NOVEMBEE IS, 190i.] 



SCIENCE. 



659 



proper. Bacteriology, as has been often 

 said, is the youngest of the biological sci- 

 ences and perhaps for this reason has as 

 yet contributed relatively little to the en- 

 richment of the parent science. Morpho- 

 logically the bacterial cell is so small and so 

 simple as to offer many problems of sur- 

 passing interest but of great difficulty. The 

 question as to whether a bacterium is a 

 cell without a nucleus or a free nucleus 

 without any cytoplasm or a cell constituted 

 in the main like those of the higher forms 

 of life has, to be sure, been practically set- 

 tled in favor of the latter view. But there 

 are other debated and debatable morpho- 

 logical questions to which up to the present 

 no satisfactory answer has been given and 

 to which our current microchemical methods 

 are perhaps unlikely to afford any solu- 

 tion. On the physiological side, the achieve- 

 ments of bacteriology in behalf of general 

 biology have as yet been far from commen- 

 surate with its potentiality. This may be 

 partly because of its temporary engross- 

 ment in other seductive lines of research, 

 partly because of the lack of workers ade- 

 quately trained in bacteriological methods 

 and at the same time possessed of an appre- 

 ciation of purely biological data. It may 

 be justly urged that a rich harvest of fun- 

 damental physiological facts waits here for 

 the competent investigator. 



There is no need to dwell in detail upon 

 the manifold practical applications of bac- 

 teriology to the arts and industries. Par- 

 ticularly in agriculture and kindred occu- 

 pations have the advances in bacteriology 

 been immediately and intelligently utilized 

 to bring forth in turn new facts and unveil 

 new problems. The processes of cream- 

 ripening and vinegar-making, the phenom- 

 ena of nitrifieation, of denitrification and 

 nitrogen-fixation, the modes of causation of 

 certain diseases of domestic plants and ani- 

 mals, have all been elucidated in large 

 measure by bacteriological workers. A new 



division of technological science, dealing 

 with the bacteriology of the soil, of the 

 dairy and of the barnyard, of the tan-pit 

 and the canning factory, has already as- 

 sumed economic and scientific importance. 



It is often a temptation to distinguish ' 

 radically between pure science and applied 

 science and to look upon the latter as un- 

 worthy the attention of the philosophically 

 minded. True science can admit of no 

 such distinction. No thing in nature is 

 alien to her. She can never forget that 

 some of the most fruitful of scientific theo- 

 ries have been the outcome of the search 

 for the utilitarian. Man's knowledge of 

 the universe may be furthered in various 

 ways. It is well known that the work of 

 Pasteur was particularly characterized by 

 applications to the problems of pure sci- 

 ence of knowledge acquired in the study 

 of the practical. One thing plays into the 

 hands of another in wholly unexpected 

 fashion. An attempt to improve the qual- , 

 ity of beer gives birth to the germ theory 

 of fermentation, and this in turn to the 

 germ theory of disease; the chemistry of 

 carbon compounds leads to the discovery 

 of the aniline dyes, and these same aniline 

 dyes have made possible the development 

 of microchemical technique and thrown 

 open spacious avenues for experiment and 

 speculation ; the attempt to obtain a stand- 

 ard for diphtheria antitoxin has resulted 

 not only in the achievement of the imme- 

 diate practical end, but in the discovery of 

 unexpected theoretical considerations which 

 have dominated the progress of an impor- 

 tant branch of scientific medicine during 

 the last five years. It will not be a hopeful 

 sign for the advancement of science when 

 the worker in pure science ceases to con- 

 cern himself with the problems or avail 

 himself of the facilities afforded by the 

 more imminently utilitarian aspects of 

 natural knowledge. 



In the quarter century of its history 



