if we feed and otherwise proper
| " care for them, they are good citi-
zens." On the other hand. if they have
t bad feeding and unsanitary treatment
/ they become bad citizens" and we
send for the doctor to ouell the riot,
never thinking that instead of taking
disease. We ourselves make il. AS
this article has become much longer
than we had expected, in another
soon we Will discuss at some length
the bacillus tuberculosis, the sn-called
| tuherculin test, etc. J. NJ. T.