106 MICROBES AND HEALTH. 



been, supported principally by State Boards of Health. 

 The members of these boards have created and are now 

 filling many new offices, at a probable expense of many 

 million dollars a year. Human nature is the same in 

 the breast of a political doctor who is seeking office, 

 as in the breast of any other politician seeking office. 

 These are facts, and as such, we see no harm in 

 stating them. Are boards of health the "highest medi- 

 cal authority ?" 



Dr. Koch. 



Dr. Koch lives in Germany. Perhaps that is the 

 reason a few American doctors once thought he 

 possessed supernatural power. A few years ago Dr. 

 Koch discovered a germ which he claimed was the cause 

 of consumption. 



For a time Dr. Koch posed as a leader, but many of 

 his followers have deserted him, and in the minds of 

 others he is reduced to the rank and file. Soon after 

 the discovery of his new bug Dr. Koch claimed to dis- 

 cover a new remedy, which he called tuberculin. It 

 should be remembered that in Germany it does not 

 take long to discovery a new remedy. Most anything 

 will do, so long as it is indefinite and profitable. It is 

 admitted upon all sides that Dr. Koch never cured a 

 single case of consumption with his tuberculin, but 

 it is claimed he charged $25.00 for each hypodermic 

 injection, and that he made a fortune out of it. Koch 

 claimed to have discovered tuberculin, yet it has been 

 stated in print that he did not discover it, but stole it 

 from the true discoverer, Samuel D. Dixon, of Phila- 

 delphia. 



