268 THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE 



either required in different concentrations by the various organisms or is 

 synthesized to a different extent. 



(b) The adsorption of the antibiotic substance by the bacterial cell, 

 rendering the cell incapable of multiplying or dividing, points to an- 

 other type of mechanism that may be rather common. This may often 

 express itself in the abnormal enlargement of the cell. A clear under- 

 standing of this phenomenon will have to await a better knowledge of 

 the mechanism of cell fission. Should one assume that the resistant cells 

 and the sensitive cells divide by different mechanisms? 



All these and many other problems point directly to the fact that a 

 better understanding of the physiology of the microbial cell will be 

 gained from a clearer appreciation of the mode of action of antibiotic 

 substances upon the bacterial cell. 



It is thus to the smallest of living systems, the microbe, that we must 

 look for the solution of some of the most important problems that have 

 faced man as well as his domesticated and friendly animals and plants. 



