THE CHEMISTRY OF BACTERIA 45 



founded his philosophy and science on the idea that water is the 

 origin of all things. Their elements were earth, air, £re, and 

 water. "It is little short of astounding that living matter, with 

 all its wonderful properties of growth, movement, memory, intel- 

 ligence, devotion, suifering, and happiness should be composed to 

 the extent of from 70 to 90 per cent of nothing more complex or 

 mysterious than water. Such a fact as this is most perplexing, 

 especially when all experiments show that this water is playing a 

 profoundly important part in the generation of the vital phenom- 

 ena. Any interference with the amount normally present makes 

 a change at once in the activities of the cell. In fact we might 

 say that all living matter lives in water. For not only is this 

 obviously true in the lower and simpler forms of animals and 

 plants, which are little more than naked masses of protoplasm liv- 

 ing in water, but it is no less true of the higher forms since in all 

 of them an internal medium, or environment, of a liquid nature, 

 the lymph, the blood or sap, is found which is the immediate en- 

 yiron„,ent of the cells. Water is the largest and one of the most 

 important constituents of liYing matter, and if organisms are care- 

 fully examined the most various devices are found to assure the 

 regulation of the water content of the cell of the body." 



Bacteria consist largely of water. The quantity present in the 

 actively growing bacteria varies from 70 to 90 per cent. The 

 younger the culture the more active the organism and the greater 

 the quantity of water present. Old cultures contain less and when 

 spores form, the water content is greatly reduced. If the water 

 is completely removed, death results. Hence, the minute influ- 

 enza organism which took more lives in two years than did man 

 with all his powerful engines of destruction in four, is composed 

 of 90 per cent water! 



Solids. — Solids comprise the 10 to 30 per cent of the bacterial 

 cell which remains after the water has been driven off. This can 

 be divided into organic constituents and ash. The organic part is 

 composed of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Of these protein 

 is most abundant. In this respect bacteria are similar to animals. 

 The proteins, however, which are present are quite typical plant 



