Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-01-17

Monthly having been discontinued, would
ssk YOU in The name II scientific fair play to
publish The following criticism Of d. Koch's
report Ivy an Engliah writer who is we'll known
to the medical profession and who shows him.
,elfto be possessed on logical mind as we'll
a. to have the faculty u clear and accurate
espreSson
Yours truly.
{. r. Ropurps w. -.
Honolulu. January 9, 1885
mn ARTICLE
Last year whom The German Imperial
Government sent Dr. Robert Koch and his
companion 10 India 10 prosecute their invcsti.
cation II the causes of cholera, English men
Germany should step In, In order to carry out
work which properly belonged to England
II was wcllknown 80 the medical profession In
England that lpr many ycau able and cautious
investigators such as Dr. Timothy Lewis aud
d. V1ndykc Garter had been, under The aus
pieces Of the Indian Government carrying on
continuously their search iof reply to he two
questions ~ l. cholera caused by a bac.
tcriun tbncilus) like oganism' t2l n 20,
what precisely arc the form habit and propct.
tics Of that orgnnism1 It was felt that these
excellent observers might very possibly have
failed tas they themselves conscicntiousiy state
that they have iailcdl 10 answer either of these
questions satisfactorily for want Of personal es
La, h.. 4
the art Of "bactcrum hunting as pfaclised IN
Europe. On the other hand, II was known
that Df. Robert Koch was ono Of the most
skliul and successful Of bactcrum hunters.
lie II was who, after having added much to
existing knowledge as to the bacillus Of cattle
anthrax and tho bacteria which infect wounds
in various animals, had recently discovered a
bactcrium the bactcfium OF bacillus mbcfcu.
loss which there was land is) the strongest
ground for regarding MS the cause tina, is to
say, the immediate exciting caused Of the dire
disease known ns tubcrculc, phrhsiS OF con.
sumption. Accordingly much was expected
Of DR.. Kochs visit TO India. Ifany man could
be expected TO discover and clearly establish
u
cholera, 1t was Robert Koch.
Allow me here to insist further on the word,
"clently establish" II Is one thing to find a
eorksctcw.shapcd or a rod shaped or a cro,chct.
shaped bacillus swarming in the intestine Of =
diseased person, and another thing to clearly
establish that the particular bacillus in qucs.
ton is the cause Of tho particular disease from
which the man Is suffering. We arc all Of Us
AT all times swarming with bacteria, micrococci
bacill. vibrons, and spirilla. The mouth o
every man, woman, and child contains thou
sands OF these organisms Of various shapes and
kinds. II is here that they were first of al
discovered jus, two hudrcd years ago, by Leu
wcnhoeck, the Dutch microscopes, who de
scribcd them in the Philosophical Transactions
Of our Royal Society. No, only Is the mouth
OF man, but every moist part Of the surface o
the body, and above all the intestine, prccscl,
in those persons who are perfectly healthy
swarming with various kinds of bacteria Nc
one knew this better than DR.. Koch no on,
knew better than he tina, in order to clcarl,
establish that particular bacillus produces
particular disease it is no, enough to show thai
the bacillus occurs abundantly in the ntcs,inct
Of persons suffering from that disease. DIR
Rober, Koch gained his own grea, name il
reference TO the bacillus of consumption b,
showing far more than this about it. He tool
the little organism tthc bacillus of consump
tion). when he had detected its existence, from
the lungs Of persons dead Of consumption, ant
grew 1t in tube on pure blood.serum taker
from healthy animal and KEEP, at blood. heat
He propagated it from one tube to ano,hc
until he had thoroughly "pure culture" o
the bacillus, free from all trace Of con,amina
ton by PARTICLES derived from the orieina
diseased lung, which might have chung to tn
bacil)i originally introduced into the serum
jus, as soil may adhere to seeds picked from
the surface of the ground. This pure cultur
OF the bacillus tuberculosis was seen, ~hel
examined by the microscope, to be prccisel
the same thing as the bacillus found in TIN
lungs and expectations Of ph,hisical patients
Now came the test. The pure culture G
bacillus tuberculosis WAS injected lin mnut
quantity into the tissues Of rabbits and othe
animals, and the infected animals thcreupo
dying OF consumption, various parts Of thei
bodies were found on examination to be swarm
Ing with fatal growth OF bacillus tuberculosis
The disease was thus reproduced by tn
germ" OF "specihc organism" after it ha
been thoroughly isolated, and after it had bee
actually cultivated for some generations apal
from diseased animal. That, at any rate,
the record OF experiments published by Di
Robert Koch, and confirmed by other exper
menters
Koch HIMSELF as much as any one, has in
sisted upon pure cultivation" and "rcprc
duction Of the disease rs the only importau
evidenee-in fact, the only evidence worth
the attention Of serious mcn--in favour of IN
connection OF particular micro organism wit
particular disease a. the cause Of tina, disease
Had he merely discovered that bacilli tubercu
iosis exist in the diseased tissues and spu,a {
phthsieal subjects, and had he then failed I
produce phlhisis in any animal by introducin
them into its body, very few, il any, medic:
men at the present moment would think
probable that the bacillus tuberculosis is "a
cause, or cause, Of consumption. The
would consider ii as being probably an instanc