160 THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. August, 



BACTERIA. their poAvcrs of i ft-oduciiig eliemieal 



c'liaiiges during tbeir growth that they 



By Prof. R. M. Buudy. owe their importance in the world. 



. Bacteria are more universally prev- 



MANY TIMES during the period alent in uatur» than any othcf forms 

 that I have been engaged in of plants or the animals. They are 

 microscopical and bacteriolog- in the air, water and soil. They also 

 ical work, I have felt that some little cling in vast numbers to almost every 

 explanation, in a simple way, regard- object on the earth including man and 

 lug bacteria and the many terms per- the lower animals. They do not, how- 

 taining to them might be appreciated ever, occur ncL-mally in the healthy 

 by at least a few interested readers. tissues of man nor animals. Under 

 The knowledge of germ life that favorable conditions bacteria grow 

 is possessed by the majority of the and multiply with enormous rapidity, 

 people is the result of reading the A single bacterium in contact with a 

 newspapers. To those having made nutritious substance, like beef gelatin 

 some study of the subject from reput- will produce over fifteen million of its 

 able works, many of the newspaper kind in twentj'-four hours. When 

 items appert- rather absurd, and are thus surrounded by an ample food 

 truly misleading. With the many im- supply of the proper kind they in-' 

 portant improvements that have been crease or multiply by what is known j 

 made during the last few years upon as fission or simple dividing. Each 

 the microscope, the science of bac- individual upon reaching a certain 

 teriology has advanced very rapidly stage iu its groAVth will divide in tht 

 and is developing much information middle into two similar halves, eacl 

 that will add to the betterment of of which immediately starts to gro-\\' 

 many conditions in our everyday life, and r.-ei)eat the i)rocess. Some species 



Bacteria is the name given to a havo been carefully watched undei 

 class of vegetable cc-ganisms that ex- the microscope during their develop 

 ist everywhere and in countless num- ment and lia,ve been found to divide 

 bers. Because of their minute size as often as every half hour and ii 

 they are called micro-organisms, being some cases in still less time. Notwitt 

 discernable only by aid of the highest standing the hundreds of differen 

 powers of the microscope, in most in- species of bacteria there are onl 

 stances. three general ' fovms— spheres, rod 



The more common word "germ", and spirals. Some of the spheres ar 

 meaning embryo, has come into gen- large and some small, while the rod 

 et-al use because of certain forms of may'be long or short, thick or slende 

 bacteria being the origin of disease, with either rounded or flat ends an 

 Bacteria are simply a class of low the spjrals may be loosely or fightll 

 plants. They are the active principle coiled. To illustrate we might sa 

 in many of natui'c's processes and are the three formi"; resemble marble j| 

 as necessary to our life as the blood pieces of slate pencils and coiled wii 

 in our veins. They are the cause of springs. In size the spheres vary fro: 

 jtutref action cc* decay of all animal twelve one millionth to six one hui 

 and vegetable substances. They en- dred thousandths of an inch in diain 

 rich the soil by a process of nitrifi- ter, while the rods and spirals vm 

 cation in a way that cannot be done in diameter from ififteen millionths 

 by artificial means. They are the cm*- one ten thousandth of an inch and 

 iiig agents of the farmer's hay in the length from one but little more thi 

 mow, as well as his fodder in the silo, their diameter to threads as long 

 In the dairy they are of gretit impor- one hundredth of an inch. BactOT 

 tance, the sonving of milk being are usually given a generic nam 

 caused by the action of bacteria, con- based upon thele- appearance ur^'dl 

 verting the sugar of the milk into the microscope and their method 

 lactic acid. The ripening of cream dividing during growth. Some of t 

 and its changes into butter and the more common names are microeocev 

 ripening of cheese are the direct re- strei)tococcus, staphylococcus and Sf 

 suits of bacteria growth. It is to ciua. all of which are given to t 





