Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- 1 Man and microbes
- 2 Microbiology
- 3 Microbes in society
- 4 Interlude: how to handle microbes
- 5 Microbes in nutrition
- 6 Microbes in production
- 7 Deterioration, decay and pollution
- 8 Disposal and cleaning-up
- 9 Second interlude: microbiologists and man
- 10 Microbes in evolution
- 11 Microbes in the future
- Further reading
- Glossary
- Index
6 - Microbes in production
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- 1 Man and microbes
- 2 Microbiology
- 3 Microbes in society
- 4 Interlude: how to handle microbes
- 5 Microbes in nutrition
- 6 Microbes in production
- 7 Deterioration, decay and pollution
- 8 Disposal and cleaning-up
- 9 Second interlude: microbiologists and man
- 10 Microbes in evolution
- 11 Microbes in the future
- Further reading
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
microbes and raw materials
Despite today's massive production, through the agency of microbes, of fermented foods and drinks, of antibiotics, vitamins and chemicals, it remains true that the most important microbial products, as far as mankind is concerned, were laid down millions of years ago.
Before I justify that assertion, I have a digression to make. Industry consumes energy, by using manpower, animal power, wind power or machinery driven by fuel such as petrol or electricity. The more sophisticated an industry becomes, the more it is likely to use mechanical power and therefore fuels. I am sure I need not offer the reader examples of this principle: choose almost any industry and reflect on its history. Indeed, it has become a commonplace of sociology to express the level of industrial development of a country or community in terms of the energy (excluding manpower and animal power) consumed per head of the population. Today, energy is needed for every facet of industrialized civilization, from boiling potatoes to pressing steel. This is why developing countries become obsessed with hydroelectric schemes, power stations and so on. Even food production, the basic process of society, becomes increasingly energy-consuming as it becomes more mechanized. Manpower, helped by domesticated animals, can support small agrarian communities, but as soon as the population increases and social organization becomes at all complex, communities come to depend on machines, fertilizers, chemicals and, therefore, on the energy that drives and produces these things.
The major energy sources of the world today fall into two classes.
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- Microbes and Man , pp. 171 - 242Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000