A technique is presented which, though less sensitive than other available methods, speeds cultural diagnosis of tubercle bacilli from patients. It is simple to perform and can easily be adapted to routine clinical laboratories. Sterile 1x6 cm Whatman No. 2 filter paper strips were placed on the surfaces of Lowenstein-Jensen culture slants in screw-top tubes. The cultures were then inoculated with suspected materials as NaOH-treated sputa by running the inocula down the strips and incubated. After a week the strips were removed aseptically and laid on slides that were previously labeled with Labink. A drop of 5% serum was placed on each strip and the slides were fixed by heat and stained by the Ziehl-Neelsen method. The strips were than allowed to dry and were permanently fastened to their slides with Duco cement.