What in the world is microbe hunting?

A quick Google search of the term “microbe hunting” revealed 2460 hits, the term “microbe hunter” a mere 21300 hits. The combination of these words with “amateur microscopy” returned a total of… 1 and 4 hits respectively. This is not much. The one returned hit is particularly interesting. It is from Popular Science, September 1934, entitled “Microbe hunting with your Microscope”. It gives a nice description on how to prepare bacteria for microscopic observation.

Microbe hunting – a new term to an old pastime and hobby? The terms seems to be around now for over 70 years, but is still not used widely. Maybe it is time to establish this term a bit more. I have to admit that “Amateur Microscopy?” does sound a bit more “professional” (is this a paradox?), but the sentence “I’m a microbe hunter” flows much easier than “I’m an amateur microscopist”, so maybe this is enough justification to establish that term, even if amateur microscopists observe specimens other than microorganisms as well.

In any case, I herewith propose that the term “Microbe Hunting” be used interchangeably for amateur microscopy. Comments?