What are bacteria?

Bacteria rule the world. Man is dependent upon them from the day of his birth until the hour of his death. They are man’s useful servants and his most destructive masters. One is prone to ask: What are bacteria?

Bacteria are minute single-celled living beings devoid of roots, leaves and stems. They are so small that they can be seen only with the aid of a powerful microscope. They are often spoken as microorganisms. This term include not only bacteria but all forms of life so small that you should require the microscope to study them. They are often referred to as germs or microbes. The early investigators considered them animals and would refer to them as «animalecules».

If we examined bacteria we should find that they have many characteristics of animals. Some have power of independent motion. All are devoid of green matter, chlorophyll; most of them are compelled to live upon complex foods as do the animals. Their general structure, their methods of growth, their formation of threads and spores, and their simplicity in some of the lowest forms of plant life, have caused biologists to class them as plants. However, it is impossible to make a clear-cut distinction between some micriscopical plants and some microscopical animals. The important thing to remember is that bacteria are the simplest form of life, and partake of characteristics of both plants and animals. For this reason, and for convenience, the scientists agree to consider the bacteria with plants.