56 Microbes and You 



considerations— morphology, cultural characteristics, habitat, bio- 

 chemical reactions, etc. Through the leadership o£ Robert E. 

 Buchanan and David H. Bergey, among others, the 1923 publica- 

 tion of the Manual of Determinative Bacteriology came into being. 

 Modern terminology calls this Bergey s Manual. The sixth edition 

 of this bacteriologists' bible was published in 1948, and this volume 

 lists 1,630 species of bacteria with descriptions of each organism. 

 Bergey s Manual is widely accepted today as the standard reference 

 work in the field. 



Just as it is customary for human beings, at least in large areas 

 of the civilized world, to have a first and a last name, scientists 

 employ a two-name system, called the Binomial System of Nomen- 

 clature, for plant and animal designations. Linnaeus introduced 

 this system to science, but evidence tends to show that he was 

 not its originator, contrary to popular opinion. 



Latin, or Latinized, names are used in biology. Man, for ex- 

 ample, is called Homo sapiens. Homo is the generic name, while 

 the species name is sapiens. When writing such scientific names 

 we underscore them, or in print we italicize the names. Sometimes 

 we find organisms with three names, not to be outdone by many 

 humans, such as Thiohacillus thiooxidans Beijerinck. The dis- 

 coverer of the organism, in this instance Beijerinck, is occasionally 

 honored in this way. Notice too that the generic name is always 

 started with a capital letter, while the species name is written with 

 a small letter. Names of individuals tacked on the end are 

 always capitalized. These details may seem very exacting to be- 

 ginners in science, but orderliness is important. 



Most of the bacteria studied in an elementary course in micro- 

 biology fall into the order Eubacteriales— the so-called true bacteria. 

 But when disease-producing (pathogenic) organisms are con- 

 sidered, interesting^ members of some of the other orders under the 

 class Schizomycetes will be considered. They will include the 

 Actinomycetales under which is found the tuberculosis organism 

 {Mycobacterium tuberctdosis), and the order Spirochaetales in- 

 cludes the syphilis spirochaete, Treponema pallidum, to mention 

 just tv.'o. 



