THE UNIVERSE OF LITTLE THINGS. 
211 
they great in numbers but in species. One investi¬ 
gator found not less than seventy kinds in cheese. 
There are perhaps more than a hundred in milk. It 
is possible that these are the same species which 
have developed somewhat different forms under 
different conditions. For this reason scientists are 
classifying them, not according to their structure, but 
according to the effects they 
produce in the various media 
in wliich they exist. 
Species can not be named 
here, but perhaps the gene¬ 
ra should be giv¬ 
en. The follow¬ 
ing have been 
generally recog¬ 
nized : Micro¬ 
coccus, strepto¬ 
coccus, staphy¬ 
lococcus, sarci- 
na, bacterium, 105. —Tuberculosis bacillus, a, as seen 
bacillus, and spi- tissue ; b, more magnified ; c, as 
rillum. 
Are bacteria 
important ? They are. They are an important fac¬ 
tor on account of their wide distribution, for they 
are found almost everywhere, and on account of 
their rapid multiplication. They have the power, 
it seems, of breaking up complex molecules into 
simpler ones. Organic molecules are usually very 
comj)lex. In this way they break up animal and 
sometimes seen in sputum of consumptive 
patients. (Prom Conn’s Germ Life.) 
