1. Place the tubes in a bucket or other convenient receptacle, fill with water and add a handful of "Sapon" or other soap powder. See that the tubes are full and submerged.

2. Fix the bucket over a large Bunsen flame and boil for thirty minutes--or boil in the autoclave for a similar period.

3. Cleanse the interior of the tubes with the aid of test-tube brushes, and rinse thoroughly in cold water.

4. Invert the tubes and allow them to drain completely.

5. Dry the tubes and polish the gla.s.s inside and out with a soft cloth, such as selvyt.

~New flasks, plates, and capsules~ must be cleaned in a similar manner.

~To Clean New Graduated Pipettes.~--

1. Place the pipettes in a convenient receptacle, filled with water to which soap powder has been added.

2. Boil the water vigorously for twenty minutes over a Bunsen flame.

3. Rinse the pipettes in running water and drain.

4. Run distilled water through the pipettes and drain.

5. Run rectified spirits through the pipette and drain as completely as possible.

6. Place the pipettes in the hot-air oven (_vide_ page 31), close the door, open the ventilating slide, and run the temperature slowly up to about 80 C. Turn off the gas and allow the oven to cool.

Or 6a. Attach each pipette in turn to the rubber tube of the foot bellows, or blowpipe air-blast, and blow air through the pipette until the interior is dry.

Gla.s.sware that has already been used is regarded as _infected_, and is treated in a slightly different manner.

~Infected Test-tubes.~--

1. Pack the tubes in the wire basket of the autoclave (having previously removed the cotton-wool plugs, caps, etc.), in the vertical position, and before replacing the basket see that there is a sufficiency of water in the bottom of the boiler. Now attach a piece of rubber tubing to the nearest water tap, and by means of this fill each tube with water.

2. Disinfect completely by exposing the tubes, etc., to a temperature of 120 C. for twenty minutes (_vide_ page 37).

(If an autoclave is not available, the tubes must be placed in a digester, or even a large pan or pail with a tightly fitting cover, and boiled vigorously for some thirty to forty-five minutes to ensure disinfection.)

3. Whilst still hot, empty each tube in turn and roughly clean its interior with a stiff test-tube brush.

4. Place the tubes in a bucket or other convenient receptacle, fill with water and add a handful of Sapon or other soap powder. See that the tubes are full and submerged.

5. Fix the bucket over a large Bunsen flame and boil for thirty minutes.

6. Cleanse the interior of the tubes with the aid of test-tube brushes, and rinse thoroughly in cold water.

7. Drain off the water and immerse tubes in a large jar containing water acidulated with 2 to 5 per cent. hydrochloric acid. Allow them to remain there for about fifteen minutes.

8. Remove from the acid jar, drain, rinse thoroughly in running water, then with distilled water.

9. Invert the tubes and allow them to drain completely.

Dry the tubes and polish the gla.s.s inside and out with a soft cloth, such as selvyt.

~Infected flasks, plates, and capsules~ must be treated in a similar manner.

~Flasks~ which have been used only in the preparation of media must be cleaned immediately they are finished with. Fill each flask with water to which some soap powder and a few crystals of pota.s.sium permanganate have been added, and let boil over the naked flame. The interior of the flask can then usually be perfectly cleaned with the aid of a flask brush, but in some cases water acidulated with 5 per cent. nitric acid, or a large wad of wet cotton-wool previously rolled in silver sand, must be shaken around the interior of the flask, after which rinse thoroughly with clean water, dry, and polish.

~Infected Pipettes.~--

1. Plunge infected pipettes immediately after use into tall gla.s.s cylinders containing a 2 per cent. solution of lysol, and allow them to remain therein for some days.

2. Remove from the jar and drain. Boil in water to which a little soap has been added, for thirty minutes.

3. Rinse thoroughly in cold water.

4. Immerse in 5 per cent. nitric acid for an hour or two.

5. Rinse again in running water to remove all traces of acid.

6. Complete the cleaning as described under "new pipettes."

When dealing with graduated capillary pipettes employed for blood or serum work (whether new or infected), much time is consumed in the various steps from 5 onward, and the cleansing process can be materially hastened if the following device is adopted.

Fit up a large-sized Kitasato's filter flask to a Sprengel's suction pump or a Geryk air pump (see page 43). To the side tubulure of the filter flask attach a 20 cm. length of rubber pressure tubing having a calibre sufficiently large to admit the ends of the pipettes.

Next fill a small beaker with distilled water. Attach the first pipette to the free end of the rubber tubing, place the pipette point downward in the beaker of water and start the pump (Fig. 22).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 22.--Cleaning blood pipettes.]

When all the water has been aspirated through the pipette into the filter flask, fill the beaker with rectified spirit and when this is exhausted refill with ether. Detach the pipette and dry in the hot-air oven.

~Slides and cover-slips~ (Fig. 23), when first purchased, have "greasy"

surfaces, upon which water gathers in minute drops and effectually prevents the spreading of thin, even films.

~Microscopical Slides.~--The slides in general use are those known as "three by one" slips (measuring 3 inches by 1 inch, or 76 by 26 mm.), and should be of good white crown gla.s.s, with ground edges.

~New slides~ should be allowed to remain in alcohol acidulated with 5 per cent. hydrochloric acid for some hours, rinsed in running water, roughly drained on a towel, dried, and finally polished with a selvyt cloth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 23.--Slides and cover-slips, actual size.]

If only a few slides are required for immediate use a good plan is to rub the surface with jeweler's emery paper (Hubert's 00). A piece of hard wood 762626 mm. with a piece of this emery paper gummed tightly around it is an exceedingly useful article on the microscope bench.

~Cover-slips.~--The most useful sizes are the 19 mm. squares for ordinary cover-gla.s.s film preparations, and 38 by 19 mm. rectangles for blood films and serial sections; both varieties must be of "No. 1" thickness, which varies between 0.15 and 0.22 mm., that they may be available for use with the high-power immersion lenses.

Cover-slips should be cleaned in the following manner:

1. Drop the cover-slips one by one into an enamelled iron pot or tall gla.s.s beaker, containing a 10 per cent. solution of chromic acid.