LEEUWENHOEK DISCOVERS BACTERIA
The seventeenth century was not to close, however, without
another discovery in science, which, when applied to the
causation of disease almost two centuries later, revolutio 555h712f nized
therapeutics more completely than any one discovery. This was the
discovery of microbes, by Antonius von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723),
in 1683. Von Leeuwenhoek discovered that "in the white matter
between his teeth" there were millions of microscopic
"animals"--more, in fact, than "there were human beings in the
united
manner." There can be no question that he saw them, for we can
recognize in his descriptions of these various forms of little
"animals" the four principal forms of microbes--the long and
short rods of bacilli and bacteria, the spheres of micrococci,
and the corkscrew spirillum.
The presence of these microbes in his mouth greatly annoyed
Antonius, and he tried various methods of getting rid of them,
such as using vinegar and hot coffee. In doing this he little
suspected that he was anticipating modern antiseptic surgery by a
century and three-quarters, and to be attempting what antiseptic
surgery is now able to accomplish. For the fundamental principle
of antisepsis is the use of medicines for ridding wounds of
similar microscopic organisms. Von Leenwenhoek was only
temporarily successful in his attempts, however, and took
occasion to communicate his discovery to the Royal Society of
England, hoping that they would be "interested in this novelty."
Probably they were, but not sufficiently so for any member to
pursue any protracted investigations or reach any satisfactory
conclusions, and the whole matter was practically forgotten until
the middle of the nineteenth century.
|
