Preface 



Microbiology has made great strides in the 

 last eight or nine decades. Beginning with studies of micro- 

 organisms as causative agents of disease and fermentation, 

 their occurrence in soil and other natural substrates, and 

 life cycles of certain groups of bacteria and fungi, micro- 

 biology has grown into a broad science with numerous 

 theoretical and practical applications. This is true of 

 ecology and taxonomy of microorganisms, physiology and 

 biochemistry, genetics and cytology, and applications to 

 virtually every aspect of human endeavor. 



This symposium, arranged in connection with the ded- 

 ication on June 7, 1954, of the Institute of Microbiology, 

 Rutgers University, presents an attempt to analyze the 

 present and possibly some of the future aspects of micro 

 biology. Who would have thought, in the days of Pasteur 

 and Koch, of such problems as "metabolic models" and 

 "metabolic pathways," of "vitamins" and "antibiotics," of 

 "genetics of microorganisms" and "biochemical muta- 

 tions," of "viruses," and of "steroid transformations," let 

 alone such specialized subjects as "metapoietic integra- 

 tions"? By presenting a broad outline of these and other 



