IN THE VICTORIAN ERA 15 



grows from day to day, we shall find more and 

 more how much depends upon the work of indi- 

 vidual bacteria, and how much importance attaches 

 to the selection of just those varieties which are 

 of value, and the banishment of those which are 

 detrimental ; and thus the many applications which 

 bacteria already admit of render their easy access 

 a matter of increasing consequence, enhancing the 

 value of bacterial institutions such as already exist 

 on the Continent. 



But whilst the easy access of bacteria for ex- 

 perimental and scientific purposes is of great 

 importance to the investigator, their indiscrimi- 

 nate distribution would equally be a source of 

 uneasiness and danger to the community at large. 

 Already sensational fiction has made considerable 

 capital out of the pathogenic microbe, and with 

 the winged aid of penny publications it does not 

 take long for suggestions of such kinds to spread 

 in society and assume practical shape, and whilst 

 the administration of bacterial poisons offers com- 

 paratively but little difficulty, their identification 

 would be a far greater problem for experts than 

 that presented by particular chemical poisons. To 

 cope with this danger to the public, specimens of 

 disease-germs from these bacterial depots may 

 not be supplied to applicants unless the latter 

 can prove to the satisfaction of the director that 



