ELECTROPHORESIS OF DIPHTHERIA BACILLI III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMPLIFIED TECHNIQUE FOR ELECTROPHORETIC MEASUREMENT OF THE VIRULENCE OF DIPHTHERIA BACILLI
The simplified technique consisted in use of a "glass cell," constructed of "glass slides cut into desired sizes and cemented to a thick glass slide forming a rectangular cell with grooves providing places for platinum electrodes." The cell is cleaned and filled with distilled water suspensions of the bacteria, a large cover-glass is pressed tightly over the cell and mounted on the microscope. The electrodes are connected with a source of direct current. With this cell it was possible to observe the usual differences in velocity between virulent and avirulent diphtheria bacilli observed in previous tests with the large apparatus. The physical measurements conducted on a large series of cultures detected 100% of the Corynebacterium hoffmanni strains, and 100% of the "pleomorphic, granular, short bacilli." The authors were 94.4% correct in detecting typical C. diphtheriae.