HOW BACTERIA ARE NAMED AND IDENTIFIED 4i 



they apply) the mternational agreements of the botanists (or zoologists) 

 should be used as a basis for naming them. 



International opinion on this topic was finally crystallized by resolutions 

 adopted by the First International Congress of the International Society 

 for Microbiology held in Paris in 1930 and by the Fifth International 

 Botanical Congress held in Cambridge, England in the same year. 



The resolutions unanimously adopted by the plenary session of the 

 International Society for ^Microbiology were in part as follows : 



"It is clearly recognized that the living forms with which the micro- 

 biologists concern themselves are in part plants, in part animals, and in part 

 primitive. It is further recognized that in so far as they may be applicable 

 and appropriate the nomenclatural codes agreed upon by International 

 Congresses of Botany and Zoology should be followed in the naming of 

 micro-organisms. Bearing in mind, however, the peculiarly independent 

 course of development that bacteriology has taken in the past fifty years, 

 and the elaboration of special descriptive criteria which bacteriologists 

 have of necessit}^ developed, it is the opinion of the International Society 

 for Microbiology that the bacteria constitute a group for which special 

 arrangements are necessary. Therefore the International Society for 

 Microbiology has decided to consider the subject of bacterial nomenclature 

 as a part of its permanent program." 



The International Societj^ of ]Microbiologists established a permanent 

 Nomenclature Committee to pass upon suggestions and to make recom- 

 mendations. This committee is composed of members from all participat- 

 ing nations. Two secretaries were named, one (Dr. St. John-Brooks of the 

 Lister Institute, London, England) to represent primarily medical and 

 veterinary bacteriology, and one (Dr. R. S. Breed, New York State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Geneva, New York, U. S. A.) to represent 

 other phases of bacteriology. 



The cooperation of the International Botanical Congress was solicited 

 in the naming of this committee. The resolutions were approved by the 

 Section on Bacteriology of the Botanical Congress and the Congress itself 

 incorporated into the Botanical Code certain special provisions relating to 

 the bacteria. It also specificallj^ recognized the International Committee 

 as the body to prepare recommendations relating to bacterial nomenclature. 



It is apparent, therefore, that there has been international agreement 

 (in so far as this can be achieved) that bacteriologists should follow the 

 botanical or zoological codes in the naming of bacteria to the extent they 

 are applicable, and that exceptions or new problems should be presented 

 to the International Committee. 



These rules are so important in determining the validity of bacterial 

 names that the rules of the Botanical Code are included in somewhat 



