Saturday, January 23, 2010

Scribbling scientists

In a summarized history of the discovery of trichinosis, I read this:
1859: Germany: After dissecting a dog that had been fed Trichinella infected tissue Rudolph Virchow finds that the Trichinella larvae become adult nematodes that are not Trichuris. Virchow hastily sends these findings to the Paris Academy of Sciences, but his messy handwriting delays the translation and publication of his letter. Even though Virchow beats Leuckart to the experiment, Leuckart rushes to have the results from his own experiments with pigs published by the Paris Academy in September 1859.However, his messy handwriting leads to the inaccurate reporting of the actual number of worms found in the pig’s intestine. Leuckart’s paper claimed that Trichinella became Trichuris. In September 1859 Virchow’s paper is finally published and his findings contradict Leuckart’s hypothesis; after further experimentation Leuckart recognizes that Virchow is correct.

1 comment:

Stuart Clayton said...

As in 101 Dalmatians: Trichinella DeVille.