OF VETERINARY MICROBIOLOGY. 



PART FIRST. 

 MICROBES CONSIDERED IN GENERAL. 



Microbes may be considered successively in the 

 static and in the functional or physiological condition. 



CHAPTER I. 



MICROBES IN THE STATIC CONDITION. 



Definition — 1. Forms of microbes; 2. Organization and chemical 

 composition ; 3. Situation and distribution. 



The names 3Iicrobes, Bacteria, Vibrios, Schizomycetes, 

 Schizophijtes, have been given to unicellular micro- 

 scopic beings placed at the bottom of the scale of 

 the vegetable kingdom. These beings, destitute of 

 chlorophyll, live at the expense of complex organic 

 substances, which they reduce to the condition of 

 simple mineral compounds. 



I. Forms of microbes. 



1. Typical forms. — The form of microbes is that of 

 a rounded corpuscle or of a rod. The latter may be 

 straight, undulated, or spiral. 



