PART IV. TAXONOMY 



CHAPTER X 



CLASSIFICATION or BACTERIA 



Introduction. There is considerable confusion at the 

 present time, and there has been for years, in the nomenclature 

 and classification of bacteria. This confusion has largely 

 arisen on account of the fact that the majority of the work 

 on the subject of bacteriology has been done by pathologists 

 and others interested in the results of the vital activity of 

 bacteria rather than their exact position among the plants. 

 Very little systematic work has been done on the bacteria 

 by botanists. 



The first observers of bacteria were positive that they were 

 animals and were inclined to believe that they belonged to the 

 infusoria. They have since been placed in the plant kingdom, 

 although they possess many things in common with certain 

 animals. 



It may be stated at the outset that there are many classifica- 

 tions of the bacteria. Formerly every author of a textbook 

 on the subject of bacteriology made a new classification. 

 The workers in the various fields also made classifications, 

 as, for example, the botanists, pathologists, agriculturists, 



