Life with the Pneumococcus: Notes from the Bedside, Laboratory, and Library (Anniversary Collection)

Because of the high fatality rate of untreated pneumococcal pneumonia, both the disease and its principal cause, the pneumococcus, were objects of intense scrutiny by physicians and bacteriologists during the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. As a result, scientists learned much of the fundamental importance to microbiology, immunology, and genetics while developing the pneumococcal vaccine.

"A nice historical record of how science goes when it is going slowly but going well."—Lewis Thomas, from the Foreword

"Austrian's recounting of the history of the quelling reaction makes for fascinating reading. Particularly worthwhile is the story of pneumococcal vaccine development."—JAMA