Lectures on Bacteria

n <- '} 'Kf; i* vV^"<* tfJ ^>^ 5^>^:^'n ^^ ^"^^^ ^^: <^' "^ -,1' s/x >., ^ ' ^^.^ l^^iAA/ / L . > - / . ^ ^-^ At i'u ,^. X .> ,' <i New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library Cornell University Library QR 41.B29 1887 Lectures on bacteria / 3 1924 003 206 038 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003206038 LECTURES ON BACTERIA DE BARF HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.C. LECTURES ON BACTERIA A. DE BARY PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF STEASSBURG SECOND IMPROVED EDITION AUTHORISED TRANSLATION BY HENRY E. F. GARNSEY, M.A. Fellow of Magdalen College^ Oxford REVISED BY ISAAC BAYLEY BALFOUR, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. Fellow ofMagdalen College and Sherardian Professor ofBotany in the University of Oxford WITH 20 WOOD-ENGRAVINGS ©jforD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1887 \_All rights reseraed'\ PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. This translation of Professor De Bary's ' Vorlesungen iiber Bacterien ' has been prepared because there is at present no book in English which gives in like manner ' a general ' view of the subject ' of Bacteria, and sets forth the known facts in the life of Bacteria in their connection with those with which we are acquainted in other branches of natural history.' I. B. B. Oxford, 1887. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. The present work is in the main a short abridgement of a number of lectures, some of which were delivered in a connected series as a University course, others as occasional and separate addresses. The form of the lectures has been occasionally altered to meet the difference between a written treatise and free oral delivery accompanied by demonstrations. Some things have been omitted and others added, especially some matters of general importance which were not published or did not become known to me till after the delivery of the actual course. The lectures were an attempt to introduce an audience composed of persons of very different professional pursuits, medical and non-medical, to an acquaintance with the present state of knowledge and opinion concerning the much discussed questions connected with Bacteria. They had, therefore, to give such a survey of the subject as would be intelligible to all who were not strangers to the elements of a scientific training, and especially to set forth the known facts in the life of the Bacteria in their connection with those with which we are acquainted in other branches of natural history. A survey of the present extensive literature of the subject, and of the almost daily additions to it, shows the existence of many serviceable and some excellent publications^ but at the same time also of much that is mistaken and obscure. The scientific and semi-scientific converse of the day, if I may use viii Preface. the expression, is greatly influenced by works of the latter kind, and the chief reason for this, if I am not mistaken, lies in the absence of a general view of the subject itself and of its relations to other portions of natural history; we cannot see the wood for the trees. An attempt to give such a view would be no mere superfluous addition to existing works, and this consideration was a decisive reason in the judgment of myself and of those who gave me their encouragement for afterwards transcribing and publishing my lectures. The present treatise, therefore, must not be expected to be a Bacteriology, or even to report and enumerate all the details which may be of interest and importance ; it should rather serve only as a guide for the direction of the student through these details. Many readers, devoted to the study of the Bacteria, will be familiar with the literature or with the guides to it before they take up this book. For the sake of those who seek to gain some knowledge of the subject from its perusal, and also for the purpose of naming the most important sources of informa- tion which I have made use of along with my own investigations, I have added a few notices of publications at the end of the volume, and have indicated by numerals in brackets the places in the text to which the citation marked with the same number refers. So much by way of introduction to this little work. I trust that it may do something to clear up existing views on the subject of the Bacteria, and to lead the investigation of these organisms from its present stage of storm and pressure into the ways of quiet fruitful labour and increase of knowledge. The above with the omission of one sentence is the word- ing of the preface written in July, 1885, for the first edition of this book. The kindly reception which it met with can only ; •Preface. ix have been due to the circumstance that the form in which the subject was presented in it was the one best adapted to attain the object proposed ; it could scarcely be that there was any- thing new in it. Hence the form and limits of the second edition which is now demanded are alike prescribed to me it must be made as like as possible to the first. This has been done ; the original frame is unaltered, and the old matter still appears in it in many places. On the other hand, much pro- gress has been made in the period which has elapsed since the work was originally composed, and some new views have been laid down which could not be disregarded. The new edition, therefore, will be found to contain not only some editorial improvements in the special descriptions, but also various important alterations. These observations apply also to the notes at the end of the work, except that I have introduced somewhat more critical and explanatory remarks than in the first edition. A. DE BARY. Strassburg, Oct., 1886. CONTENTS. I-—Introdnction. Bacteria or Schizomycetes and Fungi. Struc- ture of the Bacterium-cell . i II.—Cell-forms, cell-unions, and cell-groupings ... 9 III.—Course of development. Endosporous and Arthrosporous Bacteria .15 IV.—Species of Bacteria. Distinct species denied. The grounds for this denial insuiEcient. Method of investigation. Relationships of the Bacteria and their position in the system ......... 24 V.—Origin and distribution of Bacteria 37 VI.—Vegetative processes. External conditions : temperature and material character of the environment. Practical ap- plication of these in cultures, in disinfection, and in antisepsis ........ 49 VII.—Relation to and effect upon the substratum. Saprophytes and Parasites. Saprophytes as exciting decompositions and fermentations. Characteristic qualities of Forms exciting fermentation 64 VIII.—Most important examples of Saprophytes. The nomenclatm'e explained. Aquatic Saprophytes; Crenothrix, Cladothrix, Beggiatoa; other aquatic forms 72 IX.—Saprophytes which excite fermentation. Fermentations of nrea. Nitrification. Acetous fermentation. Viscous fermentations. Formation of lactic acid. Kefir. Bacillus Amylobacter. Decompositions of proteid. Bacterium Teimo 83 X.—Parasitic Bacteria. The phenomena of parasitism . 107 xii Contents. PAGE XI.—Harmless parasites of warm-blooded animals. Parasites of the intestinal caijal. Sarcina. Leptothrix, Micrococci, Spirillum, Comma-bacillus of the mucous membrane of the mouth . 115 XII.—Anthrax and Fowl-cholera 122 XIII—Causal connection of parasitic Bacteria with infectious diseases, especially in warm-blooded animals. Introduction .... 144 Relapsing fever . 151 Tuberculosis 152 Gonorrhoea ... 156 Asiatic Cholera . ... 169 Traumatic infections diseases 167 Erysipelas ... ... 169 Trachoma and xerosis ; pneumonia, leprosy, syphilis, cattle-plague .... 169 Malaria . .... 170 Typhoid fever and diphtheria . .171 Infectious diseases in which the presence of contagium vivnm has not been demonstrated . .174 XIV.—Diseases caused by Bacteria in the lower animals and in plants. Diseases of insects .174 Diseases of plants . ... 177 Conspectus of the Literature and Notes . 181 Index of Names .... igi Introduction. Bacteria or Schizomycetes and Pungi. Structure of the Bacterium-cell (1), The purpose of these lectures is to give some account of the present state of our knowledge respecting the objects included under the name of Bacteria. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the manifold interest attaching to these organisms at a time when the statement urged daily on the educated public does not fall far short of saying, that a large part of all health and disease in the world is dependent on Bacteria. If we are therefore spared that customary portion of the introduction to a lecture which seeks to impress the hearer with the importance of the subject, it be- comes the more necessary to give prominence from the first to the reverse side of the question ; that is to say, to call special attention to the fact, that the problem presented to us can only be solved by quiet scientific examination from every possible point ofviewof the objects under consideration; and a study of this kind is dry rather than exciting, or to use a common expression, interesting. But this should not deter any one who is really desirous of acquiring some knowledge of our subject. The order of our remarks will follow the natural arrangement of the subject before us ; and our first task therefore will be to enquire what Bacteria are ; in other words, to make ourselves acquainted with their conformation, their structure, their development, and their origin in connection with their development. Next, we have to enquire what they do, what good and what B 2 Lectures on Bacteria. [f i. harm they occasion, that is, we must study their vital processes and the effects which these produce on the objects outside of themselves. We begin with the first question, and we will first of all bestow a moment's consideration on the name.

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