MICROBIAL METABOLISM AND ITS 

 INDUSTRIAL IMPLICATIONS 



The liberation of the Microbiological Panel of your Society from the 

 restriction of being merely a part of the Food Group, and its promo- 

 tion to the status of an independent Society Group, mark a wider 

 recognition of the significance of the microbe world for chemical in- 

 dustry. The invited lecturer might, therefore, be expected to give a 

 convincing justification of this change in the organization of the 

 Society. 



The difficulty of fulfilling this task properly is enhanced by the 

 mixed character of the audience. It seems probable that this will partly 

 be composed of captains of chemical industry who scarcely ever will 

 have given microbes a thought, and partly of representatives of the 

 several hundreds of members of the former Microbiological Panel, 

 which means that amongst this group there will be masters of indus- 

 trial microbiology for whom a plea for the industrial importance of 

 microbes would just mean 'carrying coal to Newcastle'. Fortunately, 

 recent events have made this time-honoured phrase lose its aptness to 

 denote absurdity, and this has encouraged an attempt to satisfy both 

 parties. 



The active part which the Microbiological Panel of the Food Group 

 has taken for several years in the proceedings of your Society testifies 

 that the food industries at least are aware that mankind is surrounded 

 by a world of invisible life which continuously lies in wait and which 

 at often unexpected moments may manifest its presence by an out- 

 burst of proliferation. 



This will generally lead to most undesirable effects ; it is, therefore, 

 quite comprehensible that amongst food manufacturers microbes have 

 a bad reputation. It is, however, perhaps not always realized that the 

 socially justified hoarding of food which is the main characteristic of 

 our food industries, and which is indissolubly connected with the 

 present structure of human society, is contrary to the laws of nature. 

 Seen from the standpoint of the microbes any preservation of surplus 



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