PHARMACEUTICAL BACTERIOLOGY. 





CHAPTER I. 

 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



In introducing the first of a new series of text-books, certain explanations 

 are necessary or at least desirable, which, after the subject is well established, 

 become superfluous. Comparatively speaking, the science of bacteriology 

 is not new, but its introduction into pharmacy is of very recent date. 



Medical bacteriology forms the very framework of medical practice. It 

 has brought about our modern antiseptic surgery which has been the means 

 of saving countless lives. It has led to the still more recent discoveries in 

 serum therapy and the opsonic theory of disease. 



About 1896 a few of the colleges of pharmacy in the United States gave 

 optional courses of instruction in bacteriology. At the present time nearly 

 all of the leading colleges of pharmacy give instruction in bacteriology and 

 in many of these institutions the courses are compulsory, forming a part of 

 the prescribed curriculum, represented by lectures and laboratory work. In 

 some universities the students of pharmacy receive their bacteriological 

 instruction in the department of medicine or perhaps dentistry. However, 

 pharmaceutical bacteriology and medical bacteriology are quite distinct. 

 Medical students study this subject from the standpoint of pathology and 

 disease, matters which concern the pharmacist but little. Students of 

 pharmacy do not have the time necessary to devote themselves extensively 

 to special laboratory methods and technic, nor is it advisable that they 

 should receive extensive laboratory instruction in pathology. Pharmaceutical 

 bacteriology must be suitably adapted to the practice of pharmacy. 



The pharmacist should have a fair knowledge of general bacteriology, in 

 order that he may realize what important relationships bacteria bear to 

 human activities in general, to medical practice more especially, and in order 

 that he may comprehend quite fully the significance of these minute organ- 

 isms in pharmaceutical practice. He should know what pharmaceutical prep- 

 arations and what medicinal substances are likely to be attacked by bacteria, 

 and what changes they are capable of producing in such substances. He 



