MAY 1955
GERM THEORY--"A new look at the biological formulation of the germ theory seems warranted. We need to account for the peculiar fact that pathogenic agents sometimes can persist in the tissues without causing disease and at other times can cause disease even in the presence of specific antibodies. During the first phase of the germ theory the property of virulence was regarded as lying solely within the microbes themselves. Now virulence is coming to be thought of as ecological. Whether man lives in equilibrium with microbes or becomes their victim depends upon the circumstances under which he encounters them. This ecological concept is not merely an intellectual game; it is essential to a proper formulation of the problem of microbial diseases and even to their control. --Ren J. Dubos"
GERM THEORY--"A new look at the biological formulation of the germ theory seems warranted. We need to account for the peculiar fact that pathogenic agents sometimes can persist in the tissues without causing disease and at other times can cause disease even in the presence of specific antibodies. During the first phase of the germ theory the property of virulence was regarded as lying solely within the microbes themselves. Now virulence is coming to be thought of as ecological. Whether man lives in equilibrium with microbes or becomes their victim depends upon the circumstances under which he encounters them. This ecological concept is not merely an intellectual game; it is essential to a proper formulation of the problem of microbial diseases and even to their control. --Ren J. Dubos"
INSULIN--"In the history of protein chemistry the year 1954 will go down as a landmark, for last year a group of investigators finally succeeded in achieving the first complete description of the structure of a protein molecule. The protein is insulin, the pancreatic hormone which governs sugar metabolism in the body. The achievement was due largely to the efforts of the English biochemist Frederick Sanger and a small group of workers at Cambridge University. When Sanger commenced his investigation in 1944, it appeared that the key to insulin's activity as a hormone lay in its structure, for it contained no special components that might explain its specific behavior."
