Abstract
ONLY recently we lost Löfler, one of the pioneers of modern bacteriology, and now Paul Ehrlich has passed away. He died on August 20, as all good workers might wish to die suddenly in his laboratory, in full harness, and before the rust of age had dimmed his powers. Born in 1854 at Strehlen, in Silesia, of Jewish parents, he was one of the many distinguished Hebrews who have contributed to make Germany's fame what it is in the world of science and art. He was educated at the Gymnasium at Breslau, and afterwards at the Universities of Breslau and Strasburg, where he graduated in medicine. From the outset of his career he took the deepest interest in the chemical relationships of living matter and in the affinities of various reagents for living cells. One of his earliest researches was upon the effects of certain aniline colours upon living tissues, and he devoted much attention to staining methods, devising new stains, and Ehrlich's haematoxylin and Ehrlich's triacid stain are stock solutions in the present-day biological laboratory. An investigation on staining methods for the tubercle bacillus led to the discovery that certain dyes possessed a peculiar affinity for this bacillus, and this fact tinged his whole philosophy, and suggested the conception of the specific affinity of certain chemical groups for particular cells and tissues.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Prof. Paul Ehrlich . Nature 95, 707–708 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/095707a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/095707a0