Beschreibung:

KOCH, Robert (1843-1910). Untersuchungen ber die Aetiologie der Wundinfektionskrankheiten . Leipzig: J. B. Hirschfeld for F. C. W. Vogel, 1878. 8 o . 3 tinted lithographed plates of microbacillae, of which 2 double-page, numbered 1-5, by E. A. Funke. (Occasional underlinings in red or blue pencil, the plates copiously annotated in lead pencil.) Modern boards, original front wrapper bound in (wrapper slightly soiled). Provenance : unidentfied owner (annotations as above). FIRST EDITION of Koch's epochal first monograph, in which he proved the role of bacteria as the source of wound infections. Koch was "a pioneer in the use of the microscope in bacteriological research" (Grolier Medicine 80), and for the researches reported here, carried out during his years as District Medical Officer at Wollstein in Silesia, he had equipped his microscope with a new optical device, developed by Ernst Abbe, that enabled him to see organisms much smaller than the anthrax bacillus, the object of his earlier research (see lot 983). Koch produced artificial infections in various animals by injecting them with putrid fluids, and eventually succeeded in identifying "six transmissible infections, two in mice and four in rabbits, that were pathologically and bacteriologically distinctive. He deduced that human traumatic infections would prove similarly due to specific parasites and concluded that his experiments illustrated the diversity and immutability of pathogenic bacteria" (DSB). The work, which established his reputation, was no less important for its description of new analytical techniques: "In this work, Koch first developed procedures for staining bacteria in diseased tissues with aniline dyes, procedures that were to become critical in his research on tuberculosis" (Grolier Medicine ). Garrison-Morton 2536; Heirs of Hippocrates 2053; Osler 1687; PMM 366b; Waller 5345; Norman 1229. [ With :] KOCH. Ueber Desinfection . Offprint from Mittheilungen des Kaiserlichen Gesundheits-Amtes I (1818). Berlin: Druck und Verlag der Norddeutschen Buchdruckerei und Verlagsanstalt, 1881. Large 8 o . (Some minor spotting at end). Modern green half morocco, preserving original wrappers (marginal repairs to wrappers, cropping 5 letters of author's inscription; spine sunned). Provenance : Dr. Peter Ludvig Panum (1820-1885), the first to investigate the chemical products of putrefaction (author's presentation inscription on front wrapper). PRESENTATION COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, the rare offprint issue, of Koch's comparative investigation of disinfectant substances. His declaration in this article "that carbolic acid was inferior to mercuric chloride hastened dethronement of Lister's 'carbolic spray'"; along with his later reports of the superiority of steam over hot air as a sterilizing medium this "revolutionized hospital practice" (DSB). FINE ASSOCIATION COPY. Garrison-Morton 1872 (omitted from 1991 edition); Norman 1231. [ Bound with :] LFFLER, Friedrich (1852-1915). Zur Immunittsfrage . Offprint from the same issue of the same journal. Berlin, 1881. (Light spotting). Front wrapper preserved. Provenance : Peter Ludvig Panum (author's presentation inscription on front wrapper). A discussion of the bacteriological causes of immunity by one of Koch's two laboratory assistants in the newly established Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt in Berlin. Lffler went on to make important contributions to "the so-called golden age of bacteriology" (DSB). (2)