NICHROME AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PLATINUM WIRE IN BACTERIOLOGIC INOCULATORS

At the beginning of the school year last October, there was a shortage of platinum wire in the bacteriologic laboratory, Medical School, Howard University. At the suggestion of Dr. H. C. Scurlock I obtained some No. 20 nichrome wire from Eimer and Amend and have used it exclusively in my classes in bacteriology during the past semester. It has proved so serviceable and so inexpensive as compared to platinum that it seems desirable to call attention to it. Its use in this connection does not appear to be mentioned in the usual text-books and laboratory manuals and I have seen no reference to it in recent literature. Nichrome wire is so common, however, and its desirable properties so obvious that undoubtedly others have employed it before now. This wire is an alloy of nickel and chromium and is used primarily for its electrical resistance in rheostats; it has a relatively