A Singular Disease

Abstract

The convergence of thought engendered by Pasteur’s confirmation of the germ theory of disease, along with technological advances in the laboratory spearheaded by Koch, led to the premise by the latter part of the nineteenth century that many of the most notorious illnesses of the time could be ascribed a specific bacterial origin. Traditional rational empiricism—careful observations filtered through the lens of reason—that had been the guiding force of physicians through the ages could at last be wed to science.