1903 
 
Agric. Dept. 
 
 r 
 
 B&ic 
 
 e 
 
 BIOLOGT 
 UBRARY 
 
AGRICULTURAL 
 llBftARY, 
 
 CALJFORNI 
 
 The Development of American 
 Bacteriology 
 
 BY 
 
 H. L. RUSSELL 
 
 MADISON, WIS. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM MEDICINE 
 WILLIAM M. WARREN, PUBLISHER 
 
 DECEMBER. 1903 
 
tfaic Lib, 
 
 BIOLOGY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 G 
 
AGRICULT, 
 ^LIBRARY, 
 
 -- OF 
 CALIFORNIA, 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN BAC* 
 TERIOLOGY. 1 
 
 BY H. L. RUSSELL, MADISON, WISCONSIN. 
 
 Those of us who hail from the middle west, 
 where the cross-currents of a mixed civiliza- 
 tion have mingled many ethnic strains, have 
 perhaps less appreciation of the pride of ances- 
 try than those whose lot it has been to dwell in 
 the shadow of the old family rooftree. Not 
 often does the genealogical fever strike the 
 pioneer or his immediate successors. Gener- 
 ally he is too busy in hewing out a home for 
 himself and family to bother with historical 
 studies. It is only after he strikes it rich that 
 he feels the need of a coat of arms, or his wife 
 seeks admission to the Society of Colonial 
 Dames. In large measure too are historical 
 retrospects likely to be disregarded by those of 
 us who have turned our attention to some of 
 the newer lines of study that are now possible. 
 
 The student of botany or chemistry or phy- 
 sics has a long and glorious past in which he 
 can revel. If he attempts to prepare a chair- 
 man's address, he may go back in the history 
 
 1 Address of the chairman of the Laboratory Section of the 
 American Public Health Association, delivered at Washington, 
 D. C., Oct. 26, 1903. 
 
 265583 
 
of his chosen field as far as he wishes to carry 
 his hearers, and may readily gain momentum 
 as he sweeps from the glorious achievements 
 of one master to the next; but the student of a 
 science which in itself is scarcely out of its 
 pioneer days is much more sharply limited in 
 such a retrospect. 
 
 The science with which most of us who 
 are here gathered have to do is hardly old 
 enough to have a past. True it is that much 
 valuable work has been done in the earlier 
 decades of the century just closed, or even 
 before, but as a scientific subject on a more or 
 less exact foundation, the past two or three 
 decades have given us nearly all the knowledge 
 we have. Previous to this there was no science 
 of bacteriology. The theories* and ideas then 
 accepted were not based in any large measure 
 upon scientific deductions made from closely 
 controlled experimental work, but were more 
 the result of hypothetical postulates, which 
 were often the outcome of merely polemical 
 disputes. 
 
 The change which confronts the student of 
 to-day is great. Now he finds a large mass of 
 accumulated data, more or less completely or- 
 ganized, and the underlying principles in many 
 lines quite thoroughly marked out. The boun- 
 daries of the province have been more or less 
 sharply defined, and we are recognizing the 
 limitations of even the germ theory of disease, 
 
3 
 
 which in earlier days was strained to cover a 
 much wider range of phenomena than future 
 investigations sanctioned. 
 
 Bacteriology is essentially a present-day sci- 
 ence. The practical results which flow directly 
 from its study need no emphasis, as they form 
 so important a part of scientific endeavor that 
 they cannot be overlooked. They strike home 
 so closely to the life of every individual that 
 the teachings of the science have been accorded 
 a reception in the public mind which shows us 
 the responsibility as well as the opportunity 
 that is before us. The degree of activity which 
 is to be noted indicates a virile, growing sub- 
 ject. If one is to keep up in any considerable 
 measure with the literature of the day, he finds 
 a strenuous course laid out for him. 
 
 The rapid progress accorded the science in 
 our own country has led me to wonder whether 
 it might not be worth our time to pause for a 
 few moments to consider some phases of its 
 growth. It seems to me if such a considera- 
 tion is pertinent, it is doubly so before an asso- 
 ciation which has done so much within the last 
 few years to foster such development. The 
 distinctively bacteriological societies that we 
 have in America are not old enough to have 
 much more than a kindergarten birthday; 
 nevertheless, they have already been a power- 
 ful means of crystallizing bacteriological effort 
 in this country, and have undoubtedly stimu- 
 
4 
 
 lated greatly experimental inquiry. I recall in 
 this connection the earlier days of my own 
 short scientific experience. A decade ago there 
 was hardly any scientific meeting for the bac- 
 teriological student who was not closely in 
 touch with the medical aspect of the work. I 
 remember some few of us used to attend the 
 meetings of the American Association for the 
 Advancement of Science. This was long be- 
 fore the days of the Section on Preventive Med- 
 icine. The botanists were our sponsors, but 
 there was little time or opportunity for any 
 discussion on things strictly bacteriological. 
 In considering the development of American 
 bacteriology, it is not intended in any way to 
 intimate that there is an American school in 
 the sense that the Berlin or Paris school used 
 to be spoken of some years ago. The survival 
 of the fittest in matters of technique has now led 
 to the almost universal adoption of methods 
 that have been found to be best adapted to the 
 study of various problems, and these standard 
 methods are more or less commonly followed 
 everywhere. Fortunately, the training of 
 the majority of our American bacteriolo- 
 gists who have studied abroad has not been 
 confined entirely to any one country, although, 
 following the course of most American stu- 
 dents, the larger number have been German 
 trained. This more cosmopolitan training has 
 had its impress on American work, and has 
 
5 
 
 given a breadth of view that has been educa- 
 tionally of great advantage. 
 
 In America it is of course true that here and 
 there individual workers have been engaged in 
 bacteriological research for over a quarter of 
 a century, but within the last few years there 
 has been such an extension of activity, not only 
 in the amount but in the scope of work per- 
 formed, that we may fairly say that American 
 Bacteriology is now on a footing that com- 
 mands scientific attention from older centers of 
 research. 
 
 The one marked characteristic that is to be 
 noted among the American bacteriologists is 
 that they have been recruited from widely dif- 
 ferent preparatory fields. Like the nation it- 
 self, which has assimilated races and peoples of 
 widely varying origin, the students of this sci- 
 ence have had their preliminary training in 
 lines of work which are strikingly remote from 
 each other. Naturally the great majority of 
 them have approached the subject from a med- 
 ical point of view. This is true not only of 
 those whose work has been in connection 
 with medical schools, but with students of 
 public health, particularly those in the board 
 of health laboratories. The earlier develop-^X 
 ment of the science in the field of medicine for \\r 
 a long time controlled bacteriological activity, 
 but it is fair to assume at the present time that 
 bacteriology is no longer to be regarded simply 
 
 ,u->^ 
 
as a protege of the science of healing, but that 
 it should stand on its own foundation with 
 other biological sciences. A considerable num- 
 ber of our bacteriologists have come at their 
 life-work from the botanical or general biologi- 
 cal point of view. Others, recognizing the 
 importance of this line of activity in the dairy 
 or in general agriculture, have developed their 
 bacteriology from this special standpoint. 
 
 Several factors have been potent in contrib- 
 uting to this many-sided development of the 
 science in this country. One prominent feature 
 has been in the introduction of the study of 
 bacteriology into the regular science curricula 
 of universities. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF BACTERIOLOGY AS A BIOLOGI- 
 CAL SUBJECT. 
 
 In Europe the work is almost universally car- 
 ried on in connection with the faculties of med- 
 icine, but in our own country, in a number of 
 universities, sometimes even those provided 
 with medical colleges, bacteriology is taught 
 in the regular science work as a part of biologi- 
 cal instruction. In such institutions bacteriolo- 
 gists may be trained just as are chemists or 
 botanists. Where work of this scope is given, 
 the bacteria are considered as living organisms 
 and are studied as such. The fact that certain 
 forms are capable of calling forth pathological 
 processes, or are concerned in the production of 
 
7 
 
 certain fermentative products which may pos- 
 sess a utilitarian value, has no weight except 
 as an expression of more or less highly special- 
 ized physiological activity. If we consider the 
 phenomena of parasitism broadly, it gives a 
 breadth of perspective that is of greatest ser- 
 vice to the student, even if later he should take 
 up a more detailed study of pathogenic forms. 
 So far as I have been able to learn, such pre- 
 paratory work is especially valuable as a basis 
 on which to raise a more technical or special- 
 ized superstructure. It is the general experi- 
 ence of teachers in medical schools that stu- 
 dents who have had their elementary bacteri- 
 ological training in such courses as these are 
 able to make the most progress in their medical 
 work, and obtain a, much broader grasp of the 
 subject than the student who yields to the no- 
 tion that it is much more profitable for him to 
 spend his time wholly on the distinctively 'dis- 
 ease-producing species. 
 
 The importance of this aspect of the sub- 
 ject in America is evident from a consid- 
 eration of the higher degrees granted in 
 bacteriology by American universities. Al- 
 though the number of those who are specializ- 
 ing in university work in .bacteriology is not 
 large in comparison with those who have made 
 this a subordinate line in their medical course, 
 still it is worthy of note that the number has 
 increased within recent years. Seven doctors 
 
of philosophy were granted their degrees in 
 bacteriology at last commencement, and of this 
 number the theses of the majority were on 
 some phase of general bacteriology, more par- 
 ticularly in their chemical relations. This con- 
 dition marks a type of development in Ameri- 
 can bacteriology that is more or less unique, 
 and so far as I know is peculiar to our univer- 
 sity system. Ten or fifteen years ago students 
 who desired to specialize in bacteriology were 
 obliged to go to European laboratories for 
 their work, but with the great improvement 
 which has taken place in this country in scien- 
 tific work during this period, the American 
 student finds the facilities of a number of 
 American laboratories equal in many lines to 
 anything he can get abroad. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF APPLIED INDUSTRIAL LINES. 
 
 Another factor which has been the means of 
 bringing a number of bacteriological students 
 from other than the usual field has been the 
 demand for trained workers in connection with 
 agricultural and engineering movements. Sci- 
 entific work in agriculture has been greatly fos- 
 tered by the development 'of the agricultural 
 experiment station movement. Although this 
 idea originated in Germany, the development 
 of the system in this country has now far out- 
 stripped that in Europe, particularly in bring- 
 ing the knowledge of scientific advance within 
 
9 
 
 reach of the tillers of the soil. Naturally in the 
 study of soil and crop problems, economic 
 dairying, etc., physics and chemistry especially 
 were recognized as basal studies, but it is now 
 realized that the soil is not composed of a mass 
 of mere inorganic particles, but harbors myri- 
 ads of living forms, which exert a profound 
 effect upon the changes which go on therein. 
 With this realization the importance of bac- 
 terjology has come to be quite generally recog- 
 nized. The same is true with dairy phe- 
 nomena. Nearly all of the numerous dairy 
 schools in our distinctively dairy States, in both 
 this country and Canada, have more or less com- 
 pletely organized and equipped bacteriological 
 laboratories. The general importance of the 
 experiment station movement may be recog- 
 nized when it is known that in the latest pub- 
 lished organization Irst of the station staffs 
 there were over twenty-five persons classed as 
 bacteriologists, a number perhaps small, but 
 representing a growth from nothing a few 
 years ago. 
 
 In the application of bacteriology to engi- 
 neering practice^ the matter of safeguarding 
 the health of communities by the proper treat- 
 ment of water-supplies and disposal of sewage 
 has been given a marked impetus in this coun- 
 try. Not an inconsiderable number of Ameri- 
 can bacteriologists, particularly those of this 
 association, are to be ranked among those 
 
12 
 
 bacteriologist. In fact, we may say that the 
 French idea is rapidly gaining ground, and that 
 our science would be more correctly denomi- 
 nated if it was called micro-biology, than 
 restricted to the study of the bacterial forms. 
 
 Naturally the most important contributions 
 to this line of science have been in the field 
 which has included the greatest amount of 
 endeavor. The relative predominance of medi- 
 cal inquiry has of course resulted in the maxi- 
 mum degree of effort being spent in this line. 
 In this field American workers have made 
 great progress in attacking American prob- 
 lems. It would be impossible and perhaps un- 
 necessary to go into such a recital in detail, yet 
 it may not be amiss to mention in passing some 
 of the more' salient discoveries which have been 
 made in the respective fields. Take the work of 
 Theobald Smith and his associates on Texas 
 fever. Te problem here was to unravel the 
 mystery surrounding a disease which from a 
 practical point of view seriously impaired the 
 agricultural development of a large section of 
 our country. At the time when the causal 
 agent of this disease was discovered, the rela- 
 tion of protozoan forms to pathological pro- 
 cesses was not as well appreciated as it is now. 
 The discovery of the causal organism and the 
 working out of its life history, especially in 
 relation to its intermediate host, will always 
 remain as a classic example of experimental 
 
13 
 
 inquiry, and the successful termination of such 
 researches in the development of efficient pro- 
 tective measures attest the value of these dis- 
 coveries from a purely practical point of view. 
 
 From the practical results that have followed 
 from scientific investigations, no line of work 
 has been fraught with more import than that 
 which has been carried on by the lamented 
 Reed and his associates on yellow fever. Curi- 
 ously enough, the inception of the theory that 
 this disease was transmitted by mosquitoes was 
 American, yet the idea lay fallow for a consid- 
 erable period of time, until the researches re- 
 ferred to were so convincing that the whole 
 system of prophylaxis was changed almost in a 
 day. The curse which for centuries, has rested 
 on the seaport towns of our sister republics as 
 well as menaced our own borders seems likely 
 to be removed as if by magic. 
 
 In the line of problems that have engaged 
 the attention of many other observers may be 
 mentioned the venom work of Flexner and 
 his associates, also the researches which have 
 been made on Shiga's organism and their rela- 
 tion to infantile disorders; the important mor- 
 phological researches of Opie and MacCallum 
 on the significance of the flagellated struc- 
 tures in malarial parasites and other hemame- 
 bae; the recent discoveries of Councilman on 
 smallpox. 
 
 The work of Smith and Ravenel on the 
 
14 
 
 tubercle bacillus has been not only opportune 
 but convincing, and the work of de Schweinitz, 
 Trudeau, Pearson and Gilliland on immuniza- . 
 tion of animals against this organism bids fair 
 to make an advance step in the warfare against 
 this disease that will be of greater importance 
 than even the discovery of the causal organism 
 itself. 
 
 It is also a matter of considerable pride that 
 American bacteriologists should have even been 
 the pioneers in some of the fields of research. 
 The demonstration of the etiology of plant dis- 
 eases of a bacterial nature is to be credited to 
 American bacteriology. The first studies on 
 this subject were made on the fire blight of 
 pears and apples by Professor Burrill, and to 
 him and a number of other workers belongs the 
 credit of proving the relation of this disease 
 to bacterial agency. The etiology of this dis- 
 ease has been as thoroughly proven as was that 
 of anthrax, all of the canons of Koch being ful- 
 filled, and yet this work is often not accepted 
 by many European workers. They consid- 
 ered the evidence as inadequate to show that a 
 causal relation existed between the organism 
 and the disease in question. 
 
 It is surprising even yet to see the attitude 
 which is taken by many foreign writers on this 
 subject. Text-books of German origin often 
 wholly ignore the relation of bacteria to plants, 
 or pass it over with a brief reference in an 
 
'5 
 
 Anhang. It might be thought that this posi- 
 tion arose from the fact that these diseases 
 were less common in Europe than here, but 
 since the experience of Harding, who found 
 the well known bacterial black rot of cabbage 
 distributed widely throughout all Europe and 
 even in the botanical gardens of some of the 
 universities, it seems that a failure to adopt the 
 results of work carefully performed in this, 
 country must rest upon some other reason than 
 lack of opportunity to study these maladies. 
 
 Another field in which American investiga- 
 tion has been particularly fruitful has been in 
 the study of the problems associated with puri- 
 fication of water-supplies, and also in sewage 
 disposal. Problems of this character press 
 most earnestly for solution in older settled 
 countries, and it is therefore a matter of some 
 moment that American laboratories should 
 have played so important a part in the develop- 
 ment of this knowledge. The classical re- 
 searches which were begun by the State Board 
 of Health of Massachusetts in the latter part 
 of the eighties,, at which time the Lawrence Ex- 
 periment Station was founded, have always 
 occupied a foremost position in work of this 
 character. Many of the underlying principles 
 relating to the proper methods of sand filtra- 
 tion were first developed in this country. 
 
 In technical methods, too, marked advances 
 have been made. Particularly is this true with 
 
i6 
 
 reference to uniformity in methods, a condition 
 which has been brought about largely through 
 the efforts of the Bacteriological Committee 
 and Standing Committees of our own Section. 
 The development of American bacteriology 
 has just begun, but we may fairly say it has 
 been well begun. The present shows a strong 
 school of experimenters, broadly trained, and 
 approaching their problems from a wide range 
 in point of view, a condition that enables them 
 to obtain that proper perspective which is so 
 essential to successful specialization. The 
 future is even richer in promise. 
 
 FUTURE PROSPECTS. 
 
 Xhe great impetus which is now being given 
 to medical instruction is sure to aid materially 
 in the development of bacteriological work. 
 Within the past decade the requirements of 
 medical instruction have been greatly aug- 
 mented, and among the sciences to which much 
 more attention is being paid is that of bacteri- 
 ology. The establishment of research labora- 
 tories in connection with greatly improved hos- 
 pital facilities gives an opportunity for gradu- 
 ate work which will soon equal if not excel the 
 facilities offered anywhere else in the world. 
 
 One of the marked characteristics of Ameri- 
 , can philanthropy has been its devotion to edu- 
 cation. Of the millions that are annually given 
 to this purpose, not an inconsiderable amount 
 will naturally be used to foster and develop 
 
17 
 
 such sciences as this which so strongly appeal 
 to the practical man of affairs, and the estab- 
 lishment of such institutions as the Rockefeller 
 Institute, the Carnegie Institution, and the vari- 
 ous foundations for the special study of re- 
 stricted fields like tuberculosis will all aid 
 greatly in the development of American sci- 
 ence. 
 
 For a number of years the government has 
 been doing a large amount of bacteriologi- 
 cal work along lines which are primarily 
 of interest to agriculture, but the scope of these 
 studies has been materially broadened within 
 the last few years, through the formation of 
 the Public Health Service in connection with 
 the Marine Hospital Service. Work along 
 these sanitary or hygienic lines will also doubt- 
 less be greatly extended through the medium of 
 State and municipal public health laboratories. 
 The original function of these laboratories was 
 largely of a routine character, but with the 
 development of bacteriology the scope of 
 their activity has been greatly increased, and 
 already a number of them have become strong 
 research centers. The opportunity for coopera- 
 tive effort among a number of institutions 
 carrying on allied work is excellent, and the 
 auspicious beginning made in the diphtheria 
 work of the Massachusetts and Minnesota 
 boards of health augurs well for the advantage 
 to be derived from such joint investigations. 
 
i8 
 
 The facilities of American laboratories now 
 rival many of the most famous institutions in 
 Europe, but in matters relating to publication 
 American work has not been as fully recog- 
 nized as it ought. We now have a number of 
 journals which are more or less distinctively 
 bacteriological, but they are concerned more 
 particularly with certain phases of the science, 
 such as the relation of bacteriology to medicine. 
 It may not be possible, but the establishment of 
 a medium of publication that would especially 
 embrace the activity of American work would 
 undoubtedly be of great service in bringing a 
 more complete knowledge of American investi- 
 gations to all American workers as well as aid- 
 ing greatly the bibliographical labors of for- 
 eign scientists. As it is now much of this work 
 is reported in various journals and reports, 
 many of which are not accessible to the great 
 majority of other investigators. If we had in 
 bacteriology a publication that would do for 
 this science what the Experiment Sta- 
 tion Record does for the American Agricul- 
 tural Experiment Station, it would be invalua- 
 ble. This publication is sustained by govern- 
 mental aid, but it has undoubtedly been not 
 only the means of widening the sphere of influ- 
 ence of American agricultural work abroad, 
 but it has greatly aided in the development of 
 experiment stations in this country. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the representative bac- 
 
19 
 
 teriological societies in this country may agree 
 on some feasible plan which will result in the 
 consummation of this project. 
 
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