CHAPTER XLIII 



TUBERCULOSIS 



AND ITS 

 PREVENTION 



Robert Koch. 



Edward Livingston Trudeau. 



How was the germ of tuberculosis discovered? Was the discovery of 

 the tuberculosis germ due to careful scientific investigation ? Is tuber- 

 culosis a curable disease? 



Pasteur presented his germ theory of disease to the world in 

 1860. At that time many people did not have much faith in his 

 work, but he cleared the way for much of the work done by other 

 scientists of his own day and later. The investigation of tuber- 

 culosis would probably have been impossible had it not been for 

 Pasteur's work. 



Dr. J. A. Villemin. In the nineteenth century, medicine was not 

 based on scientific research. Pasteur's work on microorganisms 

 was not accepted generally until the latter part of the century. 

 In 1864, Dr. J. A. Villemin, one of the few real scientists, by means 

 of experimental research, brought out the idea that tuberculosis 

 was a disease which reproduced itself and could be reproduced 

 only by itself. In brief, he said it was caused by a specific organism, 

 and could be communicated from one person to another. In 

 order to demonstrate the fact that tuberculosis was communi- 

 cable, he experimented on animals. He took some sputum of a 

 tubercular patient, spread it on cotton wool which he dried and 

 made into a bed for guinea pigs. The pigs, in time, became tuber- 



437 



