ROBERT KOCH, 1843-1910.1 
[With 1 plate.] 
By C.J. M. 
Prof. Koch was one of the great discoverers of medicine. His 
researches have exercised a profound influence not only upon the 
development of medical science, but also upon the welfare of man- 
kind. 
Born in 1843 at Klausthal, and educated at the Gymnasium, he 
studied medicine in Géttingen from 1862 to 1866. After a short 
period as assistant at the hospital in Hamburg, he commenced prac- 
tice in Langenhagen, Hanover. In 1867 he removed to Rackwitz, 
in Posen, where, in addition to carrying on a country practice, he 
found time to study for and to take a degree in physical science. In 
1872 he became district surgeon in Wollstein. It was while at Woll- 
stein that Koch’s attention was first seriously turned to the inter- 
pretation of infectious diseases. The study of the work of Pasteur 
and his pupils on fermentation and putrefaction, and of Lister on 
the antiseptic treatment of wounds, led him to the conclusion that 
the etiology of infection was not to be found in miasmata from the 
soil, as commonly entertained at this time, but much more prob- 
ably, in the entrance into the tissues of microbes, and their multipli- 
cation, therein. 
At the time Koch commenced to investigate infectious diseases, 
bacteriology had become differentiated as a department of scientific 
inquiry, but the methods proper to the new science were not 
developed and, although a number of cardinal facts had been brought 
to light, knowledge on the subject was chaotic, and advance tem- 
porarily checked. Diseases of man and animals presented unlimited 
problems, but the means to attack them were lacking. The means 
which led to the next important advances were supplied by Robert 
Koch, who possessed that rare combination of intellectual qualities 
which enabled him, not only to see what was the next question to 
1 Reprinted by permission from Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series B, vol. 83, No. B 567 
May 31, 1911, pp. xviii-xxiv. 
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