ABSTRACT
In 1863 Pasteur informed the French Emperor that his one ambition was to ascertain the causes of putrid and contagious diseases. As early as 1857 Pasteur had grown bacteria in liquids, and then by multiple sowings had increased the purity of his cultures. But these were always open to slight suspicion, and Robert Koch doubted the purity of Pasteur's later cultures of anthrax bacilli. The marvel is that, depending as he did solely on multiple dilutions in liquid media, Pasteur was able to obtain his great results. The problem was solved by Koch, who rightly stands side by side with Pasteur as a founder of modern bacteriology. Anthrax both in animals and in man is a deadly disease. In man it occurs in two chief forms, such as malignant pustule and pneumonia. Malignant pustule has been caused by shaving with a shaving brush, the bristles of which were derived from an animal suffering from anthrax.
