4 W. T. SEDGWICK 



hardly any field of the vast domain of the parent science, biol- 

 ogy, is more esteemed or more cultivated than is bacteriology. 

 Nor is this strange for, thanks to the microscope and the methods 

 of bacteriology, the microscopic world, of which almost nothing 

 was known when Pastern* began his researches, stands before 

 us today in a revelation of extent, variety, magnitude and inter- 

 est second only in importance and impressiveness to that other 

 and distant world which has been revealed by the telescope and 

 the methods of astronomy. The region of the "infinitely httle" 

 seems, however, even more directly and intimately connected 

 with our everyday life than that remoter world. The micro- 

 scopic world, indeed, lacks the majesty and grandeur of that 

 telescopic world which lies so far beyond our reach and over- 

 awes us with sheer distance, heat, light and immensity. But 

 the revelations of the microscope and the lessons of bacteriology 

 have so direct, so intimate, and so fateful association with 

 almost every aspect of the conduct of our daily and personal 

 life — with food and drink, with health and disease, with life 

 and death even — ^that they gain in intimacy what they lose in 

 grandeur. 



Bacteriology must henceforward be recognized as a broad and 

 fundamental branch of science, coordinate with, rather than sub- 

 ordinate to, the other grand divisions of biology such as medicine, 

 agriculture, zoology and botany. It is today of immense theoreti- 

 cal and practical importance, and it bids fair to become vastly 

 greater and more important tomorrow. Hence the obvious 

 desirability of a Journal which shall cover the whole field and 

 be devoted to the subject in its broadest aspects. 



The time has forever gone by when bacteriology can be regarded 

 merely, or even chiefly, as the handmaid of medicine or pathology. 

 It is no less the servant of agriculture, of industry, of sanitation 

 and of household life. It is already important in sanitary engi- 

 neering, and indispensable in the arts of food production and 

 food conservation. In its further' differentiation and develop- 

 ment the present Journal should be a powerful factor. May the 

 event justify both our hope and our expectation. 



Mcissachusetts Institute of Technology 

 Boston, February, 1916 



