CHAPTER I. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



It has been said that "The history of the world is the 

 biography of great men." It can be stated likewise that the 

 essential facts in the history of microbiology are in the records 

 of a few great leaders in the study of microorganisms. While 

 it is true that many discoveries have been made arid import- 

 ant details have been supplied by men of less reputation, 

 the actual principles that have distinguished the sciences of 

 bacteriology and protozoology have been recorded by com- 

 paratively few men. It is in the work of such men that the 

 various steps in the evolution of the subject are to be found. 

 No one can read the findings of Davaine, Pasteur, Sir 

 Joseph Lister, Hueppe, Koch, Welch, Theobald Smith, Roux, 

 von Behring, Metchnikoff and Ehrlich without experiencing 

 the thrill that comes with the introduction of new facts and 

 better methods. Their discoveries have already overthrown 

 many of the errors that were entertained concerning natural 

 phenomena and changed the attitude of the people toward 

 many phases of nature's economy. This change brought 

 about in popular conception as well as in scientific theories 

 made it possible to study microorganisms in their relation to 

 the higher forms of life. Bacteriology as a science began 

 with the work of Davaine, Pasteur and others about fifty 

 years ago. At first progress was slow because both methods 

 and apparatus had to be developed. This is illustrated in 

 the history of anthrax. In 1849, Pollander saw the bacterium 

 of this disease in the blood of infected animals but it was 

 riot until 1876, twenty-seven years later, that Koch obtained 

 it in pure culture. 



Historically, the first record of the discovery of bacteria 

 was made in 1683 by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch 



