INTRODUCTION. 27 



malady of the silkworm muscardine was due to a 

 parasitic micro-organism. Pasteur later devoted several 

 years' study to an exhaustive investigation into the 

 same subject ; and in like manner Tulasse, in 1864, 

 and Kiihne, in 1855, showed that certain specific affec- 

 tions in grains, the potato, etc., were due to the inva- 

 sion of parasites. 



Very soon after this it was demonstrated that micro- 

 organisms were the cause of certain infectious diseases 

 in man and the higher animals. Bacteriological re- 

 search has always been of special interest to physicians. 

 Many of the most distinguished physicians of the day, 

 in the earlier history of the science, concerned them- 

 selves in these investigations, and the progress made 

 during the past fifteen or twenty years has been largely 

 due to their work. Davaine, a famous French physi- 

 cian, has the honor of having first demonstrated the 

 causal relation of a micro-organism to a specific infec- 

 tious disease in man and animals. The anthrax bacil- 

 lus was discovered in the blood of animals dying from 

 this disease by Pollender, in 1849, and by Davaine, 

 in 1850 ; but it was not until 1863 that the last-named 

 observer demonstrated by inoculation experiments that 

 the bacillus was the cause of anthrax. These experi- 

 ments were subsequently confirmed by Pasteur, Koch, 

 and others. 



The next discoveries made were those relating to 

 wounds and the infections to which they are liable. 

 Rindfleisch, in 1866, and Waldeyer and von Reckling- 

 hausen, in 1871, were the first to draw attention to the 

 minute organisms occurring in the pysemic processes 

 resulting from infected wounds, and occasionally fol- 

 lowing typhoid fever. Further operations were made 



