BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 

 CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



The Discovery of Bacteria. — Bacteria are the 

 smallest and simplest known form of plant life, 

 although no other class of plants compares with 

 them in importance. The study of bacteria began 

 with the development of the microscope. While 

 several writers of antiquity surmised that such 

 microorganisms existed, and advanced some really 

 marvelous speculations as to their place in nature, 

 yet it was not until a Dutch lens-maker, Leeuwen- 

 hoek (1632-1723), perfected a lens of higher power 

 than had been made before, that bacteria, or "ani- 

 malcules," as he designated them, were seen and 

 described. In 1675 Leeuwenhoek published the 

 fact that he had perfected a lens whereby he could 

 detect in a drop of rainwater, living, moving "ani- 

 malcules" smaller than anything which had hitherto 

 been seen. He found them in sea-water, in well- 

 water, in feces, and in the tartar scraped from his 



