Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/633

* KOCH. 573 KOCHANOWSKI. gaiiisns found in the blood of these animals were identical in form and character with those in the blood used for injection. At the site of the injection of the infected fluid abscesses developed. The pus from (lipse abscesses, full of the bacteria when injected in a diluted form into a healthy animal, invariably produced the disease. Koch produced erysipelas in the same way. The infec- tious duiracter of tuberculosis of the lungs had lieen susjiccled for niany j'cars, but to him belongs (lie credit of discovering its specific germ. The tubercle bacilli are distinguished from others by marked characteristics, and are present in all cases of the disease. Koch demonstrated these bacteria in the sj)utum of those suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. In 188.3 Koch became chief of the German commission sent to Egj'pt and India to investigate cholera, with the result of discovering the cholera spirillum or comma bacillus. In the same year Koch published a method of inoculation to prevent anthrax. Re- turning to (Jcrniany in I8S4. Koch received UJO,- 000 marks from the Government. In 18S.5 he was appointed professor in the University of Ber- lin and director of the new Hygienic Institute. In November. 18!)0. through the premature report by a student, it became generally known that Dr. Koch had discovered and tested, by a series of careful experiments, a compound substance which, when administered by injection hypoder- mically, was destructive of the tubercle bacilli, and hence presumaljly a swift and certain cure for tuberculosis. The excitement throughout the world attendant upon this announcement was very great. Physicians from all countries flocked to Berlin, and consumptive patients traveled thither in the hope of certain cure. Amid all this clamor, Koch remained for a long time silent as to the method of preparing the 'Ijnnph,' and singular- ly conservative in the claims that he made of its cllicacy. In January. IS'.U. he i)ut forth a state- ment concerning the nature of his lymph, which, while not giving all the details of its preparation, made it evident that it was itself prepared from the bacilli. The essential parts of his statement will be found in the article Tuberculin. The lymph, or, as ho preferred to call it, the para- iobiid. is a poison and must be used with great caution. The reaction consequent upon its use is so marked as to lead many physicians to doubt its ultimate advantages. Professor Billroth stated that with three patients the reactions seemed so dangerous as to force him to discon- tinue the treatment; and Schriitter of Vien- na (.January, 1891) and Crocq of Brussels con- firm this statement from their own experience. The value of this discovery as a means of cure in the human race must therefore be regarded aa yet in doubt, though the (Jerinan Government be- gan erecting the Koch Institute for Consumptives with an imnu'nse laboratory and 1.50 beds. In 1001, before the British Congress on Tu- berculosis held in London. Koch called attention to the fact that even at his first publication of the atiology of tuberculosis, he expressed himself with reserve regarding the identity of the dis- ease in man and animals, announcing his belief that bovine tuberculosis and human tuberculosis were distinctly .lid'ercnt diseases. These state- ments, at the time characterized as sensational, gave rise to extensive disputation and experi- ment. Among Koch's published works are: Zur Aetioloffie des Mihbrandes (1876); Untersuck- ungen iiher die Aetiologie der Wundinfektiona- krankheiten {1S78; Eng. trans, by Cheyne, 1880) ; U chcr die M iJzbrandi m iif unij. Eine Entyegnung auf den von I'astcur in <Jc»( gehaltenen Vortrag (1882) ; Beitrag zur Aetiologie der Tuberculose (1882; Eng. trans, by Boyd, I88G) ; Leber die Cliotcrabaklerien (1884; Eng. trans, by Layeock, 1S8) ; Ucber 'X ahirheilung und medizinisehe Kiiiist (IS8.5); On Disinfection, abstracted anS translated by Whitelegge (1880); Weitere Mit- tcilungen iiher ein Ileitmitlel gegen Tuberculose (1800) ; Uehtr haktcriologiselie Forschung (ISdO; trans, into English 1801); Ergchni.ise der vom Dculschen Reich ausgcsandten .ilalnria-Expedilio- ncn (1900) ; An I n vest i gal ion of I'alhogenic Or- ganisms, translated by Horsley (1880); Aerzt- liehe Bcobachtungen in den Tropen (1898); Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prophylaxis of Tropi- cal Malaria, translated by Shakespeare (1898). See the articles on Tuberculosis and Tubek- CULI.V. KOCHANOWSKI, k.*/Ka nOv'skI, Jan (1530- 84 ) . A Polish |)oct. He was born on the family estate, S3X-yna, in the Government of Kadom. in 1544 he entered the University of Cracow, and in 1.552 he continued his studies at the University of Padua. He traveled for some time in Italy, and in 1553 he went to Paris, where he met Ron- sard, who encouraged him to write in verse, in which art he soon became famous. On his return home he was appointed Royal Secretary at the Court of King Sigisinund Augustus. Soon after- wards he was presented with two benefices. In 15GS, however, he retired to his estate, Czarnylas, where he devoted himself to writing poetry, "tak- ing at the same time keen interest in aUpoliti- cal changes of his country. He later refused the post of poet laureate at the Court of King Stephen Biithory. Koehanowski is the most important Polish poet of his century. He wrote in Polish and Latin. In the former the most famous of his works are the Treni/ (Cra- cow, 15S0) ; elegies on the death of his daughter Ursula, which are considered masterpieces in form and style; the drama Odpraica posldw grekieh ("The Dispatch of the Greek Am- bassadors," 1578), in commemoration of the marriage of Zamojski with the Princess Biithory; and I'roporzee albo hold priiski (''Homage to the Prussian Banner") ;and the satire Zgodtt (1564). In his Fraszki ("Epigrams"), miscellaneous poems and anecdotes (3 vols.. 1584), he appears at his best. His translation of the Psalms (1579), stamped with vividness and simplicity, is considered the best in existence. In the Latin language he wrote Lyricorttm Libcllns (15,80); Elegiarum Libri Qnatnor (1.584) ; and nianv oc- casional poems which have been translated" into Polish by Brodzinski in 1829, and by Syrokomla in 1851. Koehanowski welded the classical and Polish elements, and largely contributed to the development and refinement of his native lan- guage. His writings were for the first time published eollectively at Cracow in 1584-90; but the last and best edition, the so-called- jubilee public.it ion, appeared in Warsaw (18S41. "Many of his poems were .ilso translated into German by H. Xitschmann (1875). For biographies of Koehanowski consult: Von Przyborowski (Poscn, 1857) ; also Liiwenfeld, Jan Kochanoirski und seine lateinischen Dichtungen (Posen, 1878).