The effect of drying upon the viability of bacteria

C. E. A. Winslow, F. Abramson
1912 Experimental biology and medicine  
The curve of viability, measuring the rate of decrease among bacteria exposed to an unfavorable environment, has been determined for many conditions. Drying is known to cause a rapid elimination, but no exact quantitative determinations have been made. In the experiments here reported, colon bacilli were used. One cubic centimeter of a @-hour broth culture was mixed with 2% grams of sea sand spread out in an ordinary Petri dish. Duplicate dishes prepared in this way were covered with porous
more » ... henware tops and kept for various periods of time from four hours to ten days. At the end of each period nine cubic centimeters of sterile water were added to the sand in one of the dishes and well mixed by careful agitation. Portions of this water were then plated in duplicate on agar in the usual manner. The results of eight series of tests are shown in the table below expressed in percentages of the original number of bacteria present. The original numbers in different series varied from
doi:10.3181/00379727-9-77 fatcat:lcwxax5gc5fnti5yrq3re73xfy