December 21, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



313 



the following figures, which, for convenience, I have arranged in 

 tabular form : — 



Titles of Papers relating to Bacteriology. 



No doubt the great increase in the number of papers during the 

 year 1887 is in part due to the fact that the bibliography is more 

 complete, and many papers of minor importance are included. It 

 must be remembered, also, that quite a number of the Italian bac- 

 teriologists, and some of the students from this country who have 

 pursued their bacteriological studies in Germany, publish their 

 papers in the German language. 



It will be seen from what has been said, that while the French 

 took the lead in researches in this department prior to 1870, and 

 during the following decade (1870-80) contributed about the same 

 number of memoirs recording experimental work as the Germans, 

 the last-mentioned nation is now far ahead not only as regards the 

 number of workers in the field, but, I may add, in the scientific 

 value of the work done ; while the number of workers in this field 

 of investigation is even less among English-speaking people than 

 among the Italians. I am not willing to admit that this difference 

 is due to race characteristics alone, although the Germans are noted 

 for the thorough way in which they devote themselves to the eluci- 

 dation of scientific questions by the experimental method. The great 

 activity in France during the period included between the years 

 i860 and 1880 was without doubt largely due to the influence of 

 Pasteur, who, by his experimental work and his writings, did more 

 than any other man to establish the fact that the minute organisms, 

 which prior to his time had received so little consideration, are im- 

 portant factors in the economy of nature. 



In the ante-Koch epoch there was no name in Germany to com- 

 pare with that of the illustrious French savant ; and if, from our 

 present point of view, we can point to certain errors of inference, 

 due to the imperfect development of bacteriological technique, these 

 cannot be held to constitute a serious blemish upon the brilliant 

 scientific record of Pasteur. Where are the pioneers who have 

 never followed a false trail ? The true distinction of the man of 

 science is that he renounces his own errors as soon as he is con- 

 vinced that he has made one. 



Among the pioneers in bacteriological researches in France, there 

 is one who, next to Pasteur, is entitled to special consideration. I 

 refer to the distinguished physician and scientist, Davaine, whose 

 first paper upon the anthrax bacillus was published in the Comptes 

 Rendus oi the French Academy in 1863. Certainly the work of 

 Davaine, of Chauveau, and of Toussaint may be compared favor- 

 ably with that of the German physicians, who contributed most 

 largely to the literature of our subject before the time of Koch. 



The discovery by Obermeier, in 1873, of the spirillum of relaps- 

 ing fever was a notable event in the history of bacteriology, and at 

 once attracted the attention of physicians in all parts of the world 

 to this class of micro-organisms ; and it is to physicians, rather 

 than to the botanists, that we owe the rapid development of our 

 knowledge of these minute plants. 



A great impetus was given to bacteriological studies in Germany 

 by the introduction by Weigert (1S77) of the aniline dyes for stain- 

 ing these micro-organisms. 



Koch, in referring to this new method in a paper published a 

 few months after Weigert's first publication regarding it, says that 

 " the aniline colors are retained by micro-organisms with such in- 

 tensity and with such rapidity, that we m.ay consider these colors 

 re-agents for distinguishing the bacteria from crysialhne deposits, 

 or amorphous material of any kind, from fat drops or other corpus- 

 cles of small dimensions." From this time these dyes have been 

 our main reliance for differentiating the bacteria from organic and 

 inorganic gran.ules which often resemble them closely in form, and 

 for demonstrating their presence as parasites, in the blood and tis- 

 sues of animals, in the infectious maladies. 



Dr. Robert Koch, who is now generally recognized as the fore- 

 most bacteriologist of the world, published his first papers during 

 the years 1876 and 1878, in Cohn's Beitriige zur Biologie der 

 PJlanzcn. In 1878 his ' Untersuchungen ueber die Aetiologie der 

 Wundinfectionskrankheiten ' appeared. These publications marked 

 him at once as a master in experimental investigations, and as a 

 most careful and reliable observer. 



Schroeter, in 1872, had made use of slices of boiled potato for the 

 cultivation of chromogenic bacteria, but the method of cultivation 

 in solid media was first described by Koch in Vol. I. of the Mit- 

 thctlimgen aus dcm k'aiscrlichcti Gesundheitsamle, published in 

 1881. This method, together with his plate-method of isolating 

 bacteria, is the foundation-stone upon which the bacteriology of the 

 present day has established itself; and since the road has been 

 pointed out numerous workers in all parts of the world have has- 

 tened to explore the previously unknown mines of truth in this im- 

 portant and attractive dejjartment of biology. 



There are to-day bacteriological laboratories not only in many of 

 the large cities of Europe, from Russia to Spain, but also in a num- 

 ber of the principal cities on this side of the Atlantic. During my 

 recent visit to the City of Mexico. I found a complete equipment of 

 Koch's culture apparatus, and of the apochromatic objectives of 

 Zeiss, in the laboratory of Dr. Carmona y Valle, and in Havana a 

 similar outfit in the laboratory of the ' Cronica Medica,' under the 

 direction of Dr. Santos Fernandes. 



The rapid progress of bacteriology in Germany has been due 

 not alone to the epoch-making achievements of Koch, but also, to 

 a very considerable extent, to the enlightened policy of the govern- 

 ment. Koch was called to Berlin as soon as his merit was recog- 

 nized, and his work was carried on in the laboratories of the Im- 

 perial Board of Health, where he had the assistance of those medi- 

 cal officers of the German army whose names stand only second to 

 his in the record of valuable work done in this department of sci- 

 ence. I refer, of course, to Loeffler, to Gaffky. and to Wolffhugel ; 

 and to these associates in his earlier researches may be added the 

 names of Plagge and of Weisser, who have been with him in his. 

 new laboratory. 



If during the past ten years we had also had a well-equipped 

 laboratory, under proper direction, at the seat of government, does 

 any one doubt that men could have been found in the medical corps 

 of the army and of the navy who would have done work in this de- 

 partment of scientific research which would have been creditable to 

 us as a nation .' 



Certainly it is not creditable that we, as a nation, have con- 

 tributed so little to the progress of knowledge in this direction. 

 Let us hope, however, that we are entering upon a new era. Here 

 in Brooklyn private munificence has provided the means of research 

 which the national government should have provided long since ; 

 and here, at least, the fault will rest with the profession, if active 

 workers are not found to avail themselves of the facilities provided 

 for making original researches in bacteriology, in physiology, and 

 in experimental pathology. 



Another important landmark in the progress of bacteriology and 

 of scientific medicine is the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, and 

 the demonstration that it is the specific etiological factor in the 

 causation of tuberculosis. As you well know, we are also indebted 

 to Koch for this discovery, which was first announced in the Ber- 

 liner klintschc Wochenschrift m 18S2. 



[Having referred briefly to some of the principal facts relating ta 

 the history of the subject. Dr. Sternberg occupied the remainder of 

 the time during the lecture in giving an account of the morphology 

 of micro-organisms.] 



Prof. William H. Pickering has succeeded in detectings 

 number of new nebulie by means of photography. The region sur- 

 rounding the nebula of Orion was selected for these experiments, 

 and from the results the author concludes, that, by photograph- 

 ing the entire sky. four or five thousand such objects may be dis- 

 covered. Only in case the large nebula of Orion should prove to^ 

 embrace all the new nebuUe in its limits, this proportion would 

 not hold good. The experiments show, however, that the method 

 is well adapted to verifying and completing our catalogues of stars. 



