Considered the first treatise on bacteriology.

Isolation of Proteus vulgaris.

Hueppe, a colleague of Koch, wrote an admirable manual on bacteriological methods, a subject to which he gave several original contributions. English translation, New York, 1886.

Mayer was first to describe and name tobacco mosaic disease and to demonstrate its infectious nature, that it could be transferred between plants, similar to bacterial infections. Translation in Phytopathological Classics, No. 7, pp. 9-24, Ithaca, 1942. See No. 2506.2.

Crookshank studied under Koch, and later became Professor of Bacteriology at King’s College, London.

Discovery of Salmonella choleraesuis. The Salmonellae tribe was named after Salmon, even though the discovery was made by Smith. See Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988) 31-32.

Petri dish. A similar dish was described by Cornil and Babès (see No. 2501) and by Nicati and Rietsch, Arch. Physiol. norm. path., 1885, 6, 72. Petri was an assistant of Koch.

Discovery of Salmonella enteritidis, a cause of food poisoning.

Berkefeld kieselguhr filter.

The Russian botanist Ivanovski demonstrated that the agent responsible for tobacco mosaic disease could pass through the finest filter then available. This was the starting point of research into the etiology of virus diseases. An English version is in Phytopathological Classics (American Phytopathological Society), No. 7, pp. 25-30, Ithaca, N.Y., 1942. See No. 2503.1.

Isolation of Salm. typhi-murium.

Discovery of the gas gangrene bacillus (Welch bacillus) Cl. perfringens. Reprinted in Medical Classics, 1941, 5, 852-85.

Sternberg, U. S. Surgeon General 1893-1902, was a pioneer bacteriologist. Independently of Pasteur he discovered the pneumococcus and was first in America to photograph the tubercle bacillus. He sent Walter Reed off to make his great discoveries regarding yellow fever.

Cl. botulinum was discovered by van Ermengem in cases of food poisoning.

Loeffler and Frosch proved that foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a filter-passing virus; this was the first recognition that a virus causes disease. 

Beijerinck confirmed the findings of Ivanovski. He showed that the tobacco mosaic virus would diffuse through agar. "Like Ivanovsky before him and Adolf Mayer, predecessor at Wageningen, Beijerinck could not culture the filterable infectious agent; however, he concluded that the agent can replicate and multiply in living plants. He named the new pathogen virus to indicate its non-bacterial nature. Beijerinck asserted that the virus was somewhat liquid in nature, calling it "contagium vivum fluidum" (contagious living fluid). It was not until the first crystals of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) obtained by Wendell Stanley in 1935, the first electron micrographs of TMV produced in 1939 and the first X-ray crystallographic analysis of TMV performed in 1941 proved that the virus was particulate" (Wikipedia article on Martinus Beijerinck, accessed 5-2020).

Translation in Phytopathological Classics, 1942, No. 7.

Discovery of Salm. Aertrycke in patients suffering from food poisoning.

Discovery of Salmonella aertrycke, independently of Durham.

Isolation of Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Welch grouped together the diseases caused by Cl. perfringens, earlier discovered by him in association with Nuttall (see No. 2508).

Third edition, 10 vols. [in 19], 1929-31.

One of the most careful investigations of the bacterial diseases in plants was made by Smith, who conclusively demonstrated the existence of such diseases and proposed a scheme of classification for the bacteria concerned.

Morgan’s bacillus, Proteus morgani.

Bechhold devised ultrafiltration methods for studies in microbiology.

Noguchi obtained pure cultures of spirochaetae. See also his later papers in the same journal, 1912, 16, 199-210, 620-28.

Isolation of Cl. oedematiens.

Isolation of Cl. histolyticum.

Lipschütz’s account of herpes virus diseases included identification of the characteristic inclusion bodies (“Zosterkörperchen”).

The Society of American Bacteriologists appointed in 1920 a Committee on Characterization and Classification of Bacterial Types. Their reports were incorporated in the above Manual issued under the names of Bergey and his associates. The current edition of Bergey's manual of systematics of archaea and bacteria is published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Association with Bergey's Manual Trust.

Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes. With R. A. Webb and M. B. R. Swann.

Documents over 1,600 studies.

In his important studies on the filtration of virus preparations, Elford showed that different viruses possessed different and characteristic sizes.

By their demonstration of the infection of the chorio-allantoic membrane with the virus of fowl pox, Woodruff and Goodpasture initiated wide-spread adoption of this host for the study of viruses.

Lancefield determined the principal pathogenic strains of hemolytic streptococci and subdivided them into types. All important strains pathogenic to humans fall into Lancefield’s Group A.

Griffith’s classification of streptococci. Digital facsimile from PubMedCentral at this link.

Klieneberger isolated typical strains of pleuropneumonia-like organisms from Strep, moniliformis.

Stanley (Nobel Prize 1946) first crystallized a virus— tobacco mosaic virus. The following year Bawden, Pirie, Bernal and Fankuchen (No. 12005) showed that tobacco mosaic virus molecules are asnisometric and consist of ribonucleoprotein.

Schlesinger showed that the fundamental constituents of bacteriophages consist mainly of approximately equal amounts of protein and DNA.

Supplements were published: 1938-1975, 8 vols., 1941-82.

Myco. ulcerans first described. With J. C. Tolhurst, G. Buckle, and H. A. Sissons.

Luria shared the Nobel Prize in 1969 with M. Delbrück (No. 2578.5) and A. D. Hershey (No. 256) for work on genetics and replication of bacteria.

Discovery of adenoviruses. With R. J. Huebner, L. K. Gilmore, R. H. Parrott, and T. G. Ward.

First reconstitution of a virus.

First crystallization of an animal virus.

Isolation of cytomegalovirus

Simian virus type 40, a polyomavirus found in both monkeys and humans.

The first medical description of smallpox was written by Rhazes, about the year 910… The above work is the first edition of the Arabic text with a parallel Latin translation by the English pharmacist and scholar, John Channing, concerning whom see E. Savage-Smith, "John Channing: Eighteenth-century apothecary and arabist," Pharmacy in history, 30 (1988) 63-80. For an English translation see Medical Classics, 1939, 4, 22-84. A translation was also published by the Sydenham Society, 1848. See Nos. 2527 & 5441. In his Treatise on the smallpox and measles, Rhazes stated that survival from smallpox infection prevented an individual from ever acquiring the disease again. His explanation for why the disease does not strike the same individual twice is the first theory of acquired immunity.

Though Fracastoro wrote this book more than a century before Leewenhoek invented the microscope, and could only express the theory of contagion in very general terms, this book represents a landmark in the development of ideas that centuries later led to the work of Bassi, Henle, Davaine, Koch, and others. For that reason we have classified Fracastoro as a precursor of foundational theories of infectious disease by microorganisms.

Fracastoro was the first to state the germ theory of infection. He suggested the contagiousness of tuberculosis. Haeser even describes him as the “founder of scientific epidemiology”. This book, which contains one of the first accounts of typhus (pp. 43-44), marks an epoch in the history of medicine, since Fracastorius enunciated in it, perhaps for the first time, the modern doctrine of the specific characters and infectious nature of fevers. He is remembered for his poem on syphilis, but he was also eminent as a physicist, geologist, astronomer, and pathologist. An English translation by W. C. Wright appeared in 1930. 

Kircher, a Jesuit scholar and polymath, not specifically trained in medicine, was probably the first to employ the microscope in investigating the cause of disease. He mentioned that the blood of plague patients was filled with a “countless brood of worms not perceptible to the naked eye, but to be seen in all putrefying matter through the microscope” (Garrison). He could not have seen the plague bacillus with his low-power microscope, but he probably saw the larger micro-organisms. He was the first to state explicitly the theory of contagion by animalculae as the cause of infectious diseases.

Needham, a physician better known for his work in journalism, was one of the earliest – if not the first – Englishman to write on the germ theory. In his book he included an account of Kircher’s experiments with the microscope.

First clinical and experimental proof of infection by a microparasite. Bonomo observed Sarcoptes scabiei, the scabies mite. This gave researchers grounds to think in terms of objective, exogenous pathogenic agents as the cause of disease. This pamphlet was in part translated by Richard Mead in Phil. Trans.,(1702-03), 1703, 23, 1296-99; it was reproduced in facsimile, with Mead’s translation, in Arch. Derm. Syph. (Chicago), 1928, 18, 1-25. See 2529.1.

In this study of an epizootic Cogrossi formulated much of the modern theory of infection. He speculated that infection might occur at the microscopic level, and argued that infected individuals should be isolated and cured, that those believed to have been exposed to the disease should be isolated, and that the personal belongings of both groups should be disinfected to exterminate the causitive agent and its eggs. He also speculated on the entrance routes of the infection and its transmission through secretions and excretions of the infected animal. Facsimile reprint with English translation by D.M. Schullian and foreword by L. Belloni, Roma, Società Italiana di Microbiologia, 1953.

Jenner established the fact that a “vaccination” or inoculation with vaccinia (cowpox) lymph matter protects against smallpox. He performed his first vaccination on May 14, 1796. The above work, describing 23 successful vaccinations, announced to the world one of the greatest triumphs in the history of medicine. Jennerian vaccination soon superseded the protective inoculation of material from human cases of small-pox, which had previously been in vogue. What is probably the first mention of anaphylaxis appears on p. 13 of the pamphlet. See W.R. Lefanu, A Bio-bibliography of Edward Jenner, 1749-1823, rev. 2nd. ed., Winchester, St. Paul’s Bibliographies, 1985. Several facsimile editions have been published. As a result of the success of Jenner’s vaccine natural smallpox was eradicated. The official declaration was made by the World Health Organization on May 8, 1980. See No. 5434.2. 

Gaspard was one of the first to make experimental studies on pyemia following the injection of putrid fluids. He experimented on dogs, sheep, foxes, and pigs, injecting putrid infusions pus, vaccine, lymph, blood, bile, urine, saliva, carbolic acid, hydrogen, or sulphuretted hydrogen.

History of contagious disease in the ancient world through readings from the texts. A supplementary “Additamenta” was published in 1826. Digital facsimile of the 1824 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bassi preceded Louis Pasteur in the discovery that microorganisms can be the cause of disease (the germ theory of disease). He discovered that the muscardine disease of silkworms--a disease that was destroying the silk industry--was caused by a living, very small, parasitic organism, a fungus that would be named eventually Beauveria bassiana in his honor. To cure and prevent the disease Bassini recommended the use of disinfectants, separating the rows of feeding caterpillars, isolating and destroying infected caterpillars, and keeping the farms clean.

In demonstrating the parasitic nature of the muscardine disease of silkworms, Bassi also founded the doctrine of pathogenic microorganisms. His ideas inspired Henle (1840; No. 2533).

Bassi’s work on the muscardine disease of silkworms (see No. 2532), with its prophecy of the discovery of microbes as the causal agents of other diseases, inspired Henle to write this famous essay on miasms and contagions. He laid down postulates on the aetiological relation of microbes to disease which became fundamentals of bacteriology and which did much to check the reckless speculation which had arisen regarding micro-organisms. Koch later developed these postulates (see Nos. 2331, 2332, 2536, and 5167). Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

English translation in Bull. Hist. Med., 1936, 6, 911-83.

Panum was the first to investigate the chemical products of putrefaction. His work had great significance for the doctrine of putrid intoxication. An abstract of the above paper is in jb. in-u. ausländ. ges. Med., 1859, 101, 213-17. See Hans Jørn Kolmos, "Panum's studies on "putrid poison" 1856. An early description of endotoxin," Danish Medical Bulletin , 53 (4) (2006) 450-2.

Klebs, Professor of Pathology at Berne, Würzburg, Prague, Zurich, and Chicago, preceded Koch in investigations of the pathology of traumatic infection. He found bacteria in gunshot wounds, granulation tissue, etc., and developed his theory of a single organism, Microsporon septicum, as the cause of all pathological changes.

Koch’s epochal work on the etiology of traumatic infectious disease established his reputation. He inoculated animals with material from various sources and produced six types of infection, each due to microorganisms. He carried these infections through several generations of animals. These experiments determined the role of bacteria in the etiology of wound infections and demonstrated for the first time the specificity of infection. This work also contains the first explicit statement of the criteria implicit in Henle (See No. 2533) on contagion, which later became known as Koch’s postulates. See also Nos. 2331 and 5167. English translation, New Sydenham Society, 1880.

This paper marked the beginning of Pasteur’s work on the attenuation of the infective organism. Noting that fowls inoculated with an attenuated form of the chicken cholera bacterium acquired immunity, he developed the idea of a protective inoculation by attenuated living cultures, and subsequently adopted this principle with anthrax, rabies, and swine erysipelas. His work laid the foundations of the science of immunology. Since 1979, the availability to scholars of Pasteur’s original laboratory notebooks has provided evidence that Émile Roux played a crucial and previously unacknowledged role in the development of the vaccine. See also his later paper in the same journal, 1880, 91, 673-80. Abridged English translation of both papers and discussion of Roux’s role in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988). Roux did receive credit from Pasteur for his work on anthrax. See No. 5169.

Metchnikoff originated the theory of phagocytosis. He described phagocytes in leucocytes and showed their function as scavengers. Abridged English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988).

Smith found that dead virus can induce immunity against the living virulent virus. Although Smith made the discovery on his own, his supervisor, D.E. Salmon, usurped credit. See Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988) 31-32.

Includes the first statement of Ehrlich’s “side-chain” theory.

Pasteur’s papers describing his rabies vaccine, and the results he attained with it gave further proof of the value of attenuated virus as a protective inoculum against infective diseases in man and animals. This is considered Pasteur’s greatest triumph. A grateful public subscribed two and a half million francs and made possible the erection of the Institut Pasteur, Paris. English translation in R. Suzor, Hydrophobia: An account of M. Pasteur’s system.… London, 1887.

Working with the defibrinated blood of certain animals, Nuttall was the first to describe the bactericidal action of blood. Abridged English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988).

Following Nuttall’s work, Buchner discovered a substance in blood serum that was capable of destroying bacteria. He called the substance "alexin". He demonstrated that the bactericidal power of defibrinated blood was possessed by the cell-free serum, and was lost on heating the serum to 55°C for one hour.

Antitoxins and their immunizing powers were discovered when Behring and Kitasato published their paper dealing with immunity to tetanus and diphtheria. This work laid the foundation of all future treatment with antitoxins, and was the basis of serotherapy. The paper was reprinted in the same journal, 1940, 66, 1348-49. Part 2, which deals with diphtheria, is by Behring alone. Behring was the first recipient (1901) of the Nobel Prize for Medicine. English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988).

In 1890, Koch announced the discovery of tuberculin, a substance derived from tubercle bacilli, which he thought was capable of arresting bacterial development in-vitro and in animals. This news gave rise to tremendous hope throughout the world, which was soon replaced by disillusionment when the product turned out to be an ineffective therapeutic agent. In this paper Koch provided his definitive expression of "Koch's Postulates."

The second paper described “Koch’s phenomenon”, and tuberculin skin test. Koch showed that tuberculin injected intradermally would elicit a severe local inflammatory reaction in tuberculous patients. This was the first diagnostic skin test. Abbreviated English translation of second paper in Bibel, Milestones of immunology (1988).

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Sternberg demonstrated that the serum of an animal recovered from vaccinia possesses the property of neutralizing the activity of the causative virus. His test was readily adaptable for use in various host-systems.

Pfeiffer and Isayev recorded the occurrence of bacteriolysis in cholera vibrios under certain conditions: immune bacteriolysis, “Pfeiffer’s phenomenon”. Abridged English translation of second part in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988).

Bordet’s classic paper on the properties of the sera of immunized animals. He showed two different substances (now known as sensitizing antibody and complement) to be involved in the phenomenon of bacteriolysis. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1919. English translation in J. Bordet et al., Studies in immunity, New York, 1909, pp. 8-80.

See No. 2538

The discovery of bacterial agglutination. Gruber and Durham discovered the agglutinating action of the serum of typhoid patients upon the typhoid bacillus. First briefly reported by Durham: On a special action of serum of highly immunized animals, and its use for diagnostic and other purposes. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., 1986, 59, 224-26.

Developing the work of Gruber and Durham, Widal noted that a patient’s serum could be tested with bacteria of known type and his disease identified by this means. They demonstrated specific agglutinins in the blood of typhoid patients, making possible an agglutination reaction for the diagnosis of typhoid, the“Gruber-Widal test”.

The precipitin reaction, employed for the qualitative identification of antigens and antibodies. English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology,(1988) pp. 265-68.

Bordet’s important work on immune hemolysis turned the attention of many investigators towards the subject. English translation in J. Bordet et al., Studies in immunity, New York, 1909, p. 134.

English translation in T. Bordet et al., Studies in immunity, New York, 1909, p. 186.

The Bordet–Gengou complement-fixation reaction is the basis of many tests for infection, notably the Wassermann test for syphilis, and reactions for gonococcus infection, glanders, hydatid disease. English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988), pp. 268-71.

A classic study of the mechanisms concerned in specific antibacterial immunity, and one of Metchnikoff’s best works. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. Russian edition: Nevospriimchivost’ k infekcionnim boleznyam. St. Petersburg: K.L. Rikker, 1903. English translation, London, 1905. Digital facsimile of 1901 edition from bnf.gallica at this link.

Demonstration of organ-specific antigens, in this case in the proteins of the lens of the eye.

Wright and Douglas showed the existence of thermolabile substances (opsonins) in normal and immune serum.

The first description of an auto-antibody, and of an auto-immune disease, paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria. See A.M. Silverstein, A history of immunology, New York, Academic Press, 1989, Ch. 8, The Donanth-Landsteiner autoantibody…English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology, (1988).

Reprints Ehrlich’s writings on immunology to date, as well as three papers by Kyes (Nos. 2111-3). English translation, with two more chapters by Ehrlich and Sachs, and one by Ehrlich, New York, 1906.

Bacteriotropins named and described.

English translation, 2 vols., London, Allen & Unwin, 1934.

Metchnikoff researched the effect of lactic acid produced by Lactobacilli on other non-desirable bacteria in the digestive tract. He thus expanded Döderlein's (No. 6279) concept of "normal flora" beyond the vagina.

Translated into English as Notes on soured milk, and other methods of administering selected lactic germs in intestinal bacterio-therapy. London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, 1909.

For what he called bacterio-therapy, Metchnikoff recommended eating yogurt. From p. 20: "The inexperienced reader may be surprised at our suggesting the ingestion of large quantities of microbes, the popular idea being that microbes are necessarily injurious. This view, however, is altogether erroneous; for there are many useful microbes, and among them the lactic organism occupies a foremost place."

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for the reference to the English translation and its interpretation.)

Arrhenius defined immunochemistry, and laid out its frontiers.

Schöne coined the term “transplantation immunity”. He set out general rules governing the acceptance or rejection of tumor grafts which are essentially the same as the modern “laws of transplantation”. This is a comprehensive work on skin and organ transplants.

Proof that x rays suppress the antibody response.

Marks the beginning of the study of histocompatibility antigens.

 Twort discovered discovered bacteriophages, a type of virus that attacks bacteria (the term bacteriophage was coined by Félix d’Herelle, who in 1917 independently confirmed Twort’s discovery). The discovery of bacteriophage began an immensely fruitful line of research that produced, among other things, Avery’s demonstration that DNA is the basic material responsible for genetic transformation (1944) and Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase’s “Waring Blender” experiment showing that DNA is the carrier of genetic information in virus reproduction (1952). For further information see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. Twort's paper is available at this link.

Sanarelli claimed priority in observing the Shwartzman phenomenon (See No. 2576). See Ann. Inst. Pasteur,1939, 63, 105.

d'Herrelle discovered a microbe-eating virus that he called "bacteriophage." He made his discovery independently of the work of Frederick Twort, which was published two years earlier. (See No. 2571). 

Lysogeny

Rosenow showed that focal infection could by caused by bacteria in teeth, etc.

Little established that the homograft reaction was due to genetic differences between donor and recipient.

Heidelberger, Avery, and their colleagues made a chemical study of the antigenic constituents of the pneumococcus, separating the polysaccharide antigens.

Besredka’s vaccine, sensitized vaccine. English translation, Baltimore, 1927.

“Shwartzman phenomenon.”

Heidelberger and Kendall adapted the precipitin reaction to permit the quantitative measurement of antibody and antigen. This established the principle of quantitative immunochemistry.

First demonstration of specific, acquired, lasting refractoriness to sensitization. This is the same or a closely related phenomenon to that demonstrated later by Burnet and Medawar under the name immune tolerance. See No. 2603.1.

Template or instruction theory of antibody formation.

Summary of many years of research on antigen-antibody interactions. Landsteiner considered his study of hapten-antibody reactions to be his most significant work. Revised English translation, 1936 (revised 1945).

One of the first examples of an animal virus interference phenomenon was demonstrated by Hoskins.

Irwin coined the term, “immunogenetics” to describe the union of immunology with genetics. He attempted to determine the genetic control of antigenicity through genetic cross matings.

Gorer made the initial discoveries which formed the basis of transplantation genetics. He studied mouse blood groups and described an antigen in erythrocytes (antigen II). His studies established the laws of transplantation immunity. See also his later paper in Proc. roy. Soc. B, 1948, 135, 499-505.

“The advent of the lattice theory of antibody-antigen coupling” (Bibel, Milestones in immunology [1988]pp. 91-94).

The Wollmans made important contributions to the knowledge on bacteriophage and lysogeny.

Antibodies shown to be gamma globulins.

Discovery of virus hemagglutination. Between 1941 and 1942 Hirst developed the hemagglutination assay for quantifying the relative concentration of viruses, bacteria or antibodies.

Independently of Hirst, McClelland and Hare discovered virus hemagglutination.

Freund’s adjuvant. Freund’s procedure allowed adjuvants to be used for any antigen.

Discovery of leuco-agglutinins.

Proof of Burnet and Fenner’s theory of immunity. For their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance Medawar and Burnet (No. 2578.7) shared the Nobel Prize in 1960.

Experimental production of immunological tolerance by Billingham and colleagues.Paper II distinguished adoptive from passive immunization. E. M. Sparrow was a co-author of paper I.

Immunoelectrophoresis.

Complement fixation

Preliminary notice in Nature (Lond.), 1953, 171, 267-68.

Preliminary note in Biochem. J., 1954, 58, xxxix-xl. Porter received the Nobel Prize in 1972. See No. 2578.25.

Proof that nucleic acid produces infectivity. See also Z. Naturf., 1956, 11b, 138-42.

The relationship of the bursa of Fabricius to antibody formation was discovered by Glick, T. S. Chang, and R. G. Jaap. Its removal in early life led to inability to produce antibodies.

Demonstration of autoantibodies. With P. N. Campbell, and R. V. Hudson.

Autoimmune thyroiditis

Gowans’s work, particularly between 1957 and 1962, was mainly responsible for the fusion of studies on the lymphocytes with the mainstream of immunology. The above paper dealt with the recirculation of lymphocytes. See also J. Physiol. (Lond.), 1959, 146, 54-69.

Discovery of interferon type I, a protein that interferes with viral replication. "While working together at the NIMR, Lindenmann and Isaacs noticed that if they killed viruses using heat and applied the dead viruses to living cells, those cells became resistant to further infections from live viruses.^[2] In 1957, Lindenmann and Isaacs discovered that the cells exposed to the dead viruses secreted a previously unknown substance which blocked future viral infections, which became known as interferon.^[2] It was later found that interferons are too toxic for use as general antiviral drugs, but they are used to treat hepatitis C as well as some types of cancer.^[2] "( Wikipedia article on Jean Lindenmann, accessed 3-2020).

Leucocyte typing.

Medawar showed grafting to be unsuccessful when donor and recipient animals came from the same litter, unless the two are genetically identical – another instance of the delayed hypersensitivity reaction.

Porter shared the Nobel Prize with G.M. Edelman (No. 2578.39) in 1972 for his work on the separation of antibody molecules.

Discovery of the first histocompatibility antigen. Dausset shared the Nobel Prize with B. Benacerraf and G. D. Snell in 1980.

Leucocyte typing and matching of histocompatibility determinants. See also Payne (No. 2578.23). With J. G. Eernisse and A. van Leeuwen

First radioimmunoassay of a hormone, a test capable of estimating nonogram or even picogram quantities. For this technique Yalow shared the 1977 Nobel Prize with R. Guillemin and A. Schally.

The capacity to mount certain immune responses is genetically determined. Benacerraf shared the 1980 Nobel Prize with J. Dausset and G. D. Snell.

Cellular transfer of delayed hypersensitivity, establishing the criticial role of mononuclear cells in cellular immunity.

Snell made fundamental contributions to transplantation genetics. At his suggestion genes governing transplantation were called histocompatibility genes and Gorer’s Antigen II became Histocompatibility-2 (H-2). Snell shared the Nobel Prize with B. Benacerraf and J. Dausset in 1980.

Burnet's clonal selection theory extended the idea that each antibody-producing cell makes antibodies of only one specificity, predicting these cells proliferate in response to the detection of antigens, cloning and thus selectively increasing antibody abundance; hence, clonal selection. Burnet also predicted that diversity of antibody specificities needs a cellular mechanism to randomize and create diversity.

Burnet first published his theory in 1957 as "A modification of Jerne's theory of antibody production using the concept of clonal selection," Aust. J. Sci. 20 (1957) 67–69.

Miller demonstrated the immunological function of the thymus.

Gowans and colleagues showed that the lymphocyte is the immunologically competent cell. 

Hemolytic plaque assay for enumerating antibody-forming cells.

Idiotypes. With M. Mannik and R.C. Williams. Kunkel and his team discovered idiotypy independently of Jacques Oudin and Philip Gell.

Lymphokines (MIF). Simultanteously discovered by Barry R. Bloom (1937-) & B. Bennett. See Science, 1966, 153, 80-82.

T cell subsets. With R.F. Triplett.

Antigen II, discovered by Gorer (No. 2576.5), was studied by Snell and became known as the product of the H-2 locus, the fundamental locus in the history of mammalian transplant biology.

Complete sequence of an immunoglobulin molecule. With five coauthors. Edelman shared the Nobel Prize with R. R. Porter in 1972. See also G.M.Edelman & Miroslav Dave Poulik (1923- ), Studies on structure units of the γ-globulins. J. exp. Med., 1961,113, 861-884.

Gibson and Medawar placed the laws of transplantation on a firm scientific basis. A later paper by Medawar (J. Anat. [Lond.], 1944, 78, 176- 99) demonstrated that the mechanism of rejection of transplanted tissues is immunological in character.

Hypervariable regions of “Ig.”

Suppressor T cells.

Idiotype networks. Jerne shared the 1984 Nobel Prize with Milstein and Köhler for his theoretical contributions to our concept of the immune system.

Hybridomas. Köhler and Milstein shared the 1984 Nobel Prize with Jerne for the technique of monoclonal antibody formation.

Genetic recombination in bacteriophages. Delbrück shared the Nobel Prize with A. D. Hershey and S. E. Luria in 1969 for his work on replication mechanisms and genetic structure of viruses.

Agar gel immunodiffusion.

Burnet and Fenner introduced the “self-marker” concept – natural tolerance to one’s own body constituents depended on their presence at a critical stage of embryonic development. For his work on immunological tolerance Burnet shared the Nobel Prize with Medawar in 1960.

Fluorescent antibody technique.

First report.

Loeffler, Professor of Hygiene at Greifswald, made many discoveries in bacteriology. His history of the subject was the first and only history of bacteriology prior to the publication of Bulloch's History of bacteriology (1938). It was unfortunately left unfinished. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

This pioneering and classic history includes brief biographical notes of the more important workers (arranged in a separate section), and an extensive bibliography. 

A much briefer history than Bulloch’s but with a thorough and accurate bibliography.

A selective annotated bibliography.

Citations, with paginations, of 3480 items. Author and subject indices

Readings from primary sources from 1884 to 1975 with expert introductions, commentaries, and bibliographies.

Well-documented essays on specific families of viruses by expert researchers, reprinted from Intervirology, 1979, 11-1986, 26.

Carefully documented, well-written, analytical history from the ancient world to c. 1975 by an expert researcher in the field. Includes biographical dictionary of notable contributors, list of “seminal discoveries” from 1714 to 1975 with bibliographical references, list of important books in immunology, 1892-1968, and glossary of technical terms.

Readings from primary sources, with commentary.

"The selected papers ...  range from the sixteenth century to the modern era. A number of the papers are classics in the field and several of the selections appear in English translation for the first time. The editor provides a preface to each selection and his general introduction defines the subject matter, surveys historical developments in the field, and summarizes recent research" (publisher).

Summer catarrh (hay fever) first described. Partial English translation in No. 2241.

Bostock’s classical description of the “catarrhus aestivus,” hay fever, is also referred to as “Bostock’s catarrh”. It begins the modern era in the clinical recognition of hay fever. The case he described was in fact himself. He was physician to Guy’s Hospital, London.

On the history and aetiology of hay fever.

Elliotson was the first to ascertain that pollen was the cause of hay fever.

Pp. 244-49: Magendie showed that secondary or subsequent injections of egg/albumin caused death in rabbits who had tolerated an initial injection. This was the first experiment in anaphylaxis, though Jenner in 1798 had observed the phenomenon in various inoculations. These lectures were delivered at the Collège de France in 1837-38.

First published in English in the London Lancet, between the 29th of September, 1838, and the 16th of March, 1839. This is the first edition in book form.

"Lecture IX includes Magendie's description of cateterizing the right atrium as part of an experiment. This precedes his protegé Claude Bernard's use of the technique, has has been described by historians. Magendie explained, 'I now tie the lower end of the vessel, and proceed to make the same experiment; by way of comparison, on the venous system. The jugular has been laid bare. We must, in the case of this vessel, take some precautions that would have been useless when we acted on an artery....I have, therefore, selected a tube for the present experiment sufficiently long to reach into the thorax, as far as the vena cava superior, or even as the right auricle; while introducing it I heard a slight sibilus; my assistant also detects a strange sound in the chest; it is probably that a little air entered into the tube during inspriation, aslo reached the right cavities of the heart. This accident will, probably, not interfere materially with the progress of the experiment. The mercury marks, as before 65-75 mill. I fill the syringe, but with much greater difficulty than from the carotid; I am obliged to raise the piston forcibily in order to get the blood into the body of the instrument, whereas, in the former experiment, the impulse of the heart was sufficient to produce that effect.' This quotation from p. 85 documets Magendie's pioneering attempt to place a catheter in the right atrium. Claude Bernard would extend this technique under Magendie's supervision in 1844. Bernard's work culminated in a detailed description of the techniques to cathererize both sides of the heart in animals. See R. E. Siegel, 'Vascular catheterization during the 19th century: Claude Bernard's studies in animal heat,' Surgery, 55 (1964) 595-601" (W. Bruce Fye).

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

The best work on asthma to appear during the 19th century. Salter, who had suffered from asthma from childhood, may be considered the first modern student of the condition. He called special attention to asthma from animal emanations (cats, rabbits, horses, dogs, cattle, etc.).

Liveing’s classic account of migraine showed the close association of this condition with tetany, asthma, and false angina pectoris, with epilepsy, and the alternation of all these conditions in the same subject or the transference permanently from one to another. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Blackley showed that pollen can produce hay fever in both the asthmatic and catarrhal forms; he also showed that skin reactions were evoked in sensitive persons. 

First full description of the phenomenon of “anaphylaxis,” the name itself being coined by Richet. Abbreviated English translation in Bibel, Milestones of immunology (1988).

The “Arthus phenomenon” – a symptom of anaphylaxis. Arthus showed that “antibody-mediated inflammation could be elicited in the skin of sensitized animals upon local introduction of an appropriate antigen” (Silverstein). Abbreviated English translation in Bibel, Milestones of immunology (1988).

Serum sickness first described.

Dunbar studied the relationship of pollen to hay fever, separated the active substances responsible for producing the condition, and introduced a specific therapy.

Srum sickness and its significance. English translation, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1951.

The “Theobald Smith phenomenon” was not reported by Smith but communicated by him to Ehrlich. Later Otto published details of the results obtained in his study of the phenomenon.

Otto discovered that a state of tolerance developed in animals that survived anaphylactic shock. He induced passive transfer of hypersensitivity.

Forms Bulletin No. 29 of the Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Marine Hospital Service. Rosenau and Anderson drew attention to the fact that animals receiving an injection of a foreign protein became sensitive to a second dose of the same protein. This reaction is similar to the anaphylaxis of Richet and the “Theobald Smith phenomenon.”

“Anti-anaphylaxis” was the term given by Besredka and Steinhardt to the specific desensitization of sensitized animals.

“Passive” anaphylaxis first demonstrated.

Pirquet suggested the word “Allergie”; see also his paper with this title in Münich. med. Wschr., 1906, 53, 1457-58.

Nobel Prize winner, 1913, in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis.