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stained by Gram's method, and did not liquify the medium on which
it was growing.
This bacillus did not shew any growth at a temperature of 37°C.
(ii) Tin "B" was apparently sterile, no growth of bacteria being
obtained on ordinary media at temperatures of 22°C. and 37°C.,
whether under aerobic or anaerobic conditions.
(iii) The contents of tin "C" were tested on culture media, after
the unopened tin had been incubated for nine days at a temperature
of 37°C.
Four, out of five, tubes of nutrient-gelatin inoculated with liquor
from the tin shewed the growth of an orange-coloured sarcina, which
liquified the medium on which it grew, and stained deeply by Gram's
method.
This organism, like the bacillus isolated from tin " A," did not
grow when incubated at a temperature of 37°C.
The contents of all three tins were of strongly acid reaction ; and a
pronounced "mouldy" smell was noticed when the tins were first opened.
The finding of bacteria in the contents of two of the three tins examined
suggests that the process of sterilisation, said to be be employed in the
manufacture of these "preserved" peas, is inadequate.
Although each tin, when opened, evolved a most distinct and characteristic
"mouldy" odour, no culture of a mould organism was obtained from
the contents.
This can only be explained by the assumption th it some spccies of
mould, having escaped the effects of the process of sterilisation, was
originally present in the tins, but had died out before the tins were received
by me for examination.
I am of opinion, as the result of my examination, that the contents of
the three tins were unsound, and unfit for food.
I am also of opinion that the legend on the label, "Seldom equalled,
never excelled,'' is, if applied as a description of the contents of the three
tins, inaccurate and misleading.
ALEX. G. R. FOULERTON, F.R.C.S., D.P.H.
Lecturer on Public Health and on Bacteriology
to the Middlesex Hospital.
Director of the Bacteriological Laboratories at the
Middlesex Hospital.
The Bacteriological Laboratories,
The Middlesex Hospital, W.
18th August, 1903.