The Press. MONDAY, MAY 30, 1910. A GREAT SCIENTIST.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13746, 30 May 1910, Page 6

The Press. MONDAY, MAY 30, 1910. A GREAT SCIENTIST.

We are so familiar with micrbbe's as a cause of disease that wo are apt to i'orget how comparatively young is tlio scionco of bacteriology. Bacteria haunt us now like bad dieams, and we scum sometimes to bo appreaching tho time when tho lana will reck of disinfectants. J3u? within the memory of many men jiow living, the roco did not worry in the least about "typhoid »n the morning milk, or tuberculosis in the iwening joint. It ..simply did not know of the existence of the minute terrors that cause these* and other diseases. Ignorance was paid for heavily, but in one, respect it partook of bliss—there was less anticipation of evil. Tho death ot Dr. Koch reminds us how close we are to the days when Pasteur, Lister, ana other 3 did tho raco such incalculable service by finding out the true cause ot roany diseases, and by teaching people how t» prevent them. Dr. Koch's carcor as an investigator into bacteriology; [)?• gan in 186G," only two years after Lord Lister (as ho, r.f>w is) had introduced the epoch-making antiseptic methods in surgery,.and continued practically until Lip death. Tho:world's dljbt to him, as; X<f others Af his kind, can never ho j.aid. One achievement alone, tho isolation , of -the tuberculosis genu, would entitle .him- to tho evtilasting pratitude of mankind, for it was the starting point of the vast campaign going on againstthc disease in so many countries 10-day. But ho has much more to his credit besides this. He isolated the bacillus of anthrax and showed conclusively its relation to tho dread, diispase. His investigations and discoveries in regard to cholera wcro the basis of tho study of tho disease now gding on in Eastern laboratories, and niado possible a much nioro definite knowledge of the malady and methods of preventing.it. Work on the rinderpest, malnfiu, and the bubonic plague i took him to tropical countries, and ono of his last undertakings was an investigation on tho spot of tho deadly sleeping sickness. A proof of the high re- I putc in which his name stood in tho scientific world, is tho fact that his reputation did not suffer, by tho failure j of his tuberculin treatment to' do all that was popularly claimed for it twenty year* ago. High hopes wereentortained that a euro for consumption had been found, but the results were disappointing. It is said that tho most Dr. Koch claimed for it was that it was useful in oarly stages of pulmonary consumption, nnd that jnauy of tho cases in which it was used by practitioners were quite unsuitable. He that as it may, there is no doubt that the public was greatly disappointed tit the failure of tuberculin to effect miraculous cures. Dr. Koch, strange to say, wems ta have persisted in his belief, contrary to that of nearly all doctors, oml to what seems to be an overwhelm- , ing weight of evidence, that tuberculc&is in cattle and other ' • animals was distinct from tuberculosis in men, ami that tho former could not be transmitted to the human system. But tliis only amounts to say ins that, liko all scientists, he was liable to err. Ec tvas a splendid example of tho scientific

s?nius of his countr? - . and leaves behind hint :i record that sciciice will ti(>vcr obliterate from her book of fame.