Preparatory lo Ri;si;ar'..ii C\RiiER 51 



In jMthology the 1880's brought forward distinct advances in 

 learning over the 1870's. For instance, the germ theory of disease, 

 still under questioning scrutiny in the 1870's, became firmly estab- 

 lished during the 18S0's, improvements in research technique 

 making possible astonishing accumulations of proof as to micro- 

 organisms as causes of disease. Erwin Smith, in health work 

 which required some knowledge of the latest triumphs of animal 

 pathology, was bound to become familiar with the more important 

 " high-lights " of a transition period which reached this country 

 between the last years of the 1870's and, continuing throughout 

 tht 1880's, influenced greatly the course of development of plant 

 pathology as well. He believed: ^'^ 



Three main currents of thoui^ht and pathological influence flowed into 

 this . . . period from earlier times. These three streams were (1) the 

 purely systematic mycological influence of such men as Corda, Elias Fries, 

 and the Tulasne brothers; (2) the experimental and observational work 

 on the morphology and etiology of human diseases by Henle, Cohnheim, 

 and Virchow and of plant diseases by such masters as Farlow, Berkeley, 

 Kijhn, and DeBary; (3) the bacteriological and animal pathological re- 

 searches of Louis Pasteur and his school. The last influence was greatest 

 of all, but each current interacted with the other two, and all of them on 

 the men of this period. . . . 



We know that Erwin Smith by 1882 knew of the famous dis- 

 cussions " fought so bitterly pro and con" ''' between Pasteur and 

 his pupils, Joubert and Chamberland, on the one side, and "Dr. 

 Bastian and others " on the opposing. These discussions, accord- 

 ing to Smith, had been going on " for the last dozen years." 

 Emile Duclaux says,"'' " All our present technique has arisen from 

 the objections made by Bastian to the work of Pasteur on spon- 

 taneous generations." In other words, it was Pasteur's defense of 

 his conclusions by repeating his experiments that established in 

 the minds of other scientists the fundamental validity of his 

 laboratory technique and the truth of his assertions. From his 

 studies of fermentation and specific ferments emerged his dis- 

 covery of anaerobic organisms, a discovery w^hich Smith later 

 ranked third in his list of " milestones in the progress of bacteri- 



'" Fifty years of pathology, op. cit., 14-15. 



"''Mich. School Moderator 3 (13): 199 f., Nov. 30, 1882. 



"^^ Pasteur, The history of a mind, op. a/. ,114. See also, Third Part. 



