PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 



IN preparing this book the author has kept in mind 

 the needs of the student and practitioner of medicine, 

 for whom the importance of an acquaintance with prac- 

 tical bacteriology cannot be overestimated. 



It is to advances made through bacteriological re- 

 search that we are indebted for much of our knowledge 

 of the conditions underlying infection, and for the elu- 

 cidation of many hitherto obscure problems concerning 

 the etiology, the modes of transmission, and the means 

 of prevention of infectious maladies. 



As the majority of those undertaking the study of 

 bacteriology do so with the view of utilizing it in med- 

 ical practice, and as many of these can devote to it but 

 a portion of their time, it is desirable that the subject- 

 matter be presented in as direct a manner as possible. 



Presuming the reader to be unfamiliar with the sub- 

 ject, the author has restricted himself to those funda- 

 mental features that are essential to its understanding. 

 The object has been to present the important ideas and 

 methods as concisely as is compatible with clearness, 

 and at the same time to accentuate throughout the 

 underlying principles which govern the work. 



