Synopses & Reviews
PREFACE. THE science of Bacteriology has, within recent years, become so extensive, that in treating the subject in a book of this size we are necessarily restricted to some special departments, unless the description is to be of a superficial character. Accordingly, as this work is intended primarily for students and practitioners of medicine, only those bacteria which are associated with disease in the human subject have been considered. We have made it a chief endeavour to render the work of practical utility for beginners, and, in the account of the more important methods, have given elementary details which our experience in the practical teaching of the subject has shown to be necessary. In the systematic description of the various bacteria, an attempt has been made to bring into prominence the evidence of their having an etiological relationship to the corresponding diseases, to point out the general laws governing their action as producers of disease, and to con- sider the effects in particular instances of various modifying circumstances. Much research on certain subjects is so recent that conclusions on many points must necessarily be of a tentative character. We have, therefore, in our statement of results aimed at drawing a distinction between what is proved and what is only probable. In an Appendix we have treated of four diseases in two of these the causal organism is not a bacterium, whilst in the other two its nature is not yet determined. These diseases have been included on account of their own import- ance and that of the pathological processes which they illustrate. Our best thanks are due to Professor Greenfield for his kind advice in connection with certain partsof the work. We have also great pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness to Dr. Patrick Manson, who kindly lent us the negatives or preparations from which Figs. 102-107 have been executed. As we are convinced that to any one engaged in practical study, photographs and photomicrographs supply the most useful and exact information, we have used these almost exclusively in illustration of the systematic description. These have been executed in the Pathological Laboratory of the University of Edinburgh by Mr. Richard Muir. The line drawings were prepared for us by Mr. Alfred Robinson, of the University Museum, Oxford. To the volume is appended a short bibliography, which, while having no pretension to completeness, will, we hope, be of use in putting those who desire further information on the track of the principal papers which have been pub- lished on each of the subjects considered. June 1897. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GENERAL MORPHOLOGY AND BIOLOGY. Introductory Terminology Structure of the bacterial cell Multiplication of bacteria Spore formation Minute structure of bacterial protoplasm Chemical composition of bacteria Classification Food supply Relation of bacteria to temperature Conditions affecting bacterial motility Effects of bacteria in nature Methods of bacterial action Variability among bacteria Death of bacteria .. . . . . . Page i CHAPTER II. METHODS OF CULTIVATION OF BACTERIA...