A survey of some problems in sterilization.

some glaring examples of breakdown in sterilization (Savage, 1944; Walter, 1948; Howie and Timbury, 1956; Bowie 1955, 1957). More recently, stimulated by the original observations, administrators and hospital authorities are becoming increasingly conscious that the whole machinery of sterilization in hospitals needs a drastic overhaul (Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, 1958; Medical Research Council Working Party's Report, 1959). At the same time many new techniques and methods are becoming available. Rival claims are made for different methods and it is important to keep some sense of perspective and to decide for what purposes different methods of sterilization are most suitable. The aim of this article is to assess the present situation, to outline some of the main problems, and to suggest some of the lines along which development is likely to proceed in the immediate and in the