The Discovery of the Germ: Twenty Years That Transformed the Way We Think About Disease (Revolutions in Science)
*Starred Review* Waller makes sighting the common germ seem as dramatic as man landing on the moon, and rightly so. Prior to 1879, doctors were hard put to ascertain just exactly how people contracted various diseases. Theories ran the gamut from the concept that certain individuals were predisposed to contract a specific disorder to the notion that body fluid imbalances triggered illness, and each physician had a favorite hypothesis. Meanwhile, even the idea that a doctor might fully examine a patient--nonpublic parts of female patients'  bodies were off-limits to male practitioners--was viewed as radical. As late as the 1850s, the thought of a laboratory for the study of contagious disease had occurred to only a handful. In short, medical practice was an art unrelated to science. The wealthy supported pet doctors, who were reluctant to displease their patrons with unappealing diagnoses. The poor went to hospitals, the very names of which were equated with death. Then came such scientists as Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur, whose competition to prove emerging theories about the existence of germs catapulted medical knowledge into the twentieth century. Waller skillfully tells the tale of mankind surfacing to scientific and medical enlightenment after millennia spent in a cave: little book, big story.Donna ChavezCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved