42 THE STORY OF GERM LIFE. 



give rise in a short time to large amounts of the 

 peculiar products of their growth. 



It is to these powers of producing chemical 

 changes in their food that bacteria owe all their 

 importance in the world. Their power of chem- 

 ically destroying the food products is in itself of 

 no little importance, but the products which arise 

 as the result of this series of chemical changes 

 are of an importance in the world which we are 

 only just beginning to appreciate. In our at- 

 tempt to outline the agency which bacteria play 

 in our industries and in natural processes as well, 

 we shall notice that they are sometimes of value 

 simply for their power of producing decomposi- 

 tion ; but their greatest value lies in the fact that 

 they are important agents because of the prod- 

 ucts of their life. 



We may notice, in the first place, that in the 

 arts there are several industries which may prop- 

 erly be classed together as maceration industries^ 

 all of which are based upon the decomposition 

 powers of bacteria. Hardly any animal or vege- 

 table substance is able to resist their softening 

 influence, and the artisan relies upon this power 

 in several different directions. 



BENEFITS DERIVED FROM POWERS OF 

 DECOMPOSITION. 



Linen. Linen consists of certain woody fibres 

 of the stem of the flax. The flax stem is not 

 made up entirely of the valuable fibres, but 

 largely of more brittle wood fibres, which are of 

 no use. The valuable fibres are, however, close- 

 ly united with the wood and with each other in 

 such an intimate fashion that it is impossible to 



