With regard to the second possibility, that the bacillus finds its way
into the hams in the curing pickles, it was determined by laboratory
experiment that the addition of 3 per cent of sodium chlorid or 3 per
cent of potassium nitrate to laboratory media completely inhibits
the growth of the bacillus. As the pickling solutions always contain
considerably more than these percentages of sodium chlorid and
potassium nitrate, it would be impossible for the bacillus to multiply
in the pickles. Additional laboratory experiments demonstrated,
however, that the bacillus or its spores may remain alive in the curing
pickles for at least thirty days, and it seemed possible that the
curing pickles might become contaminated at times with the bacilli, and
that the bacilli, although incapable of multiplying in the pickles,
might find their way into the bodies of the hams in the pickling
fluids. In order to throw some light upon this point, the following
experiment was carried out: