Abstract
BY the death of Prof. Robert Koch there goes from amongst us one of the most remarkable men of his time, a man of tremendous determination, great capacity, and indefatigable energy, who has left an impress on the science and practice of medicine such as is made by a few exceptional men only. It would be affectation to say that all his work is of equal value, for although under his hand and mind no subject could remain unaltered, his pioneer work on the isolation and cultivation of bacteria in solid media, his studies in anthrax, and, his work on tuberculosis and cholera, must always stand out above any other that he did. The controversial methods of his earlier years, as exemplified by his controversy with Pasteur in 1883, were succeeded by methods of a less pungent, but equally vigorous, character, but his arguments were always respected, even by those who did not agree with him, as those of a man thoroughly in earnest, whilst his utterances could always be accepted as those of a man who had every right, by reason both of experiment and experience, to give full and free expression to his opinions, opinions that must be carefully weighed and considered, especially by those who differ most widely from him.
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Prof. Robert Koch, For. Mem. R.S. . Nature 83, 402–404 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/083402a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/083402a0