UHI7BRSIT7 



PREFACE 



IN preparing this volume I have endeavoured to 

 meet the requirements of those who are desirous of 

 obtaining a knowledge of the nature and doings, 

 for good or for evil, of those minute beings which 

 are termed microbes or bacteria. 



The mystic words ' microbes ' and ' bacteria ' have 

 been hurled at the popular head with so much 

 emphasis and so little explanation that it would 

 not be surprising to find many people living 

 under the misapprehension that they are minute 

 ' fiery serpents/ which are always on the look-out 

 for victims, and crawl about them day and night. 

 Not a few people feel comforted by the knowledge 

 that microbes, harmless or harmful, belong to the 

 vegetal rather than to the animal kingdom. Such 

 knowledge takes away the element of repulsiveness 

 arising from the notion of microbes being internal 

 animal parasites or eutozoa. 



Although microbes are minute plants, they are 

 capable of giving rise to some of the most deadly 



