The bacteriology of diphtheria, including sections on the history, epidemiology and pathology of the disease, the mortality caused by it, the toxins and antitoxins and the serum disease / by F. Loeffler et al. Edited by G.H.F. Nuttall and G.S. Graham-Smith.

  • Loeffler, Friedrich August Johannes, 1852-
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The bacteriology of diphtheria, including sections on the history, epidemiology and pathology of the disease, the mortality caused by it, the toxins and antitoxins and the serum disease / by F. Loeffler et al. Edited by G.H.F. Nuttall and G.S. Graham-Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    29/786
    CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF DIPHTHERIA. By F. LOEFFLER. The earliest recoids of diphtheria, p. 1.—The epidemic of the 16th century in Spain and the subsequent extension of the disease, p. 6.—Distribution of diphtheria in the 19th century, p. 15.—Earher opinions on the nature of the disease, p. 16.—Experiments on animals, p. 18.—The rise of bacteriology, p. 2i.— The discovery of the Diphtheria bacillus by LoefBer, p. 28.—The investigations of other workers, p. 37.—Studies on diphtheria toxin, p. 45.—Local treatment of diphtheria by chemicals, p. 47.—The discovery of antitoxins and their application in the treatment of diphtheria by Behring, Roux and others, p. 48. The Earliest Records of Diphtheria. How long has diphtheria been known as a specific disease ? Were the old physicians of the school of Hippocrates acquainted with it ? The difficulty of answering these questions can be appreciated when we remember that in modern times the clinical features of diphtheria were first clearly grasped and described by Bretonneau in the early part of the last century, and that more than fifty years elapsed before the discovery of the causative organism enabled us to differentiate clearly this disease from those which resemble it. On the one hand the occuri-ence of epidemics, especially amongst children, and the characteristic clinical manifestations, render diphtheria an easily recognisable disease even to laymen, and we are consequently forced to the conclusion that the old Greeks, Hippocrates and his pupils, had no knowledge of it. We find in the writings of these physicians the most exact and minute accounts of various diseases of the throat, pharynx, and air-passages, but not one of these accords with the picture of diphtheria, and if it had occurred such excellent observers would not have failed to recognise it. Even in the writings N. D. ]
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3