Fannie Dan Agar
Fannie Dan Agar
Fannie Dan Agar
Features
round-trips to New York (November 1872 to February
1873). Upon his return, he published a paper about sea
sickness that Professor Gavingel from Le Havre called
the first rational, scientific publication on the subject.
At home, he was recognized by the medical society of
Zittau for his interesting observations and contributions. (The trichinosis he had acquired during his
travels healed without residual problems.)
The Eilshemius Family
Features
both Schwarzenberg and Dresden had temperatures
that caused liquefaction of gelatin, the solid culture
medium used to coat glass tubes used for the studies.
Furthermore, gelatin-liquefying bacteria often destroyed the cultures. One day the frustrated scientist
asked Lina why her jellies and puddings stayed solid
at these temperatures. She told him about agar-agar.
.
Agar-agar had been known as a gelling agent in
warm climates. For example, East Indian swallows use
agar for making their nests-the birds nests of the
famous Chinese soup. Lina had
learned about this material as a
youngster in New York from a Dutch
neighbor who had immigrated from
Java. The practical application of this
kitchen secret was to bring major recognition to the Hesses, more today
than during their lifetime. It contributed to Walthers success with his air
studies, and it was an essential contribution to the development of modern
bacteriology. The thermal stability of
agar, its resistance to microbial enzymes, and the ability to sterilize the
medium and store it for a long time
Lina Hesse as Technician and
permitted long-term cultures, espeIllustrator
cially important in tuberculosis research and diagnosis.
Walthers wife, called Lina in the
Walther reported this finding to
family, was his major supporter in
Robert Koch, who immediately inmany different projects. Aside from
cluded the new medium in his studies
her duties in the house and in the
of the tubercle bacillus. Although
education of three sons, she became
Koch mentioned agar-agar in a short
well acquainted with Walthers scienWalther Hesse
sentence in his 1882 preliminary note
tific work and assisted him like a
on the tubercle bacillus, he did so without giving credit
present-day medical technologist. The profession was
to the source. Walther soon developed a tuberculosis
not then known. However, this period ushered in many
nutrient agar with the firm of Heyden, Radebeul, that
changes for women in Germany, and they were just
permitted him to observe growth on solid agar plates
starting to step out of the domestic environment into
as soon as 2 to 3 days after inoculation.
professional life.
In the Hesse family, this contribution to bacteriolWorking with her husband, Lina soon played a
ogy was hardly ever mentioned. Lina never spoke
major part in the magnificent development of medical
about it, probably because she was a very unassuming
illustration. She was not the only talented artist of the
person. She kept all of Walthers papers and docufamily. Her grandfather was the-Swiss painter Leopold
ments out of love and respect for her husband and as
Robert, and her younger brother, Louis Eilshemius,
part of her own contributions to his work. The Hesses
achieved some fame as a New York painter. She used
never received any financial rewards for their invenher talent to prepare drawings of microscopic preparation, nor did they ever consider exploiting the matter
tions for her husbands publications. The last publicacommercially. It would not have been proper.
tion of Walther Hesse from 1908 described a quantitative method for the culture of intestinal bacteria with
special attention to stools from typhoid fever patients.
Walther Hesse and Public Health
Lina drew pictures of the magnified colonies on agar
In 1899 Walther went on a tour of northern Gerplates during different growth phases and colored
many, England, and the United States to study public
them with watercolors in a highly accurate way, i.ndihealth installations. In Hamburg and Bremen he visand
eating her thorough un.derstanding of bacteriology
.
ited the waterworks and industrial and municipal
microscopy. (The author is proud to possess his grandsewage treatment plants and discussed special quesmothers original drawings.)
tions of domestic and industrial wastewaters. On 2
September he departed by ship to New York, where he
The Introduction of Agar-Agar
visited several bacteriological institutes in the Parker
Hospital and in the laboratories of the College of
Walther had major technical problems attempting
Physicians and Surgeons. He also inspected the new
to analyze microbial counts in air. In the summertime,
427
Features
water reservoir behind the Croton dam along with the
aqueducts, comparing the project with the construction of the pyramids or the Tower of Babel. He was
similarly impressed by the water filtration system of
Lawrence, Mass. In Waltham, Mass., near Boston, he
met the physician Alfred Worcester, whose establishment of a school for nurses and introduction of Pfunds
infant formula he particularly praised. He liked the
city of Philadelphia, Pa., and its Fairmont Park, and in
Washington, D.C., one of the most beautiful cities I
have seen, he saw a small military hospital and the
new experimental drinking water station with its
gigantic reservoir. He commented on the tremendous
water usage in the United States! In U.S. and English
cities he reviewed the incidence and therapy of tuberculosis, typhoid, and diphtheria; looked at school systems; and inquired about dairy cattle, the milk supply,
and sewage treatment.
Walther was always very interested in the hygienic
aspects of milk, mainly for controlling infant mortality. After the mothers had been saved by Semmelweis,
it was time to look at the survival of their offspring and
their nutritional development. The major problem was
milk-borne intestinal infections. In 1900 Walther saw
a publication by Theobald Smith from Boston concerning the pasteurization of milk and the possible control
of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Upon
Smiths request Walther experimentally confirmed his
findings and became one of the prime advocates of milk
pasteurization in Germany. He convinced the Dresden
dairy of Pfund Bros. to pasteurize their entire daily
milk volume of about 15,000 liters by heating for 20
minutes at 60C. This collaboration with the Pfund
dairy, a company with many stores in the city of
Dresden, brought Walthers grandchildren, even after
his death, some advantage. During the time of starvation at the end of the first world war, they were
provided with the rare commodity of milk in memory
of the great services and efforts of their grandfather.
In 1890 Walther moved to Dresden as the Bezirksarzt for the county around the city of Dresden. He
purchased a house in Strehlen, a suburb of Dresden,
where he lived until his death in 1911. Until he was
given a laboratory building by the Chemistry Departement of the Technical University, he worked at
home, and many of his publications were written in
this house. He was honored by the government by
being appointed Geheimer Medizinalrat (privy medical councilor). After his death, the laboratory at the
university was burned because the virulent bacterial
428
Suggested Reading
Bibel, D. J. 1985. William Bullochs pioneer women of microbiology.
ASM News X:328-333.
Gildemeister, E. 1929. Allgemeine, besondere und differentialdiagnostische Nahrbiiden, einschleil3lich Trocken- und Konservennahrboden. In W. Kolle, R. Kraus, and P. Uhlenhut (ed.), W. Kolle
und A. v. Wassermanns Handbuch der pathogenen Mikroorganismen, 3rd ed., vol. 9, p. 965. G. Fischer, Jena, Germany.
Griischel, D. H. M. 1981.100 years of agar use in microbiology. ASM
News 47:39X592.
Hitchens, A. P., and M. C. Leikind. 1939. The introduction of agaragar into bacteriology. J. Bacterial. 37:485493.
von Gierke, E. 1935. Zur Einfuhrung des Agar-Agars in die bakteriologische Technik. Ein Gedenkwort fur eine deutsche Arztfrau.
Zentralbl. Bakteriol. Orig. 1 133:273.
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