Text-book of bacteriology / by William W. Ford.

  • Ford, William W. (William Webber), 1871-1941.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Text-book of bacteriology / by William W. Ford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/1094 (page 11)
    PREFACE In this text-book of bacteriology an attempt has been made to give complete and accurate descriptions of the micro-organisms commonly encountered in medicine, comparative pathology, and hygiene and public health. To select from the countless species described in the literature of bacteriology those particular organisms which should be retained and made the basis for future investigations has proved to be a discouraging and almost hopeless task. The selection has been made to a large extent upon my personal observations on material from many different sources, clinical cases, autopsies, intestinal contents in health and disease, samples of soil, water, milk, and food. This work was started some years ago in the Molson Pathological Laboratory of McGill University when I was working under the late Professor J. G. Adami, and was continued from time to time in the Path- ological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University under Professor W. H. Welch. To both Dr. Welch and Dr. Adami I am under lasting obligations for the opportunities which made this work possible. A considerable amount of material was obtained at the Department of Animal Pathology of the Rockefeller Institute,' at Princeton, through the courtesy of Dr. Theobald Smith. During the progress of this work a very large number of cultures have been investigated and complete records kept of their morphology, cultural reactions, and pathogenic properties. These descriptions have served as a foundation for the section dealing with systematic bacteriology. It is manifestly impossible for a single individual to command more than a small part of bacteriology so widely has this source developed along new lines during the past few years, and in consequence the majority of the descriptions have been taken from the literature. Whenever it has been possible the original statements of the authors who established the species have been followed. When these were evidently incorrect or inadequate those subsequent descriptions have been utilized which seemed to indicate that the investigators were working with the species previously established. Finally many of the descriptions are composite in the sense that they are made up of statements made by many different bacteriologists dealing with the same species. The authority for the descriptions and for the separate statements has been indicated in the text. This text-book is not intended to present systematic bacteriology in its entirety. Indeed, it is doubtful if any system of bacteriology could be made satisfactory in the present state of confusion. In certain particulars, how- ever, an attempt at completeness has been aimed at. Thus especial em- phasis has been laid on the descriptions of the pathogenic organisms respon- sible for disease in man and animals. The anaerobic bacteria, which have proved to be of such importance in infectious processes or which are respon- sible for many of the decompositions of milk and foods, have been reported at some length. The principal aerobic spore-bearing species have likewise been included, chiefly because of the importance they possess for the modern hygienist. An attempt has been made to give an adequate treatment of