Open AccessHistory of Ecological Sciences, Part 46: From Parasitology to Germ Theory
Author(s) -
Egerton Frank N.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the bulletin of the ecological society of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2327-6096
pISSN - 0012-9623
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9623-94.2.136
Subject(s) - germ theory of disease , biology , parasitology , entomology , zoology , environmental ethics , ecology , classics , history , philosophy , microbiology and biotechnology
Progress in parasitology and microbiology during the 1800s is one of the great triumphs of science. The consequences for humanity and domestic animals have been momentous, yet this story is not widely known in any detail. It is a story that was built upon achievements of the 1700s (Egerton 2008a, b) and parallels progress in phytopathology during the 1800s (Egerton 2012). In retrospect, it might seem like a rather small step from the accumulated evidence about plant and animal parasites during the 1700s to the establishment of germ theory in the 1870s–1880s. But that illusion is only plausible when one forgets that there are vitamin-deficiency diseases, scurvy, beriberi, goiter; genetic diseases, diabetes; and optically invisible viral diseases, small pox, yellow fever, which defenders of a germ theory could not explain to skeptics during the 1800s (Carter 1977, 1980). Disease causation was a very contested terrain, and Casimir Davaine seems to be the only investigator who contributed significantly to both parasitology and bacteriology. The discoveries within parasitology and microbiology during the 1800s came too thick and fast to be comprehensively surveyed here. This part surveys the high points and is divided into three sections: parasitology, microbiology, and the discovery of arthropod vector-transmission of disease. Discoveries in vector transmission were aided by the great progress made during the 1800s in entomology (Egerton 2013).