| Date | 1870 |
| Author | Pasteur |
| Contribution | a. Published major book on silkworm diseases. |
| Reference | Carter |
| Notes | Apparently he believed (?) that pebrine was caused by the corpuscles (see 1866) and flacherie by the vibrions and their resultant enteric fermentation (see 1869). According to Carter he was cautious in claiming causation, especially in the case of flacherie (the organisms being sufficient, but not necessary, for disease). Pasteur cited Bassi's work. Claimed to have thought of germs in contagion and organic decomposition. Was this wishful thinking arising from Lister's work? How and when did Pasteur link germs with contagious disease or putrefaction of human tissues? Dubos (1960 book) points out that the pebrine work had no impact on medical thinking (and that the same was true for the 1850 studies by others on the fungal causation of potato-blight). |
| Category | Causation |
| Pathogen Class | General |
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