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HOUSEHOLD BACTERIOLOGY 



Early 



Theory of 



Fermentation 



Meadow 

 Tea 



made drawings of what they saw, which show very 

 much the same forms that would be seen today under 

 similar conditions. Many scoffed at these reports, in- 

 timating that such observers were not wholly sane. 



The processes of fermentation and putrefaction very 

 early excited investigation. Great efforts were made 

 to find out their cause. For years the oxygen of the 

 air was thought to be the agent, and even today many 

 a housewife will tell you the jar of fruit spoiled be- 

 cause "the air got into it." The dust-plants which are 

 in the air, the real cause of these changes, could not 

 be discovered until the compound microscope brought 

 to view the hitherto invisible life which swarms in all 

 fermenting and putrefying matter. 



The compound microscope was invented in the early 

 part of the seventeenth century, by whom is not 

 known. It was not brought to its present simple but 

 effective form until about sixty years ago. 



One of the first sources of bacteria for these early 

 investigations is still a common and sure source. 



Take a wisp of hay and soak it in lukewarm water 

 for a day or so. The result is a brownish liquid look- 

 ing much like tea, which it is, being an infusion of 

 hay. Thoreau called this "meadow tea." A drop of 

 this under the microscope furnishes a lively menagerie, 

 as well as numerous bacilli. The hay is dusty ; in the 

 dry dust are spores of bacteria which under the influ- 

 ence of the warmth and moisture become once again 

 active forms and can be seen to go through all their 

 life processes. 



