S6 Microbes and You 



not continue indefinitely at this alarming rate. A few examples of 

 what could conceivably occur should microbial growth go un- 

 hampered at this optimum rate might be of general interest. A 

 sphere that normally grows in a chain formation (called a strepto- 

 coccus ) in forty-eight hours would extend over a mile and a quarter 

 in length, according to one calculation. When you consider that 

 the progeny of a single microbe mav amount to over 300,000,000,000 

 in just 24 hours, Lohnis and Fred have figured that in thirty-six 

 hours the bulk of organisms would fill 200 trucks of five ton 

 capacity each. After a full week at this rate of multiplication the 

 microbial volume would exceed that of the world itself! 



These are rather revealing theoretical numbers, but whv are 

 they prevented from becoming reality? Unless food is available 

 in the immediate vicinity of the microbes, multiplication of the 

 organisms is prevented. This food shortage when coupled with the 

 accumulation of waste products by the growing bacteria and the 

 natural antagonisms existing between microorganisms in their fight 

 for survival explains in large measure the inability of organisms to 

 multiply indefinitely at the optimum rate of speed. 



THE METRIC SYSTEM 



Because of the minuteness of bacteria, the use of decimals to 

 express fractions of an inch the\' represent would be too cumber- 

 some, so we speak of their size in terms of microns ( designated by 

 the Greek lower case letter mu, abbreviated /x). It is to be hoped 

 that some day the Congress of the United States will take productive 

 steps to replace the antiquated system of weights and measures 

 we adhere to so tenaciously with the more logical metric system. 

 It seems odd indeed, to a scientist, that a progressive country like 

 ours has allowed itself to be saddled with such an outmoded system, 

 but it has become so firmly entrenched in our way of life that get- 

 ting in step with a great segment of the rest of the world's popula- 

 tion will not be an easy matter. From time to time feeble attempts 

 have been made to initiate steps to have America convert to the 

 metric system, but progress on a national scale can be reported as 

 nil. Education is admittedly a slow process. Scientific publica^ 



