Moody Medical Library

Agostino Bassi (1771-1856) studied medicine but because of constant eye trouble could not complete his studies. However, his experiments justly earn for him the title of "the founder of parasitic theory of infection." The dramatic development of antiseptic and aseptic surgery was simultaneous with the rise of bacteriology.

It is inconceivable today that surgery and the control of disease in all of its phases could be done with any reasonable success without an understanding of bacteriology. The idea that small animalculae may cause disease dates to Marcus Varro in 116 B.C. Fracastoro, in 1546, advanced the theory of invisible living semina which scattered disease.

Bassi studied the silkworm disease called Muscardine and found, using a microscope, that the white calcareous material forming on the silkworm was "organic, living and vegetable. It is a plant of the order of a cryptogram, a parasitic fungus." This bacterium has since been named Botrytis Barriana. Bassi further remarked, "Perhaps some of my readers will respond with a smile to my doctrine…of living contagions." In 1844 he published Sui Contagi in Generale, in which he stated: "Smallpox, spotted fever, bubonic plague and syphilis are caused by living parasites, animal or vegetable." His work aroused interest among botanists and agriculturalists but the medical profession was either unimpressed or it did not have the vision to properly interpret and take advantage of these findings and observations.

Emile Roux (1853-1933) was born at Confolens, France. He received his medical degree from Clermont-Ferrand. He was an old friend and colleague of Pasteur and was director of the Pasteur Institute from 1904-1918. He pioneered the study of viruses and developed diphtheria antitoxin and he was one of the founders of modern serography.

Albert Calmette (1863-1933) was one of Pasteur’s most brilliant students and became one of France’s most honored men. He was sent to Saigon in French Indo-China to direct the newly formed Pasteur Institute. There he prepared an effective serum to neutralize snake venom. He returned to France and with Camille Guerin introduced the Bacillus Calmette Guerin vaccine in 1921, and in 1924 introduced vaccination against tuberculosis.

Illya Metchnikov (1945-1916), a Russian biologist, devoted himself to pathological study and in 1888 went to Pasteur in Paris. He published The Comparative Pathology of Inflammation, followed by his chief work, Immunity in Infectious Diseases. In later years he made a special study of the bacteria infesting the alimentary canal. In 1908 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) the world famous French chemist is probably the best known medical scientist of all time. The term "pasteurization" is universally known, as is his contribution to the control of hydrophobia.

He demonstrated that fermentation is the effect of the action of yeast cells upon carbohydrates, while putrefaction is the result of the action of bacteria on nitrogenous compounds.

The personality and genius of Pasteur dominate the history of modern medicine. He was a very practical man and often stated, "Nothing is more agreeable to a man who has made science his career than to increase the number of discoveries, but his cup of joy is full when the result of his observations is put to immediate practical use."

Robert Koch (1843-1910) was one of the greatest bacteriologists of history. In 1883 he discovered the cholera vibrio and proved the transmission of cholera by water, food and clothing. He also discovered at this time the causative organism of Egyptian ophthalmia, the Koch-Weeks bacillus. This work was done in Egypt while Koch was the head of the German Cholera Commission.

In 1880 Koch produced tuberculin which he hoped would be a curative agent for tuberculosis. However, it is a great aid in diagnosis and also in the treatment of certain eye inflammations caused by tuberculosis. Koch won many honors which he richly deserved, including the Nobel Prize in 1905.

Charles Robert Richet (1850-1935) was one of France’s most celebrated scientists. He was the co-discoverer of anaphylaxis with Portier. His work on serum therapy won him the Nobel Prize in 1913. He was also interested in nutrition, liver function, respiration, and physiology of nerve and muscle. Paul Jones Portier (1866-1962) French biologist and bacteriologist was co-discoverer of anaphylaxis.

Portier and Richet embarked on an expedition, sponsored by Monaco’s Albert I, on a laboratory-equipped yacht in the Azores. Working with the toxin produced by the Portuguese man-of-war, a species of jelly fish which produces urticaria on contact, they found a single injection of the toxin in animals produced no effect. But a second injection, after a lapse of a few days, was fatal. They called this phenomenon anaphylaxis, a lifting up or removal of protection, as compared with phylaxis, favoring protection. They reported this finding in 1902.

Charles Jean Henri Nicolle (1866-1936) was a native of Rouen and received his medical degree from the Houen Medical School in 1894. In 1903 he was appointed director of the Pasteur Institute of Tunisia. He was a brilliant bacteriologist and under his direction this Institute became a leading center for research. He demonstrated the protective power of convalescent serum in measles, typhus fever and undulant fever. He also showed that typhus fever was transmitted by the bite of a body louse and that leishmaniasis is transmitted by the dog flea. In 1928 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine, a well deserved honor to a brilliant bacteriologist whose contributions to medical science have been far-reaching.

Alexandre Emile John Yersin (1863-1943) was a Swiss bacteriologist who spent most of his professional life in French Indo-China. While working in Hong Kong in 1894 he discovered the plague bacillus and in 1895 developed a serum to combat it. He was the founder of the Pasteur Institute in China and Annam. He also introduced rubber cultivation to Indo-China.