Pathologische Untersuchungen.

the origin of koch's postulates

First edition of an important early contribution to the germ theory of disease by the advisor of Robert Koch. From the library of Cornell microbiology James M. Neill, with his ownership signature on the title and pastedown, and his pencilled notes on the book's importance on the title and front free endpaper.

Gustav Henle (1809-1885) was a prominent pathologist and anatomist at the universities of Heidelberg and Göttingen. A pioneer of microscopic anatomy, his Handbook of Systematic Human Anatomy was the most extensive and detailed of the period, and he was responsible for a large number of anatomical discoveries, including important structures in the kidneys and eyes.

'The significance of Henle's book lies in its long opening essay, "Von den Miasmen und Cantagien," in which Henle formulated, on the basis of deductive reasoning, his conviction that living organisms were the cause of contagious and infectious diseases. Drawing upon a wide body of work performed by other researchers on the origin of infectious diseases... Henle argued that infectious agents had to be organic in nature, since they appeared to multiply from the moment of entering the body... and only organic life has the property of growth. the fact that infectious agents could destroyed by heat and disinfectants also suggested their animate nature. Henle assumed that each infectious disease had its own etiology, but realised that such views would be difficult to prove; he therefore proposed that an agent constantly found in association with a particular disease be isolated and tested in its isolated state to see whether it could produce the disease. "This approach to the proof of the germ theory Henle communicated to his pupil Robert Koch and was, forty years later, to become one of the cornerstones of classical bacteriology under the name of 'Koch's postulates'"' (Hook and Norman, The Norman Library of Science and Medicine 1050).

First edition; 8vo (20 x 12 cm); single leaf of publisher's ads at rear, small inked ownership signature in the inner corner of the title, a couple of small pencilled notes in the contents; contemporary half calf, marbled boards, red morocco label, bookseller's ticket for Karl Groose of Heidelberg to the front pastedown, binding worn at the corners and ends of spine, a couple of other small chips from the spine, boards lightly rubbed, a very good copy; 274pp.