Puff

As Anna Dean Dulaney, bacteriologist at the University of Missouri, crossed the University campus recently she found a young woman's vanity case. What she did with it she told last week in Hygeia, Health Magazine: "Somewhat more curious than scrupulous, I opened it, and there lay the usual powder puff. No longer could I repress my bacteriologic instincts, and I carried the little puff to the laboratory, where I made a count of the bacteria attached to it. ...

"I cut the small puff into four equal parts, placed one part in a known amount of sterile water and let it remain for a short time to dislodge the bacteria. Then varying amounts of the water were carefully transferred to sterile glass plates with covers--petri dishes, we call them in the laboratory--and a proper amount of culture media, or food supply for bacteria, added.

"The bacteria--say 'germs' if you prefer--finding suitable food, multiply and form groups, or colonies. Each colony represents the growth from one bacterium. These colonies were counted and by calculation the total number of germs clinging to the part of the powder puff used was obtained. This number multiplied by four of course gave the total count for the entire puff. It was 20,000. Twenty thousand bacteria clinging to a powder puff to be used on a clean face! . . ."

Practical woman, she wrote a postscript: "Powder puffs may easily be washed and, what is more important, fresh ones may be purchased cheaply. New puffs which have been sterilized and wrapped in papers may be bought for a few cents each. . . ."