System der Bakterien (Bd. 1, 1897, 368 pp.; Bd. 2, 1900, 1068 pp., Jena). Only one edition was published.
During the same period K. B. Lehmann and R. E. Neumann of Würzburg, Germany, began the publication of their Bakteriologische Diagnostik, the first edition of which was published, as were later editions, in two volumes (J. F. Lehmann Verlag, München). The first edition was soon followed by a second and later editions, the work being seriously interrupted by the first World War after the publication of the 5th edition. Following the war they republished the 5th edition with a supplement as the 6 edition and later carried through a complete revision of this text which appeared as the 7th edition in 1927. No further editions have been issued.
In the meantime, interest in taxonomic work had crystallized in the newly organized (1899) Society of American Bacteriologists, led at first by F, D. Chester. His Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, published in 1901 (The MacMillan Co., New York), had great influence in guiding the thought of American bacteriologists, but it never has been widely known outside of North America.
As the Society developed, others took an active interest in this work, among them R. E. Buchanan (Jour. Bact., 1, 1916, 591-596; 2, 1917, 155-164, 347-350, 603-617; 3, 1918, 27-61, 175-181, 301-306, 403-406, 461-474, 541-545), who organized an outline classification of all bacteria as then known. This was published just as another member of the Society, C.-E. A. Winslow, who had, with his wife, completed a monographic study of the Coccaceae (Winslow, C.-E. A., and Winslow, A. R. Systematic relationships of the Coccaceae, 300 pp., 1908, John Wiley & Sons, New York), urged the Society to form a Committee to organize a better classification for bacteria. The Society of American Bacteriologists' Committee, of which Winslow was made Chairman, combined forces with Buchanan and published first a preliminary (Jour. Bact., 2, 1917, 505-566) and then a final report (Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 191-229) on the classification of bacteria. The report of this Committee was accepted with the thought that further revisions of this outline classification were to be expected as knowledge developed.
Meanwhile in Europe, Orla-Jensen (Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 22, 1909, 305-346) had made notable contributions to knowledge in this field. Still later A. J. Kluyver and C. B. van Niel (Zent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 34, 1936, 369-403) and others continued the development of classifications of bacteria, but European workers have been badly handicapped in their work because of the chaotic conditions that have existed during two world wars fought largely in Europe.
Developments in the field of systematic bacteriology led to the publication by D. H. Bergey of a manuscript on which he had been working for a long time, his thought being that a new edition of Chester's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology was badly needed, as indeed it was. In order to aid Bergey in securing publication of his manuscript, the Society of American Bacteriologists appointed a Committee to assist him, Dr. F. C. Harrison, Chairman. The first edition of
