Microbes, ferments and moulds / by E. L. Trouessart.

  • Édouard Louis Trouëssart
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Microbes, ferments and moulds / by E. L. Trouessart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cause of the more or less serious diseases which affect animals or plants. Naturalists who regard these para- sites as animals have termed them Microzoaria (from two Greek words signifying small animals). Those who regard them as plants have called them Micro- phyte, (small plants), and it is still disputed which term is the most applicable to them. In other words, it is still undecided whether they should be classed in the animal or vegetable kingdom. It was at the Paris Academy of the Sciences, on the 11th of March, 1878, that Sedillot took part in one of the probably interminable discussions between the advocates of the Microzoaria and those of the Micro- phyta, and he suggested, with the critical sense for which he was distinguished, the word microbe, to which it appeared to him that every one could give their assent. In fact, the word microbe, which only signifies a small living being, decides nothing as to the animal or vegetable nature of the beings in question.* It has been adopted by Pasteur, and approved by Littre, whose competence to decide on neologisms is generally admitted; it has been in common use in France for the last four or five years, and may now be regarded as definitively adopted into the French language. This word has not yet been fully introduced into * Bcchamp terms microbes microzyma, or small ferments, since the chemical reactions which result from their vital activity are generally fei mentations.
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