CLASSIFICATION. 1d 
Having determined that the bacteria are truly vegetable organ- 
isms, the attention of botanists has been given to the question as to 
what class of vegetable organisms they are most nearly related to. 
There are decided differences of opinion in this regard. While Da- 
vaine, Rabenhorst, and Cohn insist upon their affinities with the 
alge, Robin, Nageli, and others consider them fungi. One of the 
principal characters which distinguish the alge from the fungi is 
the presence of chlorophyll in the former and its absence in the latter. 
Now, the bacteria are destitute of chlorophyll, and in this regard 
resemble the fungi; yet in others their affinities with the Palmellacece 
and Oscillatoriacece are unmistakable. It is not necessary, how- 
ever, that we should consider them as belonging to either of these 
classes of the vegetable kingdom. By considering them a distinct 
class of unicellular vegetable organisms, under the general name of 
bacteria, we may avoid the difficulties into which the botanists have 
fallen. 
We must refer briefly, however, to the classification proposed by some 
of the leading German botanists. 
Nageli, placing the bacteria among the lower fungi, which give rise to 
the decomposition of organic substances, divides these into three groups: 
1. The Mucorini, or mould fungi. 
2. The Saccharomycetes, or buriding fungi, which produce alcoholic fer- 
mentation in saccharine liquids. 
3. The Schizomycetes, or fission fungi, which produce putrefactive pro- 
cesses, etc. 
Cohn, under the name of Schizophytes, has grouped these low vegetable 
organisms, whether provided or not with chlorophyll, into two tribes hav- 
ing the following characters: 
1. GLZOGENES—cells free or united into glairy families by an intercel- 
lular substance. 
2. NemMaTOGENES—cells disposed in filaments. 
In the first tribe he has placed the genera Micrococcus (Hallier), Bacte- 
rium (Dujardin), Merismopedia (Meyer), Sarcina (Goodsir), and Ascococcus 
(Billroth), with various genera of unicellular alge containing chlorophyll. 
In the second tribe we have the genera Bacillus (Cohn), Leptothrix 
(Kg.), Vibrio (Ehr.), Spirillum (Ehr.), Spirochete (Ehr.), Streptococcus 
(Billr.), Cladothrix (Cohn), and Streptothrix (Cohn), associated with gen- 
era of green filamentous alge. 
The German botanist Sachs unites the fungi and the alge into a single 
group, the Thallophytes, in which he establishes two parallel series, one in- 
cluding those containing chlorophyll, and the other without, as follows: 
THALLOPHYTES. 
Forms with chlorophyll. Forms without chlorophyll. 
Class I.—Protophytes. 
A. Cyanophycez (Oscillatoria- A. Schizomycetes (Bacteria). 
cee, etc.). 
B. Palmellacez. B. Saccharomycetes. 
