Partial Sterilisation of Soil by Volatile and Non-Volatile Antiseptics

Abstract

1. The characteristics of true partial sterilisation have been found to be common to a large number of antiseptics and are (a) An initial decrease in the numbers of bacteria followed by a large sustained rise. (b) The killing of protozoa and nitrifying organisms. In no case have we observed all the usual partial sterilisation phenomena without the death of the larger protozoa which occur abundantly in cultures made from our soils.