The Growth Rate of Individual Bacterial Cells

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Abstract
The assumption of some authors that during all stages of growth a considerable number of bacterial cells become dormant, was disproved by observations of more than 1700 individual cells of bacteria and yeasts under the microscope. No cell that once started to multiply could be seen to die or become dormant or to cease multiplying. In no case did the individuals of one culture divide all at the same time, even under the most uniform conditions and the most uniform cell material. Their generation time always varied greatly. An analysis of the numbers proved that the offspring of the rapidly multiplying cells did not again multiply rapidly, nor did that of slowly multiplying cells multiply slowly. The progeny of both extremes showed the same variation of generation times as the others. The variation in_ time required for cell division is not an inherent quality of the cells, but appears to be a matter of chance.