Bergey's Manual appeared in 1923 (The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore). Successive editions of this Manual were issued in 1925, 1930 and 1936. Before his death in 1937, Bergey requested that an Editorial Board take over future editions of Bergey's Manual.
At the same time, Bergey used the accumulated royalties that had previously been placed in the custody of the Society of American Bacteriologists to organize the so-called Bergey's Manual Trust. The publication of the 5th and 6th editions of Bergey's Manual has been carried out by the Trustees of this Trust, who, by the provisions of the Deed of Trust, must always be men trained as bacteriologists. The Board of Trustees consisted at first of Dr. D. H. Bergey, Professor R. S. Breed and Professor E. G. D. Murray. Dr. A. Parker Hitchens was elected to this Board after Dr. Bergey's death, when Professor Breed was made Chairman of the Board.
Because of the truly enormous development of our knowledge of bacteria, viruses and related organisms, the Editorial Board asked students of special groups to assist in the revisions of the groups in which they were interested. Thus more than 40 specialists assisted in the preparation of the 5th edition, and more than 60 individuals in the preparation of the 6th edition of the Manual. Canadian bacteriologists as well as bacteriologists from the U. S. A. have participated in the Manual work from the beginning. This participation by Canadian workers has increased during the preparation of the manuscript for the 7th edition, as has the participation from other countries. Fourteen countries are represented among the more than 100 specialists who have contributed to the 7th edition of the Manual.
After the death of Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Dr. N. R. Smith was appointed to the Board of Trustees and to the Editorial Board of the Manual, and shortly thereafter the Board of Trustees was made a board of five members by the election of Dr. R. E. Buchanan and Dr. Harold J. Conn to this Board.
In preparing manuscripts for the present edition of Bergey's Manuall, specialists have found many places where the relationships of described species of bacteria have not been well presented in the literature. Consequently, they have been stimulated to publish many papers reporting their findings. The individual specialists have normally been persons who have actively worked with cultures of the organisms that belong to the group for which they have prepared the manuscript. Thus the development of the present edition of the Manual has stimulated much research in the field of systematic bacteriology that would never have been accomplished under other conditions. It is hoped that in the future the Bergey's Manual Trust can become a center for research in the field of systematic bacteriology and virology. The work thus far accomplished has been carried out largely by volunteer workers. If adequate funds were available for the support of such work its value could be greatly increased.
Out of studies by specialists of the accumulated knowledge of the systematic relationships of the microorganisms considered in Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, the three of us chiefly responsible for organizing this
