BACTERIOLOGY IN INDUSTRY. The industrial as pect of bacteriology which, in the early days of the science, exercised an almost dominating influence on the workers devoting their energies to the study of the microscopic world was gradually lost sight of when Pasteur, and the other early pioneers with him, turned their attention from the study of fermentations to that of putrefaction and of infectious diseases. For many years the bacteriological problems connected with industry were allowed to drift and few efforts were made to utilize the unique catalytic properties of bacteria, or to stem the destruction caused by these organisms in industries based on the handling of decomposable raw materials. To-day the industrial aspect of bacteriology is again receiving some attention, though unfortunately not always by the best qualified investigators; but much remains to be done to bring this branch of bacteriology on a level with the better known sections—medical bacteriology, plant pathology and soil bacteriology.
A division of the subject under discussion into one part, dealing with the application of bacterial activity to industry, and another, outlining the destruction caused by bacteria in industrial under takings, cannot, of course, be a very clear cut division. A number of problems of economic importance thereby remain unconsidered, for instance, the formation of peat, coal, shale oil and natural gas. However, the clearer view of the subject thereby obtained fully justifies the adoption of this division.