BACTERIOLOGY. 



CHAPTER I. 



IN1R OD UCTOR Y. 



THE researches of Pasteur into the role played by 

 micro-organisms in the processes of fermentation 

 and putrefaction, and in diseases such as anthrax, 

 the silkworm malady, pyaemia, septicaemia, and 

 chicken cholera, have invested the science of 

 Bacteriology with universal interest and vast 

 importance. The further researches of the prac- 

 tical mind of Lister, with the resulting evolution 

 of antiseptic surgery, have demonstrated the 

 necessity for a more intimate acquaintance with 

 the life-history of these micro-organisms; while 

 the more recent investigations which have 

 established the intimate connection between 

 bacteria and infectious diseases, and more espe- 

 cially the discovery by Koch of the tubercle and 

 cholera bacilli, have claimed the attention of 

 the whole thinking world. 



The scientific importance of these latter dis- 



i 



