TY - JOUR T1 - EVolution of our knowledge of tuberculosis Y1 -
1939/11/18 N1 - 10.1001/jama.1939.02800460036012 JO - Journal of
the American Medical Association SP - 1882 EP - 1883 VL - 113 IS
- 21 N2 - Subtle, evasive, paradoxical, intricate and complex
are terms that apply to the microscopic parasite which a recent
writer1 characterizes as "A Bug Full of Tricks." The early
history of devastation wrought by this armored enemy of mankind
is still preserved in the distorted joints and spinal columns of
prehistoric skeletons and Egyptian mummies. The recent history
is accumulating much faster than is the record of many other
parasites that revolve about the microscopic or chemical and
immunologic analysis.The code of Hammurabi, written at least
2,000 years B. C., indicates some knowledge then of
tuberculosis. Greek writers described the clinical features of
tuberculous disease in the fifth century B. C. In the second
century Aretaeus not only accurately described the clinical
features but suggested routine trea