EcoSal Plus
Domain 1:
Historical Perspectives
Escherich and Escherichia
- Author: Herbert C. Friedmann1
- Editor: James Kaper2
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VIEW AFFILIATIONS HIDE AFFILIATIONSAffiliations: 1: Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637; 2: University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
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Received 06 November 2013 Accepted 21 January 2014 Published 09 May 2014
- Address correspondence to James Kaper, [email protected]
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[open-access] The authors have paid a fee to allow immediate free access to this article.
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Abstract:
The purpose of this essay is threefold: to give an outline of the life and the various achievements of Theodor Escherich, to provide a background to his discovery of what he called Bacterium coli commune (now Escherichia coli), and to indicate the enormous impact of studies with this organism, long before it became the cornerstone of research in bacteriology and in molecular biology.
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Citation: Friedmann H. 2014. Escherich and Escherichia, EcoSal Plus 2014; doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013




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Abstract:
The purpose of this essay is threefold: to give an outline of the life and the various achievements of Theodor Escherich, to provide a background to his discovery of what he called Bacterium coli commune (now Escherichia coli), and to indicate the enormous impact of studies with this organism, long before it became the cornerstone of research in bacteriology and in molecular biology.

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Figures
“Escherich was young, distinguished-looking, and wore an impressive beard. This was not unusual at that time” (Béla Schick [ 4 , p. 114] in a moving evocation of his teacher). Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f1

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Figure 1
“Escherich was young, distinguished-looking, and wore an impressive beard. This was not unusual at that time” (Béla Schick [ 4 , p. 114] in a moving evocation of his teacher). Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f1
Title and second page of Theodor Escherich’s classic book, 1886, “The Infant’s Intestinal Bacteria and their Relationships to the Physiology of Digestion,” to “His dear father, Senior Medical Officer (Medizinalrath) Dr. Escherich, dedicated with a child’s love and gratitude.” Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f2

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Figure 2
Title and second page of Theodor Escherich’s classic book, 1886, “The Infant’s Intestinal Bacteria and their Relationships to the Physiology of Digestion,” to “His dear father, Senior Medical Officer (Medizinalrath) Dr. Escherich, dedicated with a child’s love and gratitude.” Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f2
Title page, volume two, of the four-volume comprehensive “Handbook of Pathogenic Microorganisms,” 1903, edited by W. Kolle and A. Wassermann. Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f3

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Figure 3
Title page, volume two, of the four-volume comprehensive “Handbook of Pathogenic Microorganisms,” 1903, edited by W. Kolle and A. Wassermann. Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f3
First page of Escherich and Pfaundler’s 141-page review on Bacterium coli commune in the 1903 Handbook. Escherich’s introduction mentions Leeuwenhoek, Pasteur, and Koch. Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f4

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Figure 4
First page of Escherich and Pfaundler’s 141-page review on Bacterium coli commune in the 1903 Handbook. Escherich’s introduction mentions Leeuwenhoek, Pasteur, and Koch. Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f4
Photographs and some of the accompanying legends at the end of Escherich’s 1886 book. Fig. 4. Bacterium coli commune from a 6-day-old potato culture; predominantly short, constricted (eingeschnürte) shapes. Fig. 6. Bacterium coli commune from an 8-day-old gelatin plate colony (Gelatineplattencolonie); readily apparent rod-type. Fig. 7. Bacillus subtilis; one bacillus at the stage of spore formation. Fig. 10. Bacterium lactis aerogenes from an 8-day-old gelatin test tube. All photographs, 970-fold magnified, were taken by Charles Workman, M.D. from Belfast, a visitor in the Bacteriological Laboratory of the Munich Pathological Institute, using isochromatic plates, and copied photographically (durch Lichtdruck vervielfältigt). Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f5

Click to view
Figure 5
Photographs and some of the accompanying legends at the end of Escherich’s 1886 book. Fig. 4. Bacterium coli commune from a 6-day-old potato culture; predominantly short, constricted (eingeschnürte) shapes. Fig. 6. Bacterium coli commune from an 8-day-old gelatin plate colony (Gelatineplattencolonie); readily apparent rod-type. Fig. 7. Bacillus subtilis; one bacillus at the stage of spore formation. Fig. 10. Bacterium lactis aerogenes from an 8-day-old gelatin test tube. All photographs, 970-fold magnified, were taken by Charles Workman, M.D. from Belfast, a visitor in the Bacteriological Laboratory of the Munich Pathological Institute, using isochromatic plates, and copied photographically (durch Lichtdruck vervielfältigt). Copyright 2006, Elsevier, Inc. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065216406600051 doi:10.1128/ecosalplus.ESP-0025-2013.f5
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