A germ is not necessarily a bacterium; it is a tiny small scrap of life. That's why egg cells and sperm cells are called "germ cells." And why the little bit of living protoplasm in the wheat kernel is called "wheat germ."

Germ cells

Wheat germ
A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again! Alexander Pope