HISTORICAL 15 



formation or of the development of disease; but that microbes might be 

 accidentally present, due to the action of a "phlogistic zymoid " which 

 developed in the animal organism. 



In 1882 the French government sent a medical commission to India to 

 determine if possible the cause of Asiatic cholera, but the commission re- 

 turned with a negative report as far as a bacterial cause of the disease was 

 concerned. In 1883 the German government sent a similar commission, 

 headed by Robert Koch, and the report of this commission was that Asiatic 

 cholera was caused by a bacillus,, the famous comma bacillus of Koch. 

 The work of Koch in connection with the study of cholera seemed to act 

 as a wonderful stimulus and other eminent investigators made important 

 v^ discoveries within the year or two following. Klebs and Loffler discovered 

 the diphtheria bacillus in 1884. Fraenkel, Weichselbaum and Fried- 

 ^ lander discovered the pneumococcus in 1884. Nicolaier and Kitasato dis- 

 covered the tetanus bacillus in 1884. Loffler and Schiitz discovered the 

 glanders bacillus in 1882, and the bacillus of hog erysipelas (Rothlauf) in 

 1885. 



Pasteur in 1881 made his first experiments in reproducing rabies in 

 susceptible animals by inoculation with material obtained from the spinal 

 cord, medulla oblongata, and lobes of the brain of animals dead from 

 \ rabies. In 1884 he reported his experiments pertaining to the modification 

 of the virulence of rabies by successive inoculations into susceptible ani- 

 mals. His use of this modified rabies virus as a means of preventing a 

 severe and fatal course .of the disease in those bitten by animals suffering 

 from hydrophobia, is familiar to all. Thousands of cases have been treated 

 successfully at Pasteur institutes established throughout the larger cities 

 of the civilized world. 



The above are only a few of the important investigations of this period. 

 The causative relationship of microbes to certain diseases was undeniably 

 established. The voices of opposition were silenced. 



This period is especially notable for the development of antiseptic 

 surgery. As a result, operations were no longer dreaded as in former times. 

 Fatal infections following operations now became rare. Thousands of 

 lives are saved. To remove or destroy the pus germs in open wounds or to 

 prevent the access of germs to wounds, cuts, and abrasions, has become a 

 simple matter, a simple mechanical application of suitable antiseptics. 



The progress of purely medical bacteriology was not so marked. Al- 

 though it was proven that certain diseases were due to bacteria, there were 

 no satisfactory means of destroying them in the system. Internal anti- 

 septics were tried, but without satisfactory results, as a rule. However, 

 preventive medicine based on a bacteriological knowledge gave good 

 results. 



