Cultural Divergence: Elie Metchnikoff's Bacillus bulgaricus Therapy and His Underlying Concept of Health

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Volumn 72, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 1-27

  Podolsky, Scott ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

YOGHURT;

ARTICLE; BACILLUS; HISTORY; HUMAN; INTESTINE; MICROBIOLOGY; PHILOSOPHY; RUSSIAN FEDERATION; UNITED KINGDOM; UNITED STATES;

BACILLUS; ENGLAND; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; INTESTINES; PHILOSOPHY, MEDICAL; RUSSIA; UNITED STATES; YOGURT;

EID: 0032019778     PISSN: 00075140     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/bhm.1998.0056     Document Type: Article

References (128)

1. Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (New York: Macmillan, 1925; reprint, New York: Mentor Books, 1964), p. 2.
2. Alfred I. Tauber and Leon Chernyak, Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology: From Metaphor to Theory (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 25-67.
3. Note that this section, relying upon Metchnikoffs own reconstructions of the development of his therapy, centers more upon his presentation of the B. bulgaricus therapy than it does upon its original development.
4. Alfred I. Tauber, "Metchnikoif and a Theory of Medicine," J Roy. Soc. Med., 1989, 82: pp. 699-701, esp. p. 700.
5. Tauber and Chernyak, Metchnikoff (n. 2), p. 7.
6. For an extended discussion of Metchnikoff's evoking interpretations of Darwinism, see ibid., pp. 68-100.
7. Alfred I. Tauber, "The Immunological Self: A Centenary Perspective," Perspect. Biol. Med., 1991, 35: 74-86, quotation on p. 77.
8. Ibid., p. 76.
9. Stephen Jay Gould has written of the general recapitulationist attitudes of this period (which Metchnikoff opposed) in Ontogeny and Phylogeny (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977), pp. 69-114. Metchnikoff does not appear in his text.
10. Elie Metchnikoff, The Nature of Man: Studies in Optimistic Philosophy, trans. Peter Chalmers Mitchell (New York: Putnam, 1903; reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1977), p. 60.
11. Ibid., p. 37.
12. Tauber, "Immunological Self" (n. 7), p. 76.
13. Metchnikoff, Nature of Man (n. 10), p. 72.
14. Ibid., p. 73.
15. James Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness: The History of American Health Reformers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), pp. 216-19. See also Charles Bouchard, Leçons sur les auto-intoxications dans les maladies (Paris: F. Savy, 1887).
16. James Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness: The History of American Health Reformers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), pp. 216-19. See also Charles Bouchard, Leçons sur les auto-intoxications dans les maladies (Paris: F. Savy, 1887).
17. Elie Metchnikoff, The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies, trans. Peter Chalmers Mitchell (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908), p. 35.
18. Ibid., pp. 47-58.
19. Elie Metchnikoff, "The Wilde Medal and Lecture of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society," Brit. Med. J., 1901, 1: 1027-1028, quotation on p. 1028; this reprint was abstracted from the original lecture. "Sur la flore du corps humain," Mem. Proc. Manchester Lit. Philos. Soc., 1901, 45: 1-38.
20. Elie Metchnikoff, "The Wilde Medal and Lecture of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society," Brit. Med. J., 1901, 1: 1027-1028, quotation on p. 1028; this reprint was abstracted from the original lecture. "Sur la flore du corps humain," Mem. Proc. Manchester Lit. Philos. Soc., 1901, 45: 1-38.
21. See Craig R. Stillwell, "The Wisdom of Cells: The Integrity of Elie Metchnikoff's Ideas in Biology and Pathology" (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 1991), pp. 282-84; Olga Metchnikoff, Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916 (London: Constable, 1921), pp. 154- 55; Elie Metchnikoff, "Recherches sur le choléra et les vibrions. Quatrième mémoire: Sur l'immunité et la réceptivité vis-à-vis du choléra intestinal," Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, 1894, 8:529-89.
22. See Craig R. Stillwell, "The Wisdom of Cells: The Integrity of Elie Metchnikoff's Ideas in Biology and Pathology" (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 1991), pp. 282-84; Olga Metchnikoff, Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916 (London: Constable, 1921), pp. 154-55; Elie Metchnikoff, "Recherches sur le choléra et les vibrions. Quatrième mémoire: Sur l'immunité et la réceptivité vis-à-vis du choléra intestinal," Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, 1894, 8:529-89.
23. See Craig R. Stillwell, "The Wisdom of Cells: The Integrity of Elie Metchnikoff's Ideas in Biology and Pathology" (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 1991), pp. 282-84; Olga Metchnikoff, Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916 (London: Constable, 1921), pp. 154- 55; Elie Metchnikoff, "Recherches sur le choléra et les vibrions. Quatrième mémoire: Sur l'immunité et la réceptivité vis-à-vis du choléra intestinal," Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, 1894, 8:529-89.
24. Metchnikoff, Nature of Man (n. 10), p. 255.
25. Metchnikoff, Prolongation of Life (n. 16), p. 179.
26. Ibid., p. 171. Later, Metchnikoff felt that B. bulgaricus could not obtain the requisite sugar in the intestinal tract, so he proposed the parallel ingestion of what he termed a "glycobacterium," a sugar-producing bacillus found in the canine intestinal tract.
27. Ibid., p. 170.
28. Ibid., p. 175.
29. Ibid., p. 176.
30. Of course, such personal anecdotal "evidence" continues to be brought forth before the public in the support of novel therapies. As an analogy to Metchnikotfs approach, note Linns Pauling's prominent placement of his own exuberant face upon the cover of his vitamin C cure-all handbook, How to Live Longer and Feel Better (New York: Freeman, 1986).
31. Metchnikoff, Prolongation of Life (n. 16), pp. 325, 333-34.
32. Ibid., p. 332.
33. For an account of Lane's theory of intestinal stasis and therapeutic methodology, see Robert P. Hudson, "Theory and Therapy: Ptosis, Stasis, and Autointoxication," Bull. Hist. Med., 1989, 63: 392-413.
34. T. B. Layton, Sir William Arbuthnot Lane (London: Livingstone, 1956), p. 89.
35. Ann Dally, Fantasy Surgery, 1880-1930: With Special Reference to Sir William Arbuthnot Lane (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996).
36. William Arbuthnot Lane, "On the Operative Treatment of the Conditions of the Large Bowel Which Result from Chronic Constipation," Clin. J., 1903-4, 23: 209-14.
37. "It has been the experience of all surgeons that resections of the colon are followed by a high rate of mortality. Wolfler, in a paper read before the German Surgical Society in 1896, stated that 54 per cent of such operations on the large and small intestines resulted in death" (Theodore McGraw, "A New Operation for Intestinal Stenosis, with Especial Reference to Colonie Cancer," Trans. Amer. Surg. Assoc., 1904, 22: 241-47, esp. p. 241).
38. Dally, Fantasy Surgery (n. 31), pp. 134-35.
39. William Arbuthnot Lane, "The Consequences and Treatment of Alimentary Toxaemia from a Surgical Point of View," Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 1913, 6, pt. 1: 49-117, quotation on p. 108.
40. William Arbuthnot Lane, "Civilisation in Relation to the Abdominal Viscera, with Remarks on the Corset," Lancet, 1909, 2: 1416-18, quotation on p. 1416.
41. Ibid.
42. Lane would later write concerning "these unnatural conditions of civilization which are the fundamental causes, of disease" (italics in original) (William Arbuthnot Lane, The Prevention of the Diseases Peculiar to Civilization [London: Faber and Faber, 1929], p. ix.)
43. Layton, Lane (n. 30), p. 99.
44. J. C. G. Ledingham, untitled remarks, "A Discussion on Alimentary Toxaemia; Its Sources, Consequences, and Treatment," Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 1913, 6, pt. 1: 139-45.
45. James F. Goodhart, untitled remarks, ibid., pp. 294-300, quotation on p. 297. Italics in original.
46. F. W. Andrewes, "The Bacteriology of the Alimentary Canal," ibid., pp. 11-20, quotation on p. 15.
47. Vaughan Harley, "The Toxins of the Alimentary Canal," ibid., pp. 21-36, quotation on p. 23.
48. Arthur Keith, untitled remarks, ibid., pp. 191-95, quotation on p. 193.
49. Goodhart, remarks (n. 41), p. 299.
50. Walter C. Alvarez, "Intestinal Autointoxication," Physiol. Rev., 1924, 4: 352-93, quotation on p. 352.
51. Layton, Lane (n. 30), pp. 101, 94.
52. Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness (n. 15), pp. 201-38.
53. John Harvey Kellogg, Autointoxication, or Intestinal Toxemia, 2d ed. (Battle Creek, Mich.: Modern Medicine, 1919), pp. 43-44.
54. Ibid., p. 309.
55. Leo F. Rettger and Harry A. Cheplin, A Treatise on the Transformation of the Intestinal Flora with Special Reference to the Implantation of Bacillus Acidophilus (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921), pp. 1-9. See also Alfred H. Rahe, "A Study of the So-Called Implantation of the Bacillus bulgaricus," J. Infect. Dis., 1915, 16: 210-20.
56. Leo F. Rettger and Harry A. Cheplin, A Treatise on the Transformation of the Intestinal Flora with Special Reference to the Implantation of Bacillus Acidophilus (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921), pp. 1-9. See also Alfred H. Rahe, "A Study of the So-Called Implantation of the Bacillus bulgaricus," J. Infect. Dis., 1915, 16: 210-20.
57. Rettger and Cheplin, Transformation of the Intestinal Flora (n. 51), p. 5.
58. Harry A. Cheplin, Charles D. Post, and Joseph R. Wiseman, "Bacillus acidophilus Milk and Its Therapeutic Effects," Boston Med. Surg. J., 1923, 189: 405-11, quotation on p. 406.
59. Ibid., p. 410. Wrote Louis Gompertz and Martin Vorhaus: "Honest enthusiasts and dishonest publicists may hail it as the 'longevity bug,' but we must not be deceived by the cry of a panacea" ("Bacteriologic and Clinical Experience with Bacillus acidophilus," JAMA, 1923, 80: 90-92, quotation on p. 92).
60. Ibid., p. 410. Wrote Louis Gompertz and Martin Vorhaus: "Honest enthusiasts and dishonest publicists may hail it as the 'longevity bug,' but we must not be deceived by the cry of a panacea" ("Bacteriologic and Clinical Experience with Bacillus acidophilus," JAMA, 1923, 80: 90-92, quotation on p. 92).
61. Leo F. Rettger, Maurice N. Levy, Louis Weinstein, and James E. Weiss, Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Its Therapeutic Application (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1935), p. 58.
62. Georges Canguilhem, The Normal and the Pathological (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1978; reprint, New York: Zone Books, 1989), pp. 39-46.
63. George F. Reddish and E. C. L. Miller, "Notes on the Therapeutic Use of Bacillus acidophilus Milk in Richmond," Virginia Med. Monthly, 1923, 49: 591. See also Rettger et al., Lactobacillus Acidophilus (n. 55), pp. 178-82.
64. George F. Reddish and E. C. L. Miller, "Notes on the Therapeutic Use of Bacillus acidophilus Milk in Richmond," Virginia Med. Monthly, 1923, 49: 591. See also Rettger et al., Lactobacillus Acidophilus (n. 55), pp. 178-82.
65. Metchnikoff remained noteworthy only as the practical source of the B. bulgaricus treatment. In a moment of appreciation, Cheplin and his associates wrote: "Metchnikoff's work has not been in vain. He ushered in a new and important field of study, namely, bacterial implantation within the intestinal tract for therapeutic purposes. His ingenious theory [sic, of implantation] has inspired others" (Cheplin, Post, and Wiseman, "Bacillus acidophilus Milk" [n. 53], p. 406).
66. See Debra Jan Bibel, "Elie Metchnikoff's Bacillus of Long Life," Amer. Soc. Microbiol. News, 1988, 54: 664. Bibel attributes the decline of the therapy to the rise of sulfonamides, but the role of tainted commercial production of L. acidophilus therapeutics must also be acknowledged; see Lawrence H.James, "Commercial Bacillus addophilus and Bacillus bulgaricus Cultures and Preparations," JAAM, 1927, 89:89-92.
67. See Debra Jan Bibel, "Elie Metchnikoff's Bacillus of Long Life," Amer. Soc. Microbiol. News, 1988, 54: 664. Bibel attributes the decline of the therapy to the rise of sulfonamides, but the role of tainted commercial production of L. acidophilus therapeutics must also be acknowledged; see Lawrence H.James, "Commercial Bacillus addophilus and Bacillus bulgaricus Cultures and Preparations," JAAM, 1927, 89:89-92.
68. A. G. Tansley, "The Use and Misuse of Vegetational Concepts and Terms," Ecology, 1936, 16: 299-303.
69. In the context of gastrointestinal maintenance over the course of the 1950s-1990s, see as a representative sample: Henry A. Rafsky and Jeanne C. Rafsky, "Clinical and Bacteriological Studies of a New Lactobacillus acidophilus Concentrate in Functional Gastrointestinal Disturbances," Amer. J. Gastroent., 1955, 24: 87-92; Charles Beck and H. Necheles, "Beneficial Effects of Administration of Lactobacillus acidophilus in Diarrheal and Other Intestinal Disorders," ibid., 1961, 35: 522-30; Lee Talbert and Michelle M. Pauly, Colon Cleansing (American Institute of Health and Nutrition, 1992). In the recent popular press, Lactobacillus has even been mentioned as a "good bacterium" and "natural" defense of the vaginal flora against HIV infection: see Richard A. Knox, "AIDS Scientists Pin Hopes on Topical Agent," Boston Globe, 10 July 1996, p. 4.
70. In the context of gastrointestinal maintenance over the course of the 1950s-1990s, see as a representative sample: Henry A. Rafsky and Jeanne C. Rafsky, "Clinical and Bacteriological Studies of a New Lactobacillus acidophilus Concentrate in Functional Gastrointestinal Disturbances," Amer. J. Gastroent., 1955, 24: 87-92; Charles Beck and H. Necheles, "Beneficial Effects of Administration of Lactobacillus acidophilus in Diarrheal and Other Intestinal Disorders," ibid., 1961, 35: 522-30; Lee Talbert and Michelle M. Pauly, Colon Cleansing (American Institute of Health and Nutrition, 1992). In the recent popular press, Lactobacillus has even been mentioned as a "good bacterium" and "natural" defense of the vaginal flora against HIV infection: see Richard A. Knox, "AIDS Scientists Pin Hopes on Topical Agent," Boston Globe, 10 July 1996, p. 4.
71. In the context of gastrointestinal maintenance over the course of the 1950s-1990s, see as a representative sample: Henry A. Rafsky and Jeanne C. Rafsky, "Clinical and Bacteriological Studies of a New Lactobacillus acidophilus Concentrate in Functional Gastrointestinal Disturbances," Amer. J. Gastroent., 1955, 24: 87-92; Charles Beck and H. Necheles, "Beneficial Effects of Administration of Lactobacillus acidophilus in Diarrheal and Other Intestinal Disorders," ibid., 1961, 35: 522-30; Lee Talbert and Michelle M. Pauly, Colon Cleansing (American Institute of Health and Nutrition, 1992). In the recent popular press, Lactobacillus has even been mentioned as a "good bacterium" and "natural" defense of the vaginal flora against HIV infection: see Richard A. Knox, "AIDS Scientists Pin Hopes on Topical Agent," Boston Globe, 10 July 1996, p. 4.
72. In the context of gastrointestinal maintenance over the course of the 1950s-1990s, see as a representative sample: Henry A. Rafsky and Jeanne C. Rafsky, "Clinical and Bacteriological Studies of a New Lactobacillus acidophilus Concentrate in Functional Gastrointestinal Disturbances," Amer. J. Gastroent., 1955, 24: 87-92; Charles Beck and H. Necheles, "Beneficial Effects of Administration of Lactobacillus acidophilus in Diarrheal and Other Intestinal Disorders," ibid., 1961, 35: 522-30; Lee Talbert and Michelle M. Pauly, Colon Cleansing (American Institute of Health and Nutrition, 1992). In the recent popular press, Lactobacillus has even been mentioned as a "good bacterium" and "natural" defense of the vaginal flora against HIV infection: see Richard A. Knox, "AIDS Scientists Pin Hopes on Topical Agent," Boston Globe, 10 July 1996, p. 4.
73. "The therapeutic principle of creating conditions favoring normal tissue growth is, in our opinion, much more important biologically than any attempt to destroy pathogenic organisms by antiseptic or other agents" (Fred L. Adair and H. Close Hesseltine, "Histopathology and Treatment of Vaginitis," Amer. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 1936, 32:1-21, quotation on p. 13). In the presentation of yogurt therapy for the prevention of vaginitis, the hypothesis has been made that "certain lactobacilli may serve a function in the normal vaginal ecosystem" (Eileen Hilton et al., "Ingestion of Yogurt Containing Lactobacillus acidophilus as Prophylaxis for Candidal Vaginitis," Ann. Intern. Med., 1992, 116: 353-57, quotation on p. 356).
74. "The therapeutic principle of creating conditions favoring normal tissue growth is, in our opinion, much more important biologically than any attempt to destroy pathogenic organisms by antiseptic or other agents" (Fred L. Adair and H. Close Hesseltine, "Histopathology and Treatment of Vaginitis," Amer. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 1936, 32:1-21, quotation on p. 13). In the presentation of yogurt therapy for the prevention of vaginitis, the hypothesis has been made that "certain lactobacilli may serve a function in the normal vaginal ecosystem" (Eileen Hilton et al., "Ingestion of Yogurt Containing Lactobacillus acidophilus as Prophylaxis for Candidal Vaginitis," Ann. Intern. Med., 1992, 116: 353-57, quotation on p. 356).
75. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men," in The Basic Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, trans. and ed. Donald A. Cress (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987), pp. 42-43.
76. This explication of Bernard's views is strongly influenced by Canguilhem, Normal and Pathological (n. 56), pp. 65-89.
77. Nietzsche, of course, attempted to distance himself from Darwin's followers, whom he regarded as emphasizing progressivism at the expense of struggle for its own sake. For a detailed account of the role of Darwinism in the shaping of Nietzsche's biological orientation, see Alfred I. Tauber, "A Typology of Nietzsche's Biology," Biol. Philos., 1994, 9: 25-44. For a discussion of the differences between Nietzsche's explicit criticism and his unacknowledged acceptance of Darwinism, see C. U. M. Smith, "'Clever Beasts Who Invented Knowing': Nietzsche's Evolutionary Biology of Knowledge," Biol. Philos., 1987, 2: 65-91.
78. Nietzsche, of course, attempted to distance himself from Darwin's followers, whom he regarded as emphasizing progressivism at the expense of struggle for its own sake. For a detailed account of the role of Darwinism in the shaping of Nietzsche's biological orientation, see Alfred I. Tauber, "A Typology of Nietzsche's Biology," Biol. Philos., 1994, 9: 25-44. For a discussion of the differences between Nietzsche's explicit criticism and his unacknowledged acceptance of Darwinism, see C. U. M. Smith, "'Clever Beasts Who Invented Knowing': Nietzsche's Evolutionary Biology of Knowledge," Biol. Philos., 1987, 2: 65-91.
79. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science [1882, 1887], trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage Books, 1974), p. 346 (italics in original). For a more detailed account of the centrality of health in Nietzsche's philosophy, see Scott H. Podolsky and Alfred I. Tauber, "Nietzsche's Conception of Health: The Idealization of Struggle," in Nietzsche's Epistemological Writings and the Philosophy of Science, ed. Babette E. Babich and Robert S. Cohen (Dordrecht: Kluwer, forthcoming).
80. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science [1882, 1887], trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage Books, 1974), p. 346 (italics in original). For a more detailed account of the centrality of health in Nietzsche's philosophy, see Scott H. Podolsky and Alfred I. Tauber, "Nietzsche's Conception of Health: The Idealization of Struggle," in Nietzsche's Epistemological Writings and the Philosophy of Science, ed. Babette E. Babich and Robert S. Cohen (Dordrecht: Kluwer, forthcoming).
81. Nietzsche, Gay Science (n. 66), p. 177 (italics in original).
82. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, trans. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale (New York: Random House, 1967), stanza 647.
83. "A German critic has reproached me for my ignorance of Nietzsche's works. I have read several of them, but the mixture of genius and madness in them makes them difficult to use" (Metchnikoff, Prolongation of Life [n. 16], p. 230). For an analysis of the resonance between the writings of the two thinkers, see Alfred I. Tauber, The Immune Self: Theory or Metaphor? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 230-68.
84. "A German critic has reproached me for my ignorance of Nietzsche's works. I have read several of them, but the mixture of genius and madness in them makes them difficult to use" (Metchnikoff, Prolongation of Life [n. 16], p. 230). For an analysis of the resonance between the writings of the two thinkers, see Alfred I. Tauber, The Immune Self: Theory or Metaphor? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 230-68.
85. D. Hayes Agnew, "The Relation of Social Life to Surgical Disease," Trans. Amer. Surg. Assoc., 1888, 6:1-13, quotation on p. 13.
86. Anita Clair Fellman and Michael Fellman, Making Sense of Self: Medical Advice Literature in Late Nineteenth-Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), p. 29; the internal quote is from J. R. Black, The Ten Laws of Health: or, How Diseases Are Produced and Prevented. 3d ed. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1885), p. 22. Fellman and Fellman, it should be noted, temper such depictions of the "healthy self" by relating the parallel rise in the late nineteenth century of pessimistic hereditarianism, according to which only the select (and unspecified) were destined for natural health. Arising in the context of a nascent eugenic movement - and far different from the depiction of universal disharmony by Metchnikoff - this hereditarianism was, on the whole, offset by the optimism of most health instructors of the time. See Fellman and Fellman, Making Sense of Self (n. 71), pp. 51-54.
87. Anita Clair Fellman and Michael Fellman, Making Sense of Self: Medical Advice Literature in Late Nineteenth-Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), p. 29; the internal quote is from J. R. Black, The Ten Laws of Health: or, How Diseases Are Produced and Prevented. 3d ed. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1885), p. 22. Fellman and Fellman, it should be noted, temper such depictions of the "healthy self" by relating the parallel rise in the late nineteenth century of pessimistic hereditarianism, according to which only the select (and unspecified) were destined for natural health. Arising in the context of a nascent eugenic movement - and far different from the depiction of universal disharmony by Metchnikoff - this hereditarianism was, on the whole, offset by the optimism of most health instructors of the time. See Fellman and Fellman, Making Sense of Self (n. 71), pp. 51-54.
88. Anita Clair Fellman and Michael Fellman, Making Sense of Self: Medical Advice Literature in Late Nineteenth-Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), p. 29; the internal quote is from J. R. Black, The Ten Laws of Health: or, How Diseases Are Produced and Prevented. 3d ed. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1885), p. 22. Fellman and Fellman, it should be noted, temper such depictions of the "healthy self" by relating the parallel rise in the late nineteenth century of pessimistic hereditarianism, according to which only the select (and unspecified) were destined for natural health. Arising in the context of a nascent eugenic movement - and far different from the depiction of universal disharmony by Metchnikoff - this hereditarianism was, on the whole, offset by the optimism of most health instructors of the time. See Fellman and Fellman, Making Sense of Self (n. 71), pp. 51-54.
89. James C. Whorton, "'Physiologic Optimism': Horace Fletcher and Hygienic Ideology in Progressive America," Bull. Hist. Med., 1981, 55: 59-87, quotation on pp. 62-63.
90. James A. Tobey, The Quest for Health: Where It Is and Who Can Help Secure It (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1924), p. 1.
91. Arthur McGovern, The Secret of Keeping Fit: An Easy and Sure Way to Better Health (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1936), p. 1.
92. Robert G. Jackson, How to Be Always Well (Toronto: Print-Craft, 1927), p. 9.
93. Ibid., p. 10.
94. See Paul L. Murphy, "Normalcy, Intolerance, and the American Character," Virginia Quart. Rev., 1994, 40: 445-59.
95. Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness (n. 15), pp. 92-131, 270-303.
96. Betty Spears and Richard A. Swanson, History of Sport and Physical Activity in the United States (Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown, 1978), pp. 227-39.
97. Fellman and Fellman, Making Sense of Self (n. 71), pp. 125-33.
98. Jay Nash, "Health Defined," in Physiological Health, ed. Jay Nash. Vol. 3, Interpretations of Physical Education (New York: Barnes, 1933), p. 3.
99. Ibid., p. 4.
100. Shailer Upton Lawton, "Philosophical Relationships of Forces Such as Heredity, Activity, and Environment," in Nash, Physiological Health (n. 81), p. 16.
101. H. G. Wells, Julian S. Huxely, and G. P. Wells, The Science of Life (New York: Book League of America, 1936), p. 51.
102. Ibid., pp. 1033-34.
103. Arthur M. Silverstein, A History of Immunology (San Diego: Academic Press, 1989), pp. 172-75, quotation on p. 172.
104. For an analysis of the fate of Metchnikoff's underlying conception of immunity, see Alfred I. Tauber, "The Birth of Immunology: III. The Fate of the Phagocytosis Theory," Cell. Immunol., 1992, 139: 505-30; Tauber and Chernyak, Metchnikoff (n. 2), pp. 154-74.
105. For an analysis of the fate of Metchnikoff's underlying conception of immunity, see Alfred I. Tauber, "The Birth of Immunology: III. The Fate of the Phagocytosis Theory," Cell. Immunol., 1992, 139: 505-30; Tauber and Chernyak, Metchnikoff (n. 2), pp. 154-74.
106. "Bacteriophage," first discovered by Frederick W. Twort in 1914 and named by Félix d'Hérelle in 1917, referred to the entity that caused the dissolution of bacteria in broth or on agar plates. Its identity - as a cellular extract, or as an autonomous organism-was fiercely debated throughout the 1920s and 1930s, involving conflicting views of immunity. Burnet became tightly enmeshed in this debate. See F. W. Twort, "An Investigation on the Nature of Ultra-Microscopic Viruses," Lancet, 1915, 2: 1241-43; F. d'Hérelle, "An Invisible Microbe That Is Antagonistic to the Dysentery- Bacillus," in Milestones in Microbiology, trans. and ed. Thomas D. Brock (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1961), pp. 157-59 (originally published in Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences, 1917, 165: 373-75).
107. "Bacteriophage," first discovered by Frederick W. Twort in 1914 and named by Félix d'Hérelle in 1917, referred to the entity that caused the dissolution of bacteria in broth or on agar plates. Its identity - as a cellular extract, or as an autonomous organism-was fiercely debated throughout the 1920s and 1930s, involving conflicting views of immunity. Burnet became tightly enmeshed in this debate. See F. W. Twort, "An Investigation on the Nature of Ultra-Microscopic Viruses," Lancet, 1915, 2: 1241-43; F. d'Hérelle, "An Invisible Microbe That Is Antagonistic to the Dysentery- Bacillus," in Milestones in Microbiology, trans. and ed. Thomas D. Brock (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1961), pp. 157-59 (originally published in Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences, 1917, 165: 373-75).
108. "Bacteriophage," first discovered by Frederick W. Twort in 1914 and named by Félix d'Hérelle in 1917, referred to the entity that caused the dissolution of bacteria in broth or on agar plates. Its identity - as a cellular extract, or as an autonomous organism-was fiercely debated throughout the 1920s and 1930s, involving conflicting views of immunity. Burnet became tightly enmeshed in this debate. See F. W. Twort, "An Investigation on the Nature of Ultra-Microscopic Viruses," Lancet, 1915, 2: 1241-43; F. d'Hérelle, "An Invisible Microbe That Is Antagonistic to the Dysentery- Bacillus," in Milestones in Microbiology, trans. and ed. Thomas D. Brock (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1961), pp. 157-59 (originally published in Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences, 1917, 165: 373-75).
109. D'Hérelle wrote in 1922: "Can not the bacteriophage play, in addition to its direct action, an important role in phagocytosis itself, in bringing about what might be called a phagocytic education?" (Félix d'Hérelle, The Bacteriophage: Its Rolf in Immunity [Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1922], p. 169).
110. Ibid., pp. 171-72.
111. The development of Burnet's conception of the immune self and tolerance is too broad a topic for adequate discussion here. For such an analysis, see Alfred I. Tauber and Scott H. Podolsky, "Frank MacFarlane Burnet and the Immune Self," J. Hist. Biol., 1994, 27: 531-73; Tauber, Immune Self (n. 69), pp. 81-123. It is argued in these two studies that Burnet actually derived the term self from The Science of Life (n. 84), whose authors had utilized it in its psychological context. For Burnet's first mention of the immune "self," see F. M. Burnet, Biological Aspects of Infectious Disease (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940), p. 29.
112. The development of Burnet's conception of the immune self and tolerance is too broad a topic for adequate discussion here. For such an analysis, see Alfred I. Tauber and Scott H. Podolsky, "Frank MacFarlane Burnet and the Immune Self," J. Hist. Biol., 1994, 27: 531-73; Tauber, Immune Self (n. 69), pp. 81-123. It is argued in these two studies that Burnet actually derived the term self from The Science of Life (n. 84), whose authors had utilized it in its psychological context. For Burnet's first mention of the immune "self," see F. M. Burnet, Biological Aspects of Infectious Disease (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940), p. 29.
113. The development of Burnet's conception of the immune self and tolerance is too broad a topic for adequate discussion here. For such an analysis, see Alfred I. Tauber and Scott H. Podolsky, "Frank MacFarlane Burnet and the Immune Self," J. Hist. Biol., 1994, 27: 531-73; Tauber, Immune Self (n. 69), pp. 81-123. It is argued in these two studies that Burnet actually derived the term self from The Science of Life (n. 84), whose authors had utilized it in its psychological context. For Burnet's first mention of the immune "self," see F. M. Burnet, Biological Aspects of Infectious Disease (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940), p. 29.
114. The development of Burnet's conception of the immune self and tolerance is too broad a topic for adequate discussion here. For such an analysis, see Alfred I. Tauber and Scott H. Podolsky, "Frank MacFarlane Burnet and the Immune Self," J. Hist. Biol., 1994, 27: 531-73; Tauber, Immune Self (n. 69), pp. 81-123. It is argued in these two studies that Burnet actually derived the term self from The Science of Life (n. 84), whose authors had utilized it in its psychological context. For Burnet's first mention of the immune "self," see F. M. Burnet, Biological Aspects of Infectious Disease (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940), p. 29.
115. F. MacFarlane Burnet, Enzyme, Antigen, and Virus: A Study of Macromolecular Pattern in Action (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), p. 67.
116. F. MacFarlane Burnet, "A Modification of Jerne's Theory of Antibody Production Using the Concept of Clonal Selection," Austral. J. Sci., 1957, 20: 67-69.
117. René Dubos, Mirage of Health: Utopias, Progress, and Biological Change (New York: Harper, 1959; reprint, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1987), pp. 110-11.
118. René Dubos, Man, Medicine, and Environment (New York: Praeger, 1968), p. 67.
119. René Dubos, Man Adapting (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965), p. 346.
120. Dubos, Mirage of Health (n. 94), pp. 1-17, 129-69.
121. Dubos, Man, Medicine, and Environment (n. 95), pp. 69-70.
122. I. Gordon, "That Damned Word Health," Lancet, 1958, 2: 638-39, quotation on p. 638.
123. Dubos, Mirage of Health (n. 94), pp. 1-2, 281.
124. Ibid., pp. 165-69.
125. Dubos, Man Adapting (n. 96), p. 362.
126. Lewis Thomas, "The Health-Care System," in The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (New York: Viking Press, 1979), pp. 45-50, quotation on pp. 47-48 (italics in original).
127. John H. Knowles, "The Responsibility of the Individual," Daedalus, 1977, 106: 58.
128. Such warnings were taken up in the 1980s by Arthur J. Barsky, who attributed the American public's "declining satisfaction" with its health to four broad factors: the higher prevalence of chronic and degenerative disorders; the commercialization of health, as well as the increased focus on health issues by the media; the resultant heightened public consciousness of health issues, with parallel increased somatic awareness; and the process by which the increased prevalence of medical interventions rendered "untreatable" ailments apparently more debilitating: Arthur J. Barsky, "The Paradox of Health," New England J. Med., 1988, 318: 414-18, quotation on p. 414.