_The Warm Chamber._--This is an accessory of importance in bacteriological work. For the continuous heating of specimens during cultivation it is an absolute necessity. Pfeiffer’s warm chamber (Fig. 256) is suitable for microscopical work generally. It consists of a hard-wood box, made air-tight, with doors and glass windows to allow of the specimen being moved from time to time, and kept under constant observation. The box is mounted on a metal plate tripod stand, and is heated from below by a small gas burner, with a thermo-regulator. A paraffin lamp will do as well, so long as it maintains a temperature of from 25° to 45°C., and without danger of injury to the stand and lenses of the microscope. A thermometer is placed in the air space to mark the temperature. [Illustration: Fig. 257.--Crookshank’s Incubator.] _Hot-air Incubators and Sterilisers_ are usually made of sheet-iron, in the form of a cubical chest, with double walls, supported on four legs, as that of Dr. Crookshank’s (Fig. 257). They are heated by gas or a lamp from below, while the temperature is indicated by a thermometer inserted through a hole in the top, as in that of the Hearson’s incubator. Test-tubes, flasks, funnels, cotton-wool, &c., must be sterilised by exposure to a temperature of 150°C. for an hour or more. _Wire Cages_ or crates are used for containing test-tubes, especially when they are to be sterilised in the hot-air steriliser, or for lowering tubes of nutrient jelly into the steam steriliser. All instruments, needles, scalpels, &c., before using must be carefully sterilised. [Illustration: Fig. 258.--Dr. Koch’s Steam Steriliser.] _Steam Sterilisers_ are made either of iron or tin, jacketed with thick felt, and provided with a conical cap or lid perforated at the apex to receive a thermometer (Fig. 258). Inside the vessel is an iron grating or diaphragm about two-thirds of the way down, which divides the interior into two chambers, the upper or steam chamber, and the lower or water chamber. A gauge outside marks the level of the water in the lower chamber; this should be kept about two-thirds full. The apparatus stands upon three legs, and is heated from below with a Bunsen burner or a lamp. It is employed for sterilising nutrient media in tubes or flasks, for cooking potatoes or hastening the filtration of agar-agar. When the thermometer indicates 100° C. the lid is removed, and test-tubes are lowered in a wire-basket by means of a hook and string, and the lid quickly replaced. Potatoes or small flasks are lowered into the cylinder in a tin receiver with a perforated bottom, which rests upon the grating, and admits of the contents being exposed to the steam generated.