Following the lines of experimentation of Churchman1 in 1922, when he showed that a slight increase in temperature had a definite effect on the bacteriostatic power of gentian violet, and of Gatch, Trusler, and Owen2 in 1925, when they showed that gentian violet in 4 per cent dextrose was less toxic for rabbits than aqueous gentian violet, experiments were performed in test tubes and on agar plates to correlate these facts.
Twenty-four hour broth cultures of Staphylococcus aureus containing about 9 cc. of fluid were used. Gentian violet was prepared first with distilled water as a medium and then with 4 per cent dextrose as a medium. Sufficient amounts of the gentian violet preparations were added to the broth cultures to make a 1: 10,000 dilution of the dye. A bath at 50 C. was used to give the increase in temperature. A series of six broth cultures