| Date | 1854 |
| Author | Hassall |
| Contribution | Reported myriads of microbes in watery stools of cholera victims. |
| Reference | Chase |
| Notes | Arthur Hassall found the comma-shaped bacterium in massive numbers in the watery ("rice-water") stools of cholera victims, and reported his discovery to the Medical Council (part of the General Board of Health) in London. The significance of the microbes as agents of disease does not seem to have been appreciated by the authorities. It may not have been appreciated by Hassall himself (see Chase, p. 116) but it is worth noting that Hassall was brought into the cholera investigation by his medical colleague John Snow, who was trying unsuccessfully to discover the causative agent. Hassall must have understood that the objective was to find the causative agent of cholera, not to make incidental microscopical observations; see below. Hassall also found the microbes, which he called "vibriones" in a sample of water from the infamous Broad Street Pump during the 1854 outbreak of cholera in London (see Johnson, S. 2006). The sample had been brought to him by John Snow. See 1854 Snow. See also 1854 Pacini and 1884 Koch. |
| Category | Miscellany |
| Pathogen Class | Bacteria |
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