Bacteria are Classified as Plants 55 



hv including biochemical characteristics along with morphology. 

 C.-E. A. Winslow (1877-) had made the same suggestion in 1908 

 when he classified the Coccaceae. Other schemes were advocated 

 from time to time, but the general acceptance o£ any classification 

 was still lacking. 



Through the initiative of a volunteer committee consisting of 

 A. C. Abbott, Professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology at the Uni- 

 versit)^ of Pennsylvania, H. W. Conn, Professor of Biology at 

 Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and E. O. 

 Jordan, Assistant Professor of Bacteriology at the University of 

 Chicago, a national organization called the Society of American 

 Bacteriologists (abbreviated S.A.B.) was founded in 1899 at 

 New Haven, Connecticut. This group naturally became interested 

 in the problem of bacterial taxonomy, and at its annual meeting 

 held at Urbana, Illinois, in 1915, a committee was appointed to 

 review the problem of classification and to report back to a later 

 annual gathering of the S.A.B.^ A progress report was submitted 

 in 1916 and the final recommendations were published in 1920. 

 While this report was not adopted as official by the S.A.B. , it did 

 serve as a valuable framework for future deliberations. Other 

 taxonomists pursued the problem further with the result that 

 bacteria were finally classified into groups on the basis of all 



^ Some of you may be wondering how one goes about becoming a member 

 of a national scientific society. The S.A.B. is not Hke an exclusive college 

 fraternity. Members are not picked after a period of "rushing," criticism, 

 and selection. To quote Article III, Section 2a of the S.A.B. Constitution: 

 "Any person interested in the objects of the SOCIETY shall be eligible for 

 election as a member." And to quote Article II: "The objects of the 

 SOCIETY shall be to promote scientific knowledge of bacteriology and 

 related subjects through discussions, reports and publications, to stimulate 

 scientific investigations and their applications, to plan, organize and ad- 

 minister projects for the advancement of knowledge in this field, and to im- 

 prove professional quafifications." 



If you care to join nearly five thousand individuals who are presently 

 listed on the membership rolls of the S.A.B., you merely have a member 

 nominate you on a prescribed formal application blank, have another member 

 second the nomination, send in your annual dues, and after the National 

 Council approves the nomination (which is practically an automatic matter), 

 you are a member of an outstanding national scientific society! Anyone who 

 plans to work in the field of microbiology should be encouraged to join the 

 S.A.B. and to help promote its important program. 



