Experience teaches that particles larger than the pores of a filter cannot negotiate its passage. Other retention mechanisms are less obvious than sieve retention or size exclusion. They are electrical in nature, and find expression in the bonding alliances that mutually attract (or repel) filters and particles. The influence of hydrogen bonds, of van der Waals forces, of hydrophobic adsorptions, and of transient polarities on particle retentions are set forth in terms of the double electrical layer concept that also governs colloidal destabilizations. The origins of differences in membrane porosities is explained, as also the importance of the filtration conditions. The singularity of the particle-fluid-filter relationship on organism and/or pore size alteration is stressed.