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CHAPTER III.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUDY OF MICRO-ORGANISMS IN THE ORAL
CAVITY.

The celebrated Dutch scientist, Leeuwenhoek/* was the first to
observe that microscopically small organisms exist in the human
mouth in great numbers. In a treatise bearing the date 1683,
he gives descriptions and diagrams of several kinds of bacteria
from the mouth, which show that the inferiority of his instru-
ments compared with those now in use did not prevent his ob-
taining a very fair view, par-
ticularly of Spirillum sputige- Fto. 10.
num. In spite of the utmost
care which Leeuwenhoek be-
stowed upon the teeth and oral
cavity, " quo fit, ut denies met
adeo puri maneant et candidi, at
paucos mihi cocefaneos hoc pado
raro videas, nee gingkce mece
unquam sanguincia emif-
. . .
tant,'' he was nevertheless able
to detect five different kinds of '
animalcula in a certain white
"Asimalccla" from the Mouth.
matter between the teeth. "^Ic
g, Spirillum sputigenum.
fere semper magna cum admiroy (After Leeuwenhoek.)
tione vidi dicice illi m,aterke messe
multa cxigua admodum animalcula jucundissimo modo $e movenfia."
Leeuwenhoek's diagrams are reproduced in Fig. 10. The
micro-organism marked y will immediately be recognized as
the Spirillum sputigenum, now so well known. While convers-
ing with an old man, Leeuwenhoek noticed the rather deplorable
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