Another experiment was made thus: One loopful of a twenty-four-hour plain agar culture of _Streptococcus lacticus_ was mixed with a tube of North medium. One loopful from the inoculated tube was mixed with a second tube of North medium. Both tubes were poured into Petri dishes and allowed to cool. One half of each plate was well smeared with a 10 per cent. solution of Formamint in saliva. After twenty-four hours’ incubation at 37 C., only a few colonies appeared on the side to which the Formamint had been applied, while the other half was thickly covered with colonies. TABLE 1.--SHOWING TIME IN WHICH CULTURES OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS WERE KILLED BY DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF FORMAMINT ===================+=================+=============+================= Amount of Formamint| Period of |Average Count| Count on Flask in Saliva |Standing at 37 C.| When Plated |of Saliva Without (Per Cent.) | (Hours) | | Formamint -------------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------- 1 | 3 | 32 | 3200 1 | 6 | 0 | 7000 5 | 1 | Few | 5000 5 | 2 | 0 | 4100 5 | 3 | 0 | 3200* 5 | 6 | 0 | 7000* -------------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------- * The last two observations were made at the same time as on the 1 per cent. solutions. This work so far corroborates that reported in the literature quoted by the manufacturers. But the fact that a compound is a germicide when brought into intimate contact with bacteria in a solution or medium in a test tube or flask does not prove that it will be effective when used in the human throat. THE ALLEGED GERMICIDAL ACTION An attempt was made to discover whether or not the claims advanced by the manufacturers as to the perfect germicidal action of Formamint in all the nooks and crannies of the mouth and throat could be confirmed. TABLE 2.--COUNT OF B. COLI CULTURES WITH DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF FORMAMINT ====================================================================== No. c.c. of 1 per cent. Formamint 0 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 Count 160 33 39 26 15 12 2 0 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------