1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frying and I'm Tracy be Wilson. Hey, as 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: we record this, we're in the middle of a pandemic. 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: We sure are. This is the first time that we 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: have recorded the podcast with everyone involved in their houses. Yeah, 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: we are entirely remote this go around. This is our 8 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: first of those. As Tracy just said, so, uh, Tracy 9 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: is usually at home, but today I am also at home, 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: and Casey are amazing super producer, also at home. So 11 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: um fingers crossed that our maiden voyage of doing it 12 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: this way works out fine. We did a test, it 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,599 Speaker 1: worked out fine. But yeah, all of this that's going on, 14 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: all of these changes to our day to day lives, 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: however temporary they may be, and the virus that has 16 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: caused all of this at me to thinking about contagion 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: and germ theory and the various points in history where 18 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: people have been trying to figure out the science of disease. 19 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: And as I kind of snorfled around on the Internet 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: looking for things related to that, it led me to 21 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: Maximum Pettenkofer and one of the things that I found 22 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: in my research for this was a lecture by Yale 23 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: professor Frank Snowdon. It's part of their Open Yale Courses, 24 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: and he described Pett and co Forer as quote the 25 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:33,919 Speaker 1: most sophisticated and scientifically robust of those we might call wrong. 26 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: So Pett and Cofer's ideas about specifically how cholera but 27 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: also other diseases spread, we're not exactly right. But even 28 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: though he was kind of on the wrong track, his 29 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: work still had some really beneficial impacts on the way 30 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: that we live. And he also had a lot of 31 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: twists and turns in his early life. And I'm hoping 32 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: that those which are pretty entertaining, plus talking about these 33 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: concepts in a way that's a little bit removed from 34 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: what we are all currently living through, will offer a 35 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: way to consider just how far we've come in figuring 36 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: out epidemiology. We do need to offer a quick heads up. 37 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: There is a brief mention of suicide in this episode. 38 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: I'll add an additional heads up just because I was 39 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: eating my breakfast when I got to this part of 40 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: the outline. Towards the end of the episode, there's a 41 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: little gross medical bit that you know it'll become clear 42 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 1: when we get closer to it. Yeah, no, part of 43 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: you will doubt was that it so. Max von petten 44 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: Coffer was born at home on December three, eighteen in Liechtenheim, Bavaria, 45 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: near the Danube River. His father wasn't exactly a farmer. 46 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: He worked the land, but really only to the point 47 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: of subsistence. It was not a vocation really on his part. Yeah, 48 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: they were very poor. His family was Catholic and they 49 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: were obviously of extremely modest means. Max was fifth in 50 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: the birth order. He had a total of seven siblings, 51 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: so that is a very z and crowded house. It 52 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: made for more people than could realistically fit in their 53 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,519 Speaker 1: living situation. Max, as a consequence, did not have a 54 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: bedroom of his own. He actually betted down each night 55 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: in the hallway, which kind of a landing at the 56 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: top of the stairs that had a little crooked to 57 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: the side of it, and that is where he slept 58 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: those early years of Max's life. Unsurprisingly, we're not particularly happy. 59 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: The family's poverty took its toll, as the pett and 60 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: Coverers just never had enough to make ends meet. When 61 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,799 Speaker 1: Max was nine, his fortunes changed though he was sent 62 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: to Munich to live with an uncle, Dr Franz ex 63 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: Pett and Cover. Franz was a successful apothecary. He was 64 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: in a way better financial position than Max's parents were, 65 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: so that constant state of need was no longer part 66 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: of Max's life. After he moved to Munich, there was 67 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: just a whole new future of possibilities opened up for him, 68 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: and this is a case where he definitely explored a 69 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: lot of them. First off, he started a formal education, 70 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: so he attended Grammar's Cool and then he went on 71 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: to high school and he graduated in eighteen thirty seven 72 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: when he was eighteen. He graduated with honors, and he 73 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: initially seemed to be leaning towards literary scholarship. He also 74 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: wrote poetry, which is good enough to be published in 75 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: a collection. He shifted his focus after he enrolled in 76 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: college at the University of Munich. The idea on his 77 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: uncle's part was that Max could study pharmacy and chemistry 78 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: and then eventually take over the apothecary, and Max started 79 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: his higher education with that as the plan. But there 80 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: was also a problem, which was it turned out that 81 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,799 Speaker 1: he hated those courses. He also dabbled with the idea 82 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: of law, maybe even theology. Those eventually turned out not 83 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: to hold his interest either. Oh, if you've ever taken 84 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: a class you hated, it's excruciating, So to have a 85 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,679 Speaker 1: bunch of them, I feel for him. Uh So Naturally, 86 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: with none of these other ideas about his future really 87 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: being anything that was working for him, he decided to 88 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: become an actor, perfectly normal path for a scientist. Uh. 89 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: He remembered acting in school plays and loving it, so 90 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: that seemed to him like a perfectly good option that 91 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: he hadn't explored yet. As you may imagine, none of 92 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 1: this went over particularly well with his uncle. Uh. Their relationship, 93 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: as a consequence, did, on a serious note, become really, 94 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: really tense, and eventually there was a physical altercation where 95 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: Franz hit his nephew and Max. At that point, this 96 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: associated himself from his uncle, which also meant that he 97 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: was separating himself from his uncle's financial support. His whole 98 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: theater thing actually seemed like it might play out for 99 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: a little while. In eighteen forty, he was appearing on 100 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: stage as Max Tenkof in various productions. He was handsome 101 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: and smart, and his time studying literature in his younger 102 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: years really served him well. But depending on which biographical 103 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: account you read, it seems like his reviews might have 104 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,280 Speaker 1: been pretty mixed, and it became apparent that this was 105 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: not going to be away for Max to support himself. Yea, 106 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: some accounts say that he got pretty um consistently, not 107 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: even panned. It wasn't even that it was like people 108 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: were like, he's fine. Others say he did he did 109 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: quite well. So we don't really know, but clearly it 110 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: was not a career that was going to work out. 111 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: But he did make an important connection during this time 112 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: as an actor. He met a young woman named Helene 113 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: petten Koeper. They have the same name because she was 114 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: a cousin, and they fell in love. The two of 115 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: them married, and it was actually this marriage that ended 116 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: up reconnecting Max to his uncle Franz, and Helene helped 117 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: encourage the two men to reconcile. In eighteen forty one, 118 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: Max moved back to Munich with his new wife and, 119 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: with his uncle's support, started to study medicine. Just a 120 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: year after that, he was publishing articles on chemistry, specifically 121 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: on the detection and isolation of arsenic in March of 122 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: eighteen forty three, he was granted an apothecary degree, and then, 123 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: after completing his medical thesis on South American plants that 124 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: were believed to have curative properties, he received the degree 125 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,280 Speaker 1: of Doctor of Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics. Yeah. I'm not 126 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: clear on why this whole science thing worked for him 127 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: this round, unless he was really just trying to step 128 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: up and find a vocation in which he could support 129 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: not only himself but his new wife. He was very 130 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: dedicated to Helene, But this time around it was like 131 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: his curiosity kind of worked out and he got pretty 132 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: into his medical career. Petton Coopher's medical education had always 133 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: focused primarily on chemistry, and his first position after completing 134 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: his education was working in a lab in Wurtzburg researching 135 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: urine and isolating various substances in it. In this work, 136 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: he showed that hiperic acid and sulpho cyanic acid were 137 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: present in urine, and he also noted a component that 138 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: was high in nitrogen, although he didn't specifically identify it. 139 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: Later chemists would identify that as creatine and creatinine, and 140 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: he also developed a way to test urine for bile salt, 141 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: and that test has actually continued to be used right 142 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: up to the modern day. He then moved on to 143 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: the University of Geisson in eighteen forty four to continue 144 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: his work as a chemist, but after working under mentor 145 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: usedace Vun Lee Big for a while there, it was 146 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,239 Speaker 1: apparent that he wasn't going to be offered a professorship, 147 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: which is something he had hoped for. There just were 148 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: not any open positions. Yeah, it wasn't an issue with 149 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: him not doing good work because though it did not 150 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: lead to a full time job, his work with Lee 151 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: Big was quite fruitful. He developed a copper amalgam for 152 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,959 Speaker 1: dentists to use as a filling for teeth. He also 153 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: developed away along with Lee Big, to prepare meat extract 154 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: as a suit base. That actually led to a company 155 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: being started, and his interest and his skill in chemistry 156 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: really suited industrial chemistry projects quite well, so he shifted 157 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: away from medicine for a while. He was still using 158 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: his chemistry knowledge on the job that he landed in, 159 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: but it was very different from what he'd been doing before. 160 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,199 Speaker 1: He worked in a mint until eighteen forty seven, and 161 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: in his time there it was his job to refine 162 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: and improve the minting of coins so the most valuable 163 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 1: medals used in their production could be stretched as far 164 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,680 Speaker 1: as possible. One of the other things that he worked 165 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: on at this time in his life was developing a 166 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: way to save paintings from mildew that formed as their 167 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:22,439 Speaker 1: varnish broke down. You know, I fell in love with 168 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: him for this. Uh. He figured out a way to 169 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: really carefully apply alcohol vapor to the surfaces of paintings 170 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: and in doing so reactivate the varnish so that it 171 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: would kind of reseal the painting and protect its surface 172 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: from molden mildew. Penn Koefer had been made an associate 173 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,839 Speaker 1: in the Academy of Sciences in eighteen forty six, and 174 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty seven he was finally offered a professorship 175 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: at the University of Munich. He taught medical chemistry there. 176 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: This was a newly created position. He was paid a 177 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: small yearly salary plus two measures of wheat and seven 178 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: measures of rye. He had a research space at his disposal, 179 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: and his lectures covered topics including public health, sanitation, diet, 180 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,319 Speaker 1: physical chemistry, and hygiene. Yeah, his interest in all of 181 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: those really really continues throughout his life, and as we'll see, uh, 182 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,319 Speaker 1: it becomes very important. Three years into this new position, 183 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,960 Speaker 1: Pettenkofer's responsibilities grew because his uncle Franz died in eighteen 184 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: fifty and as a consequence, Pettenkofer inherited Franz's position as 185 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: court apothecary, so he was kind of advising the government 186 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: on on matters of chemistry. And this appointment included the 187 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: residents that his uncle had lived in, in which Max 188 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: had lived in as a child, so he got a 189 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: house out of the deal, and he also got an 190 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: additional salary for the apothecary positions. And things are going 191 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: quite well. We are about to get into the work 192 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: that Pett and co forerd did while trying to understand 193 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: the spread of cholera, but first we will pause for 194 00:10:51,920 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break. Starting in the eighteen fifties, cholera 195 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: became the focus of much of Pett and Cooper's work. 196 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty five, his fortunes continued to expand and 197 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 1: his standing in the scientific community grew as well, and 198 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:15,679 Speaker 1: he was able to move his lab into the newly 199 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: built Institute of Physiology, where he had more space to work, 200 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:21,719 Speaker 1: and this was also the year that he published a 201 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: really important work, Investigations and Observations on the Method and 202 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: Spread of Cholera. During this time, one of the important 203 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: concepts that he wrote about was the idea of a 204 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: healthy carrier. While he didn't agree with the contagion theories 205 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: at the time, and we're going to get into that 206 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:39,439 Speaker 1: in a moment, he did think that there could be 207 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: people who showed no sign of illness whatsoever and yet 208 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:46,439 Speaker 1: helped spread certain elements of disease. Max von Pett and 209 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: Cooper started sharing his idea that cholera was linked to 210 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,319 Speaker 1: a micro organism, but he was also adamant that whatever 211 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: that microorganism was wasn't enough to make someone sick by itself. 212 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: He thought a series of conditions had to be met 213 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: to cause an epidemic. There had to be the microorganism, 214 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: specific local conditions, seasonal conditions, and individual susceptibility. He really 215 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: didn't believe in the developing ideas that would eventually lead 216 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: Louis Pasteur and Robert Coke to develop germ theory. Yeah, 217 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: germ theory had been kind of developing over time, but 218 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: they really solidified it uh in the eighteen hundreds. Pett 219 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 1: and Kopher's idea was represented by the simple mathematical equation 220 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: of X plus Y equals z, and in this model 221 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,599 Speaker 1: the outcome Z was cholera. The variable X was the 222 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: presence of a micro organism, which, again on its own, 223 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: he believed to be harmless, and the why variable represented 224 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: the local conditions that were contributing factors that would enable 225 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:49,679 Speaker 1: that micro organism to actually become infectious. He thought that 226 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: general n cleanliness offered nutrients for that X micro organism 227 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 1: to thrive, and that water and warm temperatures and porous 228 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: soil were also important contributors. The microorganism needed to ferment 229 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: basically kind of the way a plant germinates, and then, 230 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: building on miasma theory, it would release infectious elements into 231 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: the air. And this idea of Pett and Cooper's came 232 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: to be known kind of colloquially as the groundwater theory. 233 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: It's also sometimes called localization theory. This theory was an 234 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: opposition to the work of British physician John Snow, who 235 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: we have an episode on and the Archive. Snow believed 236 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 1: that whatever was causing cholera was something that was ingested 237 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: and was not miasmatic. In eighteen forty nine, Snow had 238 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,559 Speaker 1: written an essay entitled on the Mode and Communication of 239 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: Cholera outlining this idea, and in eighteen fifty four it 240 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: seemed like he had proven it when he identified a 241 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:47,199 Speaker 1: water pump in London's Broad Street that seemed to be 242 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: the source of multiple people's infections. That's a very short 243 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: version of his story. H pettent Cofer was pretty adamant 244 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: that Snow was oversimplifying things. He acknowledged that John Snow 245 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 1: had clearly identified some factor in this whole process in 246 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,439 Speaker 1: the water, and he actually wrote that no one in 247 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: his right mind could dismiss that finding. But what exactly 248 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: was it about the water that caused illness? He felt 249 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: as though it just could not possibly be a water 250 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 1: borne pathogen. By the way, that word was not even 251 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: in in the vernacular at that time. It wasn't coined 252 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: until later. But he thought that anything that would have 253 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: been in the water by the time it got to 254 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: a human would have been far too diluted to actually 255 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: be dangerous. That big gap in understanding really drove Pett 256 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: and Cooper's work for the rest of his life. He 257 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,359 Speaker 1: wrote paper after paper over the next four decades, reiterating 258 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: and refining his ideas. This stoked the fires of a 259 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: long debate in the medical and scientific communities between the contagionists, 260 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: who thought that Snow had identified the problem, and the 261 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: anti contagionists, who thought there were far more factors involved 262 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: than simply passing some sort of germ from person to 263 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: person and bo Cholera was a concentration of his work, 264 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: Pettenkopher continued to develop theories and experiments in other fields. 265 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: Uh this is one of those things where you don't 266 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: realize how much he worked on until you really dig in, 267 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: because most of the biographies of the articles you find 268 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: about him are just about his anti contagionism and cholera. 269 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: But in eighteen sixty one he developed the first breath 270 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: analysis apparatus. It was a chamber in which a subjects 271 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: excelation could be analyzed to determine how the body was 272 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: consuming and using fats and carbohydrates, forming an important foundation 273 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: of metabolic research. He was then able to use that 274 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: data that he gathered to develop some of the earliest 275 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: calculations of caloric needs that a person may require in 276 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: various living conditions. In eighteen sixty four, he became rector 277 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: of the University of Munich. His influence and his work 278 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: in hygiene led King Ludwig the Second of Bavaria to 279 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: believe that hygiene research should be part of all of 280 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: Bavaria as higher learning institutions. The king ensured that Bavarious 281 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,400 Speaker 1: three universities all had chairs of hygiene. Pett and co 282 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: Forer filled that role at the University of Munich. Once 283 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: these positions were established, hygiene became a required course and 284 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: all their medical curriculums. And we're going to talk more 285 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 1: about some of his work in hygiene as we go along. 286 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: Uh In eighteen sixty five, Pett and co Forer, frustrated 287 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: at the lack of journals that were publishing studies of hygiene, 288 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: just formed his own uh Zitch Drift for Biology, which 289 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: is Journal of Biology was the result. In eighteen seventy two, 290 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: he was offered a very lucrative position. The University of 291 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: Vienna was building a new hygiene institute. They asked him 292 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: to run it. This was an enticing offer, but Pett 293 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: and co Forer really preferred to stay in Bavaria, so 294 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: he used this offer to his advantage and told the 295 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: University of Munich that Vienna really wanted him so that 296 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: he would consider staying only if he had an instant 297 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: tute of hygiene there in Munich. The university agreed to 298 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: build him one, which took the next seven years, but 299 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,359 Speaker 1: it did get done and Petton Coopher stayed ran this 300 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: hygienic Institute at the University of Munich once it opened 301 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy nine. The institute was highly influential. It 302 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 1: served as a prototype for other education and research programs 303 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: around the world. That was a direct inspiration for the JOHNS. 304 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore that 305 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,640 Speaker 1: was founded in nineteen seventeen. And one of the most 306 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 1: important publications during this time when he was really really 307 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: prolifically contributing to this idea of hygiene is a science 308 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: was a lecture titled the Value of Health to a City, 309 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: and this work broke down in numbers the cost of 310 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 1: having a population that wasn't in good health. He noted 311 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,680 Speaker 1: the average number of sick days taken by a worker 312 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,200 Speaker 1: in Munich at the time, which was twenty and he 313 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: calculated that those days cost the city three point four 314 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 1: million gould In a year, and he then I outlined 315 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: how if they developed a sewage system and they raised 316 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: sanitation standards, the city could actually far exceed making up 317 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:14,120 Speaker 1: for those losses and actually save additional money every year. 318 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 1: He studied how air quality impacted population health, how clothing 319 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: impacted health, and the benefits of raising plants indoors. He 320 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:27,840 Speaker 1: examined how ventilation could contribute to or detract from overall health. 321 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: The pet and Coper number, which is a number that 322 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 1: represents quote an absolute CEO too concentration of zero point 323 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: one percent or one thousand parts per million, is still 324 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:42,639 Speaker 1: used today. His teaching reflected his findings. He evangelized the 325 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: importance of clean air, clean water, clean soil, a clean home, 326 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,439 Speaker 1: as well as good clothing and nutrition. Thus, this idea 327 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: of hygiene as a medical issue really became an interdisciplinary field. 328 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 1: Pet and Coper really considered the role of environment in 329 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 1: a person's health, and to him it was very clear 330 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: that city planning should include this as a consideration. He 331 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: was not obviously the first person to think about this. 332 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: You can find texts going far far back into ancient 333 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: times where there are some connections being made about living 334 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:18,959 Speaker 1: conditions and health. But his work to identify specific causal 335 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: relationships between the way people live and their health beyond 336 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: what could be considered common sense was pretty new, and 337 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: he recognized that this was a field that would also 338 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,919 Speaker 1: have to be agile as civilization shifted over time, writing quote, 339 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: it is a peculiarity of hygiene to change its field 340 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: of research and, within certain limits its field of study, 341 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: according to time and circumstances. Even as the Hygienic Institute 342 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: was under construction, other job offers came in. When Petton 343 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: Cooper was asked to become head of the German Empire 344 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: Health Council in eighteen seventy six, he turned it down, 345 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 1: although he did serve in a smaller role as a consultant. 346 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:00,720 Speaker 1: We are about to head into the later years of 347 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: Pett and Cooper's life, including one very strange and risky experiment, 348 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: but first we are going to pause for a word 349 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: from the show's sponsors. The eighteen eighties were prolific for 350 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 1: Pett and Cooper, who continued his examination of cholera and 351 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,879 Speaker 1: his defense of his theory of how disease spread. In 352 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two, he collaborated on a project titled Handbook 353 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: for Hygiene with the German physician Hugo Wilhelm von Ziemsm. 354 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: And that handbook which makes it sound like a handy 355 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 1: thing you could put in your pocket, was actually published 356 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: in five volumes. In eighteen eighty three, Petten Cooper founded 357 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:47,200 Speaker 1: a second periodical archive for Hygiene. This wasn't many ways 358 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,119 Speaker 1: an outlet for pett and Cooper to continue his writing 359 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: about hygiene and disease in eighteen eighty six. In eighteen 360 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: eighty seven, he wrote a total of seven fifty six 361 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: pages of content for this journal. The same year he 362 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:05,199 Speaker 1: founded it, German microbiologist Robert Coke showed that Vibrio colora 363 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: was the bacterium responsible for cholera. Pettenkofer continued to believe 364 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: that this was only part of the cause. Though although 365 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: Pettenkofer defended his ideas really to the end, Coke's work 366 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: eclipsed his as it became the accepted scientific fact. One 367 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: of the big drivers in his writing and research was 368 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: field work. Pettenkofer was never just postulating about all of 369 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: his ideas about how disease was passed. He wasn't just 370 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: sitting in his study. He actually made a point to 371 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,359 Speaker 1: travel to locations where there had been cholera outbreaks and 372 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: study the conditions there, because he was always looking for 373 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:45,919 Speaker 1: additional data to add to his ever growing body of works, 374 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: all in the hopes that he could crack this problem 375 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: and bring an end to epidemic outbreaks. And that's an 376 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: important side note that we should make here. The reason 377 00:21:55,920 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: the debate between contagionists and anti contagionists was so impassioned 378 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: was because these were serious matters of public health. How 379 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: could scientists and the municipalities who took their council protect people. 380 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,679 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty nine, a London cholera outbreak that had 381 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: inspired Snow's work claimed the lives of more than fourteen 382 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: thousand people. And this was only one issue that was 383 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: in play. There were also leprosy which is now more 384 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,880 Speaker 1: often called hands and disease, typhus, plague, and yellow fever. 385 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,879 Speaker 1: Disease was something that everyone took seriously and that scientists 386 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: were constantly trying to understand, even if they came to 387 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 1: drastically different conclusions. So, going back to Maxivon Petton Coopher's 388 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:44,399 Speaker 1: field epidemiology, particularly in instances where the location of an 389 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: outbreak didn't fit the model that he had developed, he 390 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: was pretty quick to go there and try to figure 391 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: out why. In most cases, these were instances where a 392 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,399 Speaker 1: city or a village that had had an outbreak was 393 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: not built on porous soil, which was something that he 394 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: felt was vital to how this whole system worked. For example, Malta, 395 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: there had been a cholera epidemic on the island in 396 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty seven, but Malta was rock, which would seem 397 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: to contradict Pett and Cofer's theory about porous soil. But 398 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: when he actually went and visited the island, he saw 399 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: that that rock was in fact porous. It's limestone, so 400 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: he felt like this actually supported his idea. Conversely, he 401 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: noted that the city of Leon, France, had not had 402 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,200 Speaker 1: an outbreak, despite being a major metropolitan area that had 403 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 1: two rivers that skirted the city center and a bustling 404 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,399 Speaker 1: trade business. Pett and Cofer concluded that even though there 405 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: were other factors that might contribute to an outbreak in Leon, 406 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: the fact that the city's substrate was granted had saved 407 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: it from epidemics. Yeah, he was like, this whole fermentation 408 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: process cannot happen here because granite uh and through all 409 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 1: of this cholera study. He was also still advocating for 410 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,200 Speaker 1: a general improvement in hygiene everywhere as a key to 411 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: good health, and particularly drinking and just having good clean water, 412 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: even though he didn't agree with the idea that contaminated 413 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: water was what spread cholera. He thought everybody should just 414 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: have clean water because that was best. He wrote quote 415 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,360 Speaker 1: for good health, pure water is as necessary as pure air, 416 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 1: good food, comfortable quarters, and so forth. I myself am 417 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,680 Speaker 1: an enthusiast in the matter of drinking water, but not 418 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,360 Speaker 1: from fear of cholera or typhoid fever, but simply from 419 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: a pure love for the good. For me, water is 420 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: not only a necessary article of food, but a real 421 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: pleasure which I prefer and believe to be more healthful 422 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: than good wine or good beer. He was a borderline teetotaler. 423 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: He was not really a fan of alcohol at all Boo. 424 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: When Pett and Cooper turned seventy, the cities of Munich 425 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: and Leipzig each gave him cash gifts to be used 426 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 1: for his pet and co forer Foundation of Hygienic Investigation. 427 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety, he was elected as president of the 428 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: Bavarian Academy of Sciences, and in three he was given 429 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: Munich's highest honor, which was the gold Burgess Medal, and 430 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: that was in recognition of his lifetime of work. Is 431 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: nine also brought some sorrow. Max's wife, Helene died that year, 432 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,640 Speaker 1: and the couple had also lost three of their five 433 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: children over the years, and all of this loss really 434 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: took a toll on the scientist in his later life. 435 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,880 Speaker 1: The most dramatic story of Pettenkopher's life and work took 436 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: place in eighteen nine two. It is the part that 437 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: I referenced grossing me out when I read this outline 438 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: during breakfast. He was so convinced that a micro organism 439 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: alone could not make you sick that he put his 440 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 1: own life on the line to prove it. On October 441 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: seven two, he got a culture of vibrio colliery from 442 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: a sick patient. He makes it into bullion and he 443 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:54,880 Speaker 1: drank it. The experienced quote light diarrhea with an enormous 444 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: proliferation of the basilly in the stool, but he recovered 445 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,439 Speaker 1: pretty quickly. The two of his students tried the same thing. 446 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,959 Speaker 1: They both survived, but also became very ill. These were 447 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 1: Pettenkofer's thoughts on his rash experiment quote. Even if I 448 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,359 Speaker 1: had deceived myself and the experiment endangered my life, I 449 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,200 Speaker 1: would have looked death quietly in the eye, for mine 450 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:20,200 Speaker 1: would have been no foolish or cowardly suicide. I would 451 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:22,880 Speaker 1: have died in the service of science, like a soldier 452 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 1: on the field of honor. Health and life are as 453 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: I have so often said, very great earthly goods, but 454 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,480 Speaker 1: not the highest for man. Man, if he will rise 455 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: above the animals, must sacrifice both life and health for 456 00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 1: the higher ideals. In Pettenkofer retired from teaching. Two years later. 457 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: He also gave up his court apothecary position, and then, finally, 458 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety nine, he ended all his other professional 459 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,160 Speaker 1: obligations and retired primarily to Lake Starnberger in the southwest 460 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 1: of Munich. We had a summer home there. In early 461 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: nineteen o one, Pettenkofer entered a cious depression triggered by 462 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,920 Speaker 1: a painful throat infection. On February tenth, nineteen o one, 463 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 1: he shot and killed himself. His body was autopsied, and 464 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: it revealed that he had been living with chronic meningitis, 465 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,959 Speaker 1: as well as symptoms that would later be recognized as 466 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: cerebral calcification. Betton Cofer was buried in his beloved Munich 467 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 1: and thal Kirkner Cemetery. Today there's a statue of him 468 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: in Maximilian Square in Munich. The Hygienic Institute at the 469 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: University of Munich, which Pettenkofer had leveraged his Vienna offer 470 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: to get built, was destroyed in World War Two and 471 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,680 Speaker 1: it was bombed on July four. More than twenty years later, 472 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven, it was finally rebuilt and it 473 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:48,239 Speaker 1: became the Maxivon Pettenkofer Institute. That institute continues today as 474 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: a research and teaching organization focusing on microbiology, epidemiology and virology, 475 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: and it also offers hygienic microbiological testing for clinical facilities. 476 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: His period ucal Archive for Hygiene still exists today, although 477 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: it's now published under the name International Journal of Hygiene 478 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: and Environmental Health. Maxillon, pret and Cooper may have been 479 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: wrong about the causes of epidemics, but he was obviously 480 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 1: onto an important aspect of public health with his staunch 481 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: defense of hygiene as vital for the well being of 482 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,640 Speaker 1: all humankind. The work that he did, as we said, 483 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,880 Speaker 1: led to sanitary reform in a number of places, which 484 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: significantly improved the community's quality of life. And in modern epidemiology, 485 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 1: there is a recognition that exposure and outcome can be 486 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 1: influenced and modified by other factors, although it's not a 487 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 1: cause and effect situation, like he thought, Yeah, there's they're 488 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: definitely all kinds of things that can influence how easy 489 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: it is for a pathogen to spread and uh infect people. 490 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: But like it's not like you, you would only contract 491 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: color o with these specific things happening, like you thought. 492 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: So to quote with a quote that nicely summer rises 493 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: pet and Cooper's ideology about the importance of good health. Quote, 494 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: everyone who lives upon the earth deserves to be well, 495 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 1: for a life without health is a misery martyrdom from 496 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: which everyone longs for release, and when it may not 497 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: be by other means, even by death. I don't know 498 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: that everyone would agree with that perspective, but it does 499 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: seem like some up his whole philosophy. Yeah, good health 500 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: is the only way to live, and if you can't 501 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: have it, it's not worth living. It's a little bit grim. Yeah, 502 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 1: I'm like ablest right, Uh, Yeah, it's a He's such 503 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 1: an interesting creature, and that he his position in all 504 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 1: of this really does get eclipsed by UM Coke and 505 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: by uh Louis Pasteur who were doing their stuff. And 506 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: again because he was fundamentally wrong about contagion, but all 507 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 1: of the other stuff he did was amazing. I had 508 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: no idea about his work in metabolic science until I 509 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: had gotten pretty deep into research, and I was like, 510 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 1: wait a minute, which is really fascinating because that's stuff 511 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: that is still used all the time today, um, and 512 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,280 Speaker 1: it's an important part of some people's lives. Like if 513 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: you are an athlete, you're depending on science that he 514 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: developed to like maintain your optimal performance, because most athletes 515 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: have a very serious, like nutrition plan that's developed after 516 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: measuring how they're burning carbohydrates and fat, and that is 517 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: all part of this. I love that, Uh, here's a 518 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: trick that is happening as we transition to this new 519 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: age of recording at home, I usually keep a nice 520 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,640 Speaker 1: stack of listener mail prepped in the office, and I'm 521 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: bummed because that's one of the things that we won't 522 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 1: be able to do for a little bit um because 523 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: we're not there to receive it. And in fact, I 524 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: think that building is is not going to be receiving it, 525 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: at least not in the normal way that we have 526 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: been Um, which stinks. But we'll get back to it, 527 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: I promise once all of this blows over and I 528 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: can get back to your marvel parcels and postcards, they 529 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: will be top of mine. If you've been thinking of 530 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: sending something to us, we definitely appreciate your thought and generosity. 531 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: I would wait, yeah, hold off, because I don't know 532 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: the fate of that stuff right now. Um. I'm sure 533 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: it's going somewhere, and it's probably like being stored somewhere, 534 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: but I don't know how long it's gonna take for 535 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: anything to eventually get parceled out actually to us once 536 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: everything is back up and running. So if you have 537 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,080 Speaker 1: something you've been longing to send us, just sit on 538 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: it for a bit. It'll still it'll still be sendable 539 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: with what we're all done. Um yeah. So what I 540 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,479 Speaker 1: will do is take this opportunity to thank our listener, Catherine, 541 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: who is also someone who I interact with on Twitter 542 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: a lot and has become something of a friend, and 543 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: she very sweetly sent me a Godzilla magnet and a 544 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: little r two D two lapel pin like R two 545 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,880 Speaker 1: D two in this really stylized way to our office. 546 00:31:57,920 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: It was one of the last things I was able 547 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: to open and before all of this happened. So thank 548 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: you so much, Katherine, Like that was just the sweetest 549 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: and I love that it relates to both Star Wars, 550 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: which I love, and Godzilla, which we have talked about 551 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,360 Speaker 1: on the show before, and I also love. If you 552 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: would like to write to us, email is a very 553 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,560 Speaker 1: safe bet that you can do that at History Podcast 554 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: at i heart radio dot com. You can also still 555 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: find us on social media as Missed in History pretty 556 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,000 Speaker 1: much everywhere. And if you would like to subscribe to 557 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: the podcast, if maybe you're a new listener who has 558 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: stumbled upon us looking for something to entertain you in 559 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,000 Speaker 1: these times have shut in uh, you can do that 560 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: on the I heart Radio app, at Apple podcast or 561 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: wherever it is you listen. Stuff you Missed in History 562 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 1: Class is a production of I heart Radio. For more 563 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 564 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.