Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-06-14
Chemistry and cholera.

From Berlin comes meaere details Of
such victory won by German doctor
OF medicine and by his co.laborers, ana
lytical chemists and microscopists, as
must place these gentlemen very high
upon the roll of fame. When trained
human intelligence labors hand in hand
with the microscope and in the labora-
tory, death itself seems robbed of its
vgrim potency, and the triumphs Of these
German scientists are worthy of all
praise by every intelligent person op this
side Of the ocean.
Doctor Koch is at present the hero of
the day at Berlin. His labors to dis
cover the cause Of cholera, seem to have
been crowned with success. In the
jungles of India he has, with his stout.
hearted assistants, traced every stage of
the dread disease, following each chain
OF development dewn to the point where
the fatal germ Of cholera is evolved.
His researches involved an immense
amount Of the most arduous, dangerous
toll, not only Of body but Of brain.
without the aid OF the best microscopes,
and bereft Of the assistance of his analyt-
ical chemists, his great work would
have been barren Of results. To search
TOR the man-eating tiger in the tropics,
Is pursuit which has been immortalized
In song and verse, and has formed the
diversion of royalty. To track to its
mysterious birthplace theconanid baciLtts
the species of bacteria declared by DIR.
Koch to produce cholera, Is all infinitely
more glorious task and that 1 las be n
crowned with success Is as much due to
the skill of the unnamed ''analy tical
chemist" who aided the learned Doctor
In his researches, as to Koch himself.
Having discovered the minute but ter
rible foe to the human race, in its
stronghold, the intestines, it becomes a
comparatively easy matter to dest, oy this
form Of bacteria. We doubt not that
this agent will be forthcoming, either
across the ocean or here, where thous-
Ands of thoughtful, practical men are
laboring patisntly in the analy tical labo-
ratory, and with the microscope. But
upon DR.. Koch. and upon his victory,
the eyes Of the world rest admiringly at
present. While others have been con
tent to look upon cholera and similar ep-
idemics as the visitation Of an outraged
Creator, and to feelingly descant upon
the ''visitation Of God" this little slen.
der, brown-haired German, with his
chemists, has torn the mystery from a
horrible disease and traced it to the ex-
istence of an animalcule, a creature
which Is a. capable Of destruction. with
proper methods, as is q rat.
In the light Of such discovery, how
dwaIfed appears the vain search for a
North Pole and the perennial fitting out
Of costly vessels freighted with human
beings who perish in the pursuit Of that,
which. if fouad, could not prolong the
life Of the fecblest man, woman or child
In the inhabited globe, or add anything
to the sum Of human happiness
The most glorious victories are not
those Of the battlefield, but are usually
those Of quiet, unknown men, whose
laboratories are their weapons, whose
cool, trained brains are their shot and
she'll. and whose foe is death and human
disease and the sufferings Of race. All
honor to Koch, and to those in every
part Of this land who are pursuing the
same line Of research With yellow
fever traced to germ, with hydropho-
bia rendered powerless through the dis
coveries Of Pasteur, and with Koch to
lay bare the fountain head of cholera.
the victories Of science are such as to
dwarf Waterloo and Appomattox into
utter insignifcance. .-Indepeadent Rec
ord.