NOTE
The Board of Trustees of Bergey's Manual wish to record their profound sorrow at the death on February 10, 1956, of Dr. Robert S. Breed, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Editor-in-Chief of the Manual. Most regrettable is the fact that he did not live to see in printed form the results of his untiring and devoted labor. At the time of his death, most of the manuscript for the seventh edition had been placed in the hands of the publisher; the remainder was in such shape that it could be promptly submitted. The Board of Trustees of the Bergey Trust, including the Board of Editors, wish to pay tribute to the devotion, energy and skill of Dr. Breed over a period of many years, as shown in the organization of better bacterial nomenclature and classification. The science of microbiology is his debtor.
Reconciliation of the nomenclature used in the seventh edition of the Manual with the provisions of the revised International Code of Nomenclature of the Bacteria and Viruses had not been entirely completed by Dr. Breed. As far as possible, these discrepancies have been corrected before publication.
The death of Dr. Breed leaves the Editorial Committee without a chairman and editor-in-chief. The Board of Trustees is unanimous in the belief that a successor to Dr. Breed should be found outside its present membership. Dr. Breed was also Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Following his death, reorganization of the Board was undertaken by Dr. Conn, as Treasurer, and Dr. Buchanan was designated as Chairman. The latter has agreed to serve until publication of the seventh edition of Bergey's Manual and of the first edition of the companion volume, planned by Dr. Breed and christened by him the Index Bergeyana. It is recognized to be a matter of urgency and difficulty to replace Dr. Breed with an editor-in-chief for the eighth edition and to find a means of making this onerous responsibility something more than the labor of love it always was to him.
E. G. D. Murray
N. R. Smith
H. J. Conn
R. E. Buchanan, Chairman
- Board of Trustees
