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The remedy : Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the quest to cure tuberculosis / Thomas Goetz.

Van Pelt Library RA644.T7 G58 2014
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Goetz, Thomas, 1968 November 14- author.
Contributor:
Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930.
Koch, Robert, 1843-1910.
Tuberculosis--History.
Tuberculosis.
History.
Germ theory of disease--History.
Tuberculosis--history.
Germ theory of disease.
Europe.
United States.
Germ Theory of Disease--history.
History, 18th Century.
History, 19th Century.
Medical Subjects:
Tuberculosis--history.
Europe.
United States.
Germ Theory of Disease--history.
History, 18th Century.
History, 19th Century.
Physical Description:
xx, 298 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Place of Publication:
New York : Gotham Books, [2014]
Summary:
"The riveting history of tuberculosis, the world's most lethal disease, the two men whose lives it tragically intertwined, and the birth of medical science. In 1875, tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in the world, accountable for a third of all deaths. A diagnosis of TB-often called consumption-was a death sentence. Then, in triumph of medical science, a German doctor named Robert Koch deployed an unprecedented scientific rigor to discover the bacteria that caused TB. Koch soon embarked on a remedy-a remedy that would be his undoing. When Koch announced his cure for consumption, Arthur Conan Doyle, then a small-town doctor in England and sometime writer, went to Berlin to cover the event. Touring the ward of reportedly cured patients, he was horrified. Koch's "remedy" was either sloppy science or outright fraud. But to a world desperate for relief, Koch's remedy wasn't so easily dismissed. As Europe's consumptives descended upon Berlin, Koch urgently tried to prove his case. Conan Doyle, meanwhile, returned to England determined to abandon medicine in favor of writing. In particular, he turned to a character inspired by the very scientific methods that Koch had formulated: Sherlock Holmes. Capturing the moment when mystery and magic began to yield to science, The Remedy chronicles the stunning story of how the germ theory of disease became a true fact, how two men of ambition were emboldened to reach for something more, and how scientific discoveries evolve into social truths"--Provided by publisher.
Contents:
Part I
Chapter 1 1871: The Doctor in Wöllstein 3
Chapter 2 1875: The Germ Theory 25
Chapter 3 1878: The Rivalry 53
Chapter 4 1882: The Breakthrough 85
Part II
Chapter 5 1882: The Doctor in Southsea 111
Chapter 6 1887: The Detective 139
Chapter 7 1890: The Remedy 161
Part III
Chapter 8 1891: The Fall of Dr. Koch 189
Chapter 9 1892: The Rise of A. C. Doyle 211
Chapter 10 1900: The New Century 227.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Local Notes:
Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.
ISBN:
159240751X
9781592407514
OCLC:
861274036
Publisher Number:
99958162341

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