1884

Mikulicz urges that inflamed appendix be removed during acute stage, which was first performed in February 1884 by  Krönlein  (Trombley, 60-61). Establishment of British Gynecological Society, with Lawson Tait as a VP and as second president in 1887 (Shepherd, 153-54). German Arthur Nicolaier isolates pathogens responsible for tetanus, with the “etiological chain of proof” (Koch) provided by Kitasato in 1887 (Bäumler, 75). Friedrich Loeffler, Koch’s assistant, publishes paper that isolates bacilli (identified by Edwin Klebs) and demonstrates their etiological role re diphtheria, though his finding is questioned by Americans, including Abraham Jacobi and T. Mitchell Prudden of NYC (Hammonds, 49-52). Jacobi publishes Diphtheria Spread by Adults, arguing that diphtheria had one predisposing element, a sore mucous membrane, and one cause, direct contagion. His radical proposals were that diphtheria could not be defined solely by a well-formed pseudomembrane and that adults with mild cases could transmit it to others (Hammonds, 30-36).