EFFECT OF CARBON DIOXIDE ON BACTERIA 



It will be seen from the above review 

 that experimental evidence concerning the 

 effect of carbon dioxide on bacteria has 

 been accumulating during the past fifty 

 years. The efforts of the earlier workers 

 were for the most part directed to a study 

 of the inhibitive action of carbon dioxide 

 on bacterial growth. 



Gradually another line of evidence has 

 been accumulating. It has become more 

 and more apparent that this agent, though 

 it exerts a harmful influence on bacteria 

 under certain conditions,, may be of 

 supreme importance, whether directly or 

 indirectly, in their economy. The appli- 

 cation of added carbon dioxide gas in the 

 primary cultivation of the so-called partial 

 tension organisms (Bact. abortus and L. 

 acidophilus, for example) furnishes ample 

 evidence to support this view. 



Finally, observations of the past five or 

 six years have brought forward the con- 

 ception that carbon dioxide as such is 

 necessary for bacterial growth and 

 development, and therefore, for life itself. 

 This conception rests on experimental 

 evidence obtained with various bacterial 

 species, particularly by Valley and Rettger, 

 who found that of 109 different organisms 

 employed in their carbon dioxide studies 

 none could be made to develop in other- 

 wise favorable culture media when they 

 were deprived of all carbon di- 

 oxide. 



The author desires to express his thanks 

 to Professor Leo F. Rettger of Yale Uni- 

 versity for many valuable suggestions and 

 for critical reading of the manuscript. 



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