The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-10-30

| ~
of nature is universally recognized
as the most secrettve. not to say close
mouthed.
The suspects are sent up on the
respective charges OF having been
drunk" soaked" or polluted. The
first two tearns smack very suspicious
/, ~ OF slang, but are legitimate words.
admitted even to the vocabulary OF
/ science. The penalty for those two
! offenses Is branding, while those final
ly found guilty OF the third are con-
4 demned. And the whole procedure
lis conducted in strict compliance
with two recent edicts OF the United
/ States board of food and drug tuspec-
ton respecting shelldsh.
\ The Inquisitor General Mt Work.
| watched DR.. Stiles go through the
modus operandi of his tests. He sat
at long, broad counter and had be-
! fore him rack Of glass tubes cork
ed with cotton, a row OF little TASKS
very like the individual decanter IN
which your cold tea Is brought to you
when you take it sitting and another
row Of glass saucers with glass lids.
Now, the succulent bivalve is Just
like his cousin at the other end OF
the Darwinian chain In that he&canS be-
Judged by his liquor and, furthermore,
more he will disclose regarding his
dark past. In other words, more evil
dence of pollution is to be found In
oyster liquor than in oyster meat.
Explaining this, DR.. DR.. Stiles poured
the liquor taken from suspect into,
one of his little decanters and to this
he added water After shaking the
solution exactly twenty-five times-as
the laboratory rules and regulations
prescribe-he turned to a little stove
at his left, took off vessel, and from
It poured into each Of the glass saucers.
liquid resembling broth. This con-
,coction, which he called "agar agar,
and which he explained to be a product
of sea-weed added to beef broth, quick
lyFhardened, forming q yellow stratum
at the bottom OF the rece ptacle. Some.
clever Psychologist once discovered
THAT microbes take to this broth as
greedy as youngsters take to sweet
meats. and ever since 1t has beengthe
favorite medium for growing germs IN
J incubators.
With little glass tube, graduated
l3along the side, DR.. Stiles measured
}out minute quantity of his oyster II
quor solution and dropped an equal
amount into each saucer Of cold broth
Then he put the circular lids on the
saucers and placed them in his tncu-s
lbator. where they were to be left a.
blood heat until the germs-if present
might grow into the colonies IN
which they gather when In flourish
Ing condition
These colonies-as shown to me Il IN
other glass saucers that had been = EFT e
in the incubator for some time-appeare
as; round spots, sometimes an eli nth
of an inch across, sometimes larger
They always indicate that a nlicropte
of some kind was present In the VS.
ter liquor tested. and as each colony
started from single microbe, the bac.l
i8teriologist estimates the number ii o.
these germs present In test LIQUOR py.
counting the colonies Visible. Ssss HI
The Microbe That Gives the Glue.
But what interests him most iss TO
find how many OF these colonles8haVe
been formed by microbe KIN own as l
1.-The colon bacillus" and so called, not
because It resembles the colon q,
punctuation, but because It Is a. pro-.
life and natural inha bitant Of the ION
or large intestine of man and q bel st.s
Fills trained eye generally Id entttles us
colonies without further test bu 70
nakoSsure he draws. with a blue pen
ell, upon the bottom OF The glass
saucer ring about each suspecteu
colony. Next he takes each marKeo
colony UP with the point OF q steril ized
i platinum needle and stransplants u II
a tube OF OK bile mixed with the agar
agar-a concoction In which the colqn
bacillus will flourish after the ma nne q
OF the proverbial green bay tree, A rs
lif 1t does SO flourish the bacteriolo glst
4 has before him indisputa BILE eY1d ence
THAT the oysters under inyestigat alton
have been polluted by focal natter. Z
Thus the colon microbe is Sacce = 60 60
as the index to pollution. for can
mentioned, Samples OF water oWing
over oyster beds and oyster f oatss "a re;
| also being taken and similarly exam: