CHAPTER XIII. 



THE END OF THE STORY OF THE BACTERIA. 



SO important is the subject of the causation 

 of disease by these minute organisms, 

 and so full is this field of the promise of 

 practical and far-reaching benefit to man, that 

 large numbers of scientific workers all over the 

 civilized world are eagerly and patiently de- 

 voting their time and skill to the study of the 

 disease-producing bacteria. 



Great care and technical facility are required 

 to carry on successfully this kind of investiga- 

 tion, and it is not at all surprising, since we 

 have known how to study bacteria for but a 

 short time, that we should as yet know but 

 very little about many of the bacterial dis- 

 eases, or that we should often be mistaken in 

 our interpretations of what we do know. 



There is the greatest temptation for workers 

 in this field to magnify the importance of 



134 



