PART II 

 PHYSIOLOGY OF MICROORGANISMS 



DIVISION I 



INTRODUCTION* 



Microbial physiology seeks to understand the material or concrete 

 processes and functions of protoplasmic activity which integrate in the 

 phenomenon of life. They are embodied in some form of an organism. 

 The many assembled and harmonious forces involved in a unit of life, 

 while they may be resolved in a degree elementally, are dependent upon 

 the structure, composition, and energy values of the life-form, and also 

 upon its environment; likewise the reverse is true. The concomitant 

 relations of forces to the life-form and life-form to the forces are more or 

 less hidden at present, yet they are slowly becoming apparent. 



Owing to the multiplicity and variety of forces operating in physio- 

 logical functioning, it is patent that physiology is complexly composite 

 in nature and must resort to the elemental branches of science as 

 physics, chemistry and morphology for its understanding and exposi- 

 tion. Shrouded along with demonstrated knowledge is the mysterious 

 veil of life which makes of it a reality, subject to the ready onslaught 

 of scientific attack and to a spirit which halts approach. 



Besides the basis of facts found in physics, chemistry and morphol- 

 ogy which contribute freely to the structure, there are the immediate 

 matters of cytology, anatomy both gross and histological, and environ- 

 mental conditions which lead into fields of essential technic, before 

 physiology can be truly grasped or successfully studied. When the 



* Prepared by Charles E. Marshall and Arao Itano. 

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