2 THE CYTOLOGY AND LIFE-HISTORY OF BACTERIA 



examination of bacteriological material and cultures. The distorted vestiges 

 o( bacteria which survived the technique of drying and heat-fixation were 

 accepted as truly indicative of the morphology of the living organisms. And 

 while, from time to time, satisfaction has been expressed at the fact that 

 bacteria will survive, undistorted, treatment which produces the most obvious 

 damage in larger cells, the vaHdity of the assumption that they do, in fact, 

 survive such treatment has seldom been called to question. 



Staining methods have also been devised, almost without exception, for 

 the purpose of identifying cHnically important species of bacteria, and are 

 often most admirably suited to this task. It is surprising to find, however, 

 that much time and labour has been directed to the elucidation of the appear- 

 ances observed by these methods, and the explanation, in cytological terms, 

 of the artefacts which they produce. 



Even with this disability a great deal of accurate information has in fact 

 been obtained, but has tailed to carry conviction. In many cases this has been 

 because of inadequate illustration, which alone can make such studies com- 

 prehensible, except to the initiate. Probably the reason has been an unduly 

 pessimistic view of the possibihties of photomicrography, and a certain 

 timidity in the submission of drawings and diagrams, due perhaps to a fear 

 of misinterpreting such tiny structures, and a corresponding fear of ridicule. 



It is also remarkable that many workers in the field ol bacterial cytology 

 appear to have been almost entirely ignorant ot the parallel studies of others, 

 and have tailed to receive the stimulus which such knowledge can afford. 

 Conversely, there has been no lack of reviews of the subject, but these have 

 often been made by authors whose lack ot practical knowledge ot the structures 

 described has disqualified them tor the task ot correlating the available 

 information, which is otten obscure and mutually contradictory. 



The artiticiality ot contemporary or recent views upon bacterial 

 morpliology has thus served to widen the gap between bacteriology and 

 other biological sciences, as well as to confuse and retard the advance of 

 bacteriology itself 



In the evolution of modern cytological methods, much is owed to the 

 interest taken by mycologists in the myxobacteria. These micro-organisms 

 do not respond well to the techniques of hcat-fixation and Oram's stain, most 



