Bacteria in Daily Life
Chapter 1 of 12 Bacteriology in the Victorian Era
- Running time
- 4 h 46 min
- Language
- English
- Read by
- J. M. Smallheer
Chapters
About this recording
The author provides a fascinating look at the emerging science of bacteriology at the start of the twentieth century including early progress in understanding and preventing diseases such as tuberculosis and diphtheria. The book also includes chapters on the spread of disease through close contact with infected persons as well as from contaminated drinking water and milk. Water purification methods as well as the stability of various disease-causing organisms to extremes of heat and cold is discussed. The final chapter includes a very interesting discussion of the development of anti-venoms for the treatment of snake bite and related poisons. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
NY Times Book Review April 4, 1903:
Mrs. Frankland's book is a popular presentation in lively style of what the ordinary unscientific person should know of bacteria as they immediately affect daily life. She has managed to invest her subject with astonishing interest and to produce a work that any sane man or woman can read without weariness. Beginning with Latour's discovery of the fact that yeasty fermentation is due to minute vegetable growths, she traces rapidly the development of bacteriological knowledge…