MICROBIOLOGY AND INDUSTRY 



'This enables the chemist to regard micro-organisms as co-practitioners 

 of his craft, and the chemical achievements of these humble agents have 

 continued to excite his admiration since they were revealed by Pasteur.' 

 ('The Laboratory of the Living Organism', Presidential Address delivered by 

 Dr. M. 0. Forster, F. R. S. to Section B of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, at Edinburgh on September i, 1921.) 



Instruction at a present-day Technological University has grad- 

 ually expanded into a grand symphony of pure and applied science. 

 Only the exceptionally practiced ear can adequately value the role 

 of the individual instruments, i.e., the various branches of these sci- 

 ences, separately. Besides, scientists will but rarely be provided with 

 an opportunity to perform as soloists before an audience that is not 

 composed exclusively of professional experts. The newly appointed 

 professor who, in accordance with tradition, embarks on his career 

 with a public address faces a task that calls for an appraisal of two 

 aspects. This is so because on the one hand the listener may be in- 

 clined to attach to this address a special significance in that it will 

 permit him to evaluate the speaker's ideas concerning the manner in 

 which the latter intends to carry out the duties of his new office. On 

 the other hand, the introductory remark implies that this lecture is 

 also important from the point of view of his specialty because it cannot 

 fail to influence the position that will be assigned to his branch in the 

 composite. The latter consideration weighs more heavily on me than 

 personal responsibility now that, after a lapse of nearly a quarter 

 century, a spokesman for microbiology may once again request the 

 attention of the assembled representatives of technological higher edu- 

 cation. And this is all the more so because of the fact that it is my 

 privilege to speak in the same city where Antony van Leeuwenhoek, 

 the father of microbiology, used to live and work. 



As a subdivision of biology, microbiology is perhaps in greater need 

 of an occasional opportunity to make itself heard than any other sub- 

 ject taught at this university. The reason is that at first sight there 



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