Much of the discovery of medicine happened in bacteriologists laboratory over the microscope glass slide. A few examples of microscopic experiments are those interminable rows of flasks, broths, and cultures of Pasteur, the fleck of greenish mold that awakened the curiosity of Fleming and the study of Behring on effects of deadly bacillus of diphtheria on guinea pigs, and Walkmans discovery of new weapons for a man to battle against health threats and diseases.

School, hospital, or research laboratory is the best place for working effectively and safely with bacteria. Nearly all bacteria are so tiny that when you look at them under the light microscope you will see them like small dots. Microscopist must keep in mind that all bacterial cultures should be treated as though they contain harmful organisms. There are several methods and techniques used in all bacteriological laboratories and the interested microscopist can develop valuable skills such as accurate observation of bacteria under a microscope and as he masters the tasks, it then move towards the study of microorganisms and the proper positioning of specimen over the microscope glass slide.

The majority of equipment in science laboratory is purposely designed for the study of microscopic plants and bacteria which plays an important role in human interactions. Except from the normal laboratory materials like microscopic glass slides, bottles, flasks, and pipettes, Petri dishes and microscopy culture tubes are also the primary materials essential in microscopy and bacteriology laboratories. The plate, as the Petri dishes are usually called, is consist of a shallow dish with a matching cover. Bacteria are artificially grown in the dishes for an appropriate culture medium. Culture tubes may sometimes look like ordinary test tubes but these are made of heavy glass incorporated with lead, with extra heavy walls, and without a lip. These have been widely used in culturing bacteria.

Bacteria are transferred from a culture dish to a microscopic glass slide with the aid of a transfer needle, or sometimes called as inoculating needles. These needles are made of metal wires situated at the handle. The more common kind of these needles employ a metal handles with adjustable screw chucks that can hold any standard diameter inoculating needle wire. The needle tip is formed into a loop and straightened and the wire is usually made of nichrome.

The steps in preparing a culture medium for the microscopic slides are easy. First, place the dry ingredients in an Erlenmeyer flask and add the distilled water and beef extract paste. Continue with stirring the specimen occasionally and heat it to boil. Allow it to simmer until the entire agar is dissolved and ready to place on the microscopic glass slide for further examination. There are different types of culture media used for various kinds of microscopy investigations carried out in the bacteriologists and microscopists laboratory before examining it over the microscope glass slide. Some of the most common types of microscopic investigations are the following:

Blood agar – A medium to which either untreated or defibrinated blood has been added. Lofflers blood serum mixture – a broth that contains sugar to which has been added the serum of the blood. The mixture is used in cultural diagnosis of diphtheria. Litmus milk – a water solution of an acid or alkali added to milk. This is used for culturing bacteria associated with milk processing. Russels double sugar phenum red agar – a beef agar which also contains lactose and dextrose sugars, and a phenol red, a chemical acid-alkali indicator. This is use in identification of bacterial organisms that cause food poisoning, dysentery, and typhoid. The Difco Laboratories Manual, the standard reference in the field, lists several hundred different media designed to provide specific environment conducive to the growth of certain bacteria. The study on bacteriology covers a vast a complex field that it needs to be recognized.

Bacteriological laboratories as well as microscopy laboratories must observe cleanliness and orderliness. The microscopists as well as the other staff must make sure that all the glassware they use in making a culture media must be clean enough and free from bacteria.