The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-24
BACIERIOLOCY
Lecture Delivered Before
Students at Punahou.
Or. = L.AiVare rs ws-The Cause
ana Cure of Disc as=-AovanC
of Scene

! The students and teachers of Oaht
College assembled yesterday afternoon
Al Pauahi Hall to lIs,en to lectult
IN "BacteriOlogy" delivered by Dr.. L
! =. AlvaIe z, lateiy in charge Of th'
government Receiving Station, kallhi
| he lecture was a rare treat TO th'
| many students and their friends pres
snt. and at their request is published
S a matter OF general interest 10 tht
public.
-. Alvarez spoke substantially a.
follows:
| 1 nave been requested by Professor
! dosLncr TO SNe YOU Talk or leCtutf
Oh "DacJenUICsy and IT'S neIaCiono u
our Daily Lie" IN accepting his kl1lt
| IMITATION TO come before you | fee
Lnat III IS difficult 10 90 justice to this
subject IN the nnIiLeu time at Oug as
yUsaI, Tor, although DacterlolOgy is Onf
UI our newest sciences, the knowledge
already accumulated would fill many
large volumes. | can, therefore
scarcely do more than give you pass
lng glimpse of the great world Of in
visible lie about us.
Bacteria are minute unicelluidT
plants, without Chlorophyll, which mul-
upIy by repeated binary division, i. G.,
eacn cell or bacterium divides Itself
into two. When Gil cumstances are law
On abe Tor rapid multiplication, the in
uIVIdual cells grow IN length, and a
construction occurs in the middle trans
VeI Sc 10 the long diameter. 1hIS be-
comes deeper, and after a time the cell
is compietely divided into two equal
portions. which again divide in the
same way. Some species repro1Ic
themselves by the formation OF round
bodies known as spores, which act Ike
the seeds OF other plants. These spores
show a remarkable resistance to the &C
tlon of chemicals or heat. Many Spe-
cieS of bacteria having spores ma. De
boIied in water for five minutes with
out impairing their power of growth
and reproduction.
The rapidly or multiplication by BIZ
naty division varies greatly in differ
ent species, and is influenced by food,
temperature, etc. Some species have
been observed to divide every twenty
minutes, producing many millions of
cells in twenty-fOur hours. But even
if it should take one hour for each BIZ
nary division the progeny of single
cell would be, at the end of twenty-four
hours, 1871 ,220, and at the end of for
ty-eight hours the number would be
Isl. 500 900, 900
In shape all bacteria may be grouped
under three forms: First, the straight
rod, the bacillus; second, the spiral or
con kScreW tOrm-the splrillum; third,
the round form or coccus. Some spe-
cies are motiOnless while others move
very rapidly by means OF hairlike ap-
pendages called fiagella.
Bacteria may be classified into two
great groups: First, the pathogenic or
disease producing, and, second, the
-pathogenic or harmless. The dis
reproducing bacteria are very few
as compared with the immense num-
Der of species which are not only harm
less but very useful to mankind. Bac-
terra are found in the air, the water
and the soil all over the world. The
air in mid-Ocean, on high mountains
and the Polar regions contains but few
species, while in the temperate zones
and the tropics they are very abund
ant.
The standard of measurement used
by bacteriolOgists is the micrO-mllli-
metre, or the One-thOuSandth part of
q millimetIe. One micrO-m illimetre is
equal to about one twenty-fve-Jho u
Sandth of an inch. The size of DIFFER
snt species of bacteria varies conSid-
erably, some measuring Oh micro-mil-
limetIe, while others measure five mi
cro-millimetIeS. 1t requires a com-
pound microscope with lenses magni
flying a thousand diameteIs to study
the majority OF species OF the known
bacteria. Many people hold the arrO-
neouS opinion that bacteria are large
enough TO be visible to the naked eye.
1t is probable that Leeuwenhoeck,
who is often called the father of Iii
croscopy, was the first man to observe
the Ian ger forms of bacteria with lis
magnifying glasses in 1915; but it Was
a century later when the first classif-
cation of heterogeneous was made
by 0. F. Mueller, in 1873.
The doctrine OF spontaneous genera
ton of life was accepted by the an
clients, persisted through the Middle
Ages, and found many supporters
among scientists of this century. IN
1912 Ca1dan asserted that water engen-
dels fishes and that many animals
spring from fermentation. Van Hell
mont gives special instructions for the
artificial production of mice, and Kir-
cher, in his 'Mundus- Subterraneus,
describes and actually figures certain
which were produced under
his own eyes by the transforming m
fiuence of water on fragments of stems
from different plants.
In 1776 SpallanZani endeavored to
prove that the theory of spontaneous
of micro-organisms in or
ganic liquids was not true. He boiled
the liquids in carefully sealed TASKS,
and in many cases the liquids were
sterilized and remained unchanged for
an indefinite period. The supporters
Of the theory OF spontaneous genera
ton were not convinced by these ex-
periments, claiming that SDalauzani
had excluded the oxygen of the ur,
which, according to Gay-Lussac, vas
essential TO the development OF fermen-
-atiOn.
This objection was met by Franz
SchulZe in 1886. He admitted air to |