CHAPTER XVIII 



PNEUMONIA 



History. As early as 1878 Klebs observed and briefly described 

 an organism found in the bronchial content after death from pneu- 

 monia. In 1880 Pasteur experimented with a micrococcus found in 

 the saliva of a boy under treatment for hydrophobia, found it to be 

 highly pathogenic to rabbits and designated it microbe septicemique 

 du salive. About the same time Sternberg gave an accurate descrip- 

 tion of the morphology and pathogenicity of an organism found in 

 the saliva of healthy persons. In 1882-83 Friedlander studied the 

 sputum during life and the bronchial and alveolar contents after death 

 from pneumonia and found the same organism that had been seen 

 by others, and for a time it was known as the capsule bacillus or 

 Bacillus Friedlander. Simultaneously with Friedlander, Talamon not 

 only observed the lanceolate bacillus, but grew it in artificial media. 

 In 1884 A. Frankel reported the rinding of this organism in the sputum 

 of normal persons and in that of those suffering from pneumonia. 

 He observed the great differences in virulence of the strains obtained 

 from these sources, demonstrated their effects on rabbits and mice, 

 and, in fact, gave the most complete report made up to that time on 

 the organism now known as "Frankel's bacillus" or the pneumococcus. 

 Frankel in his early papers held that the pneumococcus is the sole 

 cause of pneumonia. Possibly it was this positive, but erroneous, 

 statement which succeeded in fastening the name of Frankel to the 

 bacillus. Certainly he was not the first to see it, or grow it, or to 

 demonstrate its effects on animals ; and he was in error in his claim 

 that it is the sole cause of pneumonia. Indeed the work done by 

 Weichselbaum about the same time was more thorough and, as subse- 

 quent studies have shown, more accurate. The last mentioned 

 observer held that while pneumonia is usually caused by the pneumo- 

 coccus, it may result from infection with streptococci and other bac- 

 teria. This is now generally recognized. 



