8 CONSIDERATIONS INFLUENCING CLASSIFICATION 



Bergey's Manual appeared in 1923 (The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore). 

 Successive editions of this Manual were issued in 1925, 1930 and 1936. Before 

 his death in 1937, Bergey requested that an Editorial Board take over future 

 editions of Bergey's Manual. 



At the same time, Bergey used the accumulated royalties that had previously 

 been placed in the custody of the Society of American Bacteriologists to organize 

 the so-called Bergey's Manual Trust. The publication of the 5th and 6th 

 editions of Bergey's Manual has been carried out by the Trustees of this 

 Trust, who, by the provisions of the Deed of Trust, must always be men trained 

 as bacteriologists. The Board of Trustees consisted at first of Dr. D. H. Bergey, 

 Professor R. S. Breed and Professor E. G. D. Murray. Dr. A. Parker Kitchens was 

 elected to this Board after Dr. Bergey's death, when Professor Breed was made 

 Chairman of the Board. 



Because of the truly enormous development of our knowledge of bacteria, 

 viruses and related organisms, the Editorial Board asked students of special 

 groups to assist in the revisions of the groups in which they were interested. 

 Thus more than 40 specialists assisted in the preparation of the 5th edition, 

 and more than 60 individuals in the preparation of the 6th edition of the Manual. 

 Canadian bacteriologists as well as bacteriologists from the U. S. A. have 

 participated in the Manual work from the beginning. This participation by 

 Canadian workers has increased during the preparation of the manuscript for 

 the 7th edition, as has the participation from other countries. Fourteen countries 

 are represented among the more than 100 specialists who have contributed to 

 the 7th edition of the Manual. 



After the death of Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Dr. N. R. Smith was appointed 

 to the Board of Trustees and to the Editorial Board of the Manual, and shortly 

 thereafter the Board of Trustees was made a board of five members by the 

 election of Dr. R. E. Buchanan and Dr. Harold J. Conn to this Board. 



In preparing manuscripts for the present edition of Bergey's Manual, 

 specialists have found many places where the relationships of described species 

 of bacteria have not been well presented in the literature. Consequently, they 

 have been stimulated to publish many papers reporting their findings. The 

 individual specialists have normally been persons who have actively worked 

 with cultures of the organisms that belong to the group for which they have 

 prepared the manuscript. Thus the development of the present edition of the 

 Manual has stimulated much research in the field of S3^stematic bacteriology 

 that would never have been accomplished under other conditions. It is hoped 

 that in the future the Bergey's Manual Trust can become a center for research 

 in the field of systematic bacteriology and virology. The work thus far accom- 

 plished has been carried out largely by volunteer workers. If adequate funds were 

 available for the support of such work its value could be greatly increased. 



Out of studies by specialists of the accumulated knowledge of the systematic 

 relationships of the microorganisms considered in Bergey's Manual of Deter- 

 minative Bacteriology, the three of us chiefly responsible for organizing this 



