Louis Pasteur "Germ"

Louis Pasteur argues a better way to fight microorganisms after confinement of these germs. During Pasteur’s life, he proposed the “Germ Theory of disease”, in which microorganisms are the source of many diseases. This led to the development of vaccines, high regards of good hygienic. He urged doctors to use antiseptic methods on their apparatuses, and hands to prevent further contamination of microorganisms. He also was the father of stereochemistry, promoting the fact that molecules may exhibit isomers of each other (i.e., although the compounds may appear alike, they can actually be mirror images of each other, just like your right and left hand). He did other important deeds like saving the beer and wine industries through the study of fermentation, which said that not all organisms needed oxygen to live, as a matter of fact, oxygen could be harmful to the organism, depending on the specie – some organisms require oxygen, some need oxygen in moderate amount, some cannot live with oxygen present, and some can live in both environments such as the yeasts. Another example is pasteurization of food – heating food to a specific temperature to reduce the number of virulent organisms; this was an important phenomenon in minimizing contamination. He writes this article to further educate scientists and physicians about the microbial world about what causes and prevents disease. He first describes the mechanism of microbial pathology. The organism enters, infects, spreads, and multiplies through multiple transportations of either the blood or through the lymphatic. In order to stop the organism is to prevent its growth, unless it’s not confined. One of the listed ways to fight the microorganism is to confine them, then use antiseptic methods. The better method discovered by Pasteur and he advices his clinicians to use this method is the boric acid instead of carbolic acid. Although Carbolic acid works well, it’s very acidic and harmful to the patient. On the other hand, boric acid is a solution that is not harmful to the human body, but is pernicious to the microbial lives. Boric acid doesn’t dangerously affect the mucous membranes, particularly of the bladder. This antiseptic method opens the gateway to other procedures, demonstrated subjectively by a doctor. He then suggests that with this medicine, there’s no more need to use infeasible methods such as killing organisms by overheating them to such an extreme temperature because ultimately this is dangerous to the patient. Since these were all subjective discoveries and particular of the bladder, the medical authorities would not likely accept his ideas, but he is willing to counteract all claims against his discovery.

Works Cited:

Pasteur, Louis. “[Excerpt from] On the Extension of the Germ Theory to the Etiology of Certain Common Diseases.” 1880. Medicine. Spec. issue of Lapham’s Quarterly. 2.4 (2008): 31. Print.

Weisstein, Eric W.. “Pasteur, Louis (1822 – 1895).” Wolfram Research. 1996-2007. Web. 5 Sept . 2011. < http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Pasteur.html >.