4 BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



gations, scientists had been discussing whether 

 Leeuwenhoek's " animalcules " generated spontane- 

 ously as the result of putrefaction or not, even so 

 great a chemist as Liebig held to the theory of 

 spontaneous generation. 



Pasteur proved the utter fallacy of spontaneous 

 generation, and further showed that putrefaction 

 was a chemical change, produced by the activities 

 of the bacteria in their search for food. It was 

 Pasteur who discovered that the souring of milk 

 was due to bacteria, and that certain bacteria are 

 the cause of certain diseases. 



Pasteur did not first discover these microor- 

 ganisms, nor study them first, nor first suggest 

 their connection with disease, but he proved these 

 theories by rigid experiments; proved these and 

 many other theories beyond question, which gave 

 him the title of founder of bacteriology. 



The profound importance of Pasteur's work to the 

 world is universally recognized. In 1892 Lord Lister 

 said: " Truly there does not exist in the entire 

 world any individual to whom the medical sciences 

 owe more than they do to Pasteur. . . . Thanks to 

 him, surgery has undergone a complete revolution, 

 which has deprived it of its terrors and has extended 

 almost without limit its efficacious powers." 



