Microbe Hunters, a classic in its field, details the adventures of the pioneers of bacteriology in their fight against disease. Line drawings.
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Microbe Hunters, a classic in its field, details the adventures of the pioneers of bacteriology in their fight against disease. Line drawings.
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Good. [10], 357, [5] pages. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. In this classic bestseller, Paul de Kruif dramatizes the pioneering bacteriological work of such scientists and doctors. Among the scientists and topics addressed are: Leeuwenhoek, Spallanzani, Pasteur, Koch, Roux, Behring, Metchnikoff, Theobald Smith, Bruce, Ross, Grassi, Walter Reed, Paul Ehrlich, Rabies, Guinea-Pigs, Phagocytes, Ticks, Texas Fever, Tsetse, and Malaria. Paul Henry de Kruif (1890-1971) was an American microbiologist and author of Dutch descent. Publishing as Paul de Kruif, he is most noted for his 1926 book, Microbe Hunters. This book was not only a bestseller for a lengthy period after publication, but has remained high on lists of recommended reading for science and has been an inspiration for many aspiring physicians and scientists. In 1916, he graduated from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. He immediately entered service as a private in Mexico on the Pancho Villa Expedition and afterwards served as a lieutenant and a captain in World War I in France. Because of his service in the Sanitary Corps, he had occasional contacts with leading French biologists of the period. De Kruif assisted Sinclair Lewis with his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Arrowsmith (1925) by providing the scientific and medical information required by the plot, along with character sketches. De Kruif's contribution was significant, and he received 25 percent of the royalties. Ronald Ross, one of the scientists featured in Microbe Hunters, took exception to how he was described, so the British edition deleted that chapter. An international bestseller, translated into eighteen languages, Paul de Kruif's classic account of the first scientists to see and learn about the microscopic world continues to fascinate new readers. This is a timeless dramatization of the scientists, bacteriologists, doctors, and medical technicians who discovered the microbes and invented the vaccines to counter them. De Kruif writes about how seemingly simple but really fundamental discovers of science-for instance, how a microbe was first viewed in a clear drop of rain water, and when, for the first time, Louis Pasteur discovered that a simple vaccine could save a man from the ravages of rabies by attacking the microbes that cause it.
This out-of-print book is a delight! It was assigned to my daughter as reading material for her high school Magnet science class and I happened to pick it up. It is a humorous (at times) historical account of the remarkable men who risked their lives to study and attempt to cure the bacterial diseases that have plagued mankind for thousands of years. The incredible stumbling and groping in the dark by these pioneering scientists to figure out what bacteria are and how they cause disease is a riveting story. I am in the medical field but I had no idea about how some of the knowlege that I use daily was discovered. It is a great book for anyone - not just for medical practitioners.
Peggy H
Aug 19, 2010
A should read
Paul De Kruif's book may be dated as to language, and certainly it is not especially politically correct language-wise; the book was published in the 1920's before such thing, but anyone interested in the men and women who contributed to unlocking the mysteries of microbes and disease needs to read it. De Kruif's study is fast-paced, fair-minded, and generally a joy to read. The men and women, the Microbe Hunters long dead, come alive with their passions, foibles, conceits, and joy.
