Pkiparatorv to Ri srAiuii Cari'tr 55 



causing anthrax."'" In 1868 a genus had been used to describe the 

 anthrax organism, Bacteridium Davainc, so named in honor of 

 Casimir Davainc, who studied anthrax before Pasteur and who 

 Duclaux has said " perfectly demonstrated the coexistence of the 

 bacteridium and of the anthrax." "* Smith noticed this genus when 

 he discussed "Nomenclature and Chissifications " in Bacteria in 

 Relation to Plant Diseases^-'- but he also stated his belief that "' In 

 the way of generic nomenclature there is not much of value prior 

 to Cohn's first great paper in the year 1872." Cohn in 1876 

 discovered the spores of Bacillus subtilis^''^ but he is best remem- 

 bered for his great studies which appeared in Beitrage zur Biologie 

 der Pfianzen, edited by him at Breslau 1870-1892 and comprising 

 five volumes. An eminent authority on algae and fungi, he was 

 accredited by Smith with two "milestones" in bacteriology: first, 

 his system of classification, and second, his discovery of endospore- 

 bearing organisms resistant to heat.^* 



Robert Koch, the modest district physician of Wollstein, Ger- 

 many, more interested in his research than in medical practice, 

 chose the erudite botanist of Breslau before whom to demonstrate 

 his conclusions as to the life history and sporulation of the anthrax 

 bacillus. As early as 1870, it is said,-" Cohn had called attention 

 to the vegetable nature of bacteria. In 1876, at the Botanical 

 Institute of Breslau, before Cohn, Weigert, Leopold Auerbach, 

 Ludwig Traube, and Julius Cohnheim, Dr. Koch followed his 

 preliminary report to Cohn with a three-day demonstration of his 

 culture methods and results, °^ and his proof as to the role of the 

 spore in the etiology of anthrax won from Cohnheim the famous 

 declaration: 



Let everything stand and go to Koch! This man has made a great 

 discovery which, in its simplicity and exactitude of method, is the more 

 remarkable as Koch is separated from all scientific associations, and 

 everything which he has done is absolutely complete. Nothing remains 



^'^ Bacteria in relation to plant diseases, op. cit., 1: 158, 159. 

 '* Pasteur, The history of a mind, op. cit., 238-240. 

 '^ Op. cit., 154-176. Quotation at p. 156. 



^'^ Introduction to the history of medicine, by F. H. Garrison, op. cit., 575. 

 '^Bacteria in relation to plant diseases, op. cit., 1: 153. 



'^ S. and J. T. Flexncr, William Henry Welch and the heroic age of American 

 medicine, op. cit., 100. 



" F. H. Garrison, Introduction to the history of medicine, op. cit., 578. 



