Robert Koch

He continues with striking scepticism regarding the exaggerated expectations initially attached to serum therapy: “Die kühnen Hoffnungen welche anfangs gehegt wurden, sind bisher nicht in Erfüllung gegangen” (“The bold hopes initially entertained have thus far not been fulfilled”). Although Koch expresses the wish that his pessimistic assessment might prove mistaken, he nevertheless believes that substantial progress would require many years. For this reason, he considers it unwise to disturb the institute so soon after its establishment in Steglitz: “Unter diesen Umständen halte ich es für bedenklich, das Institut [...] nachdem es sich kaum in Steeglitz eingerichtet hat, schon wieder durch eine Verlagerung zu beunruhigen” (“Under these circumstances I consider it questionable to unsettle the institute again by relocation after it has scarcely established itself in Steglitz”). Koch further questions the practical and administrative rationale of integrating such an institute into a municipal health authority and argues that Frankfurt, wealthy enough in its own right, could easily found an independent biological institute without relying indirectly upon a state-controlled serum station. While encouraging the establishment of broader biological and immunological research facilities, Koch insists that “die staatliche Kontrolstation sollte man dabei ganz aus dem Spiele lassen” (“the state control station should be left entirely out of the matter”). Three years later, despite Koch’s reservations, the institute was indeed transferred to Frankfurt under Ehrlich’s continued leadership as the Royal Institute for Experimental Therapy. A highly significant scientific and institutional document, revealing Koch’s cautious and pragmatic attitude toward the rapidly developing field of immunology and illustrating contemporary debates surrounding the organization of biomedical research in Imperial Germany. - Small tear along fold. In French private ownership since 2006..

Upon receiving news that the epidemic had broken out in the Muansa district, he had hoped to direct the expedition there immediately, but numerous difficulties concerning transport and travel arrangements delayed the journey. The letter contains vivid and extensive descriptions of the hardships of travel as well as the striking beauty of the African landscape. Koch evokes the scenery surrounding his residence with remarkable sensitivity to light and atmosphere: “Dann kommt der See ... mit Felseninseln hineingestreut. Alles in ganz weichen, bläulichen Farben, die fortwährend mit dem Stande der Sonne wechseln, so daß man fortwährend neue Eindrücke hat” (“Then comes the lake ... scattered with rocky islands. Everything in very soft bluish colours, constantly changing with the position of the sun, so that one is continually receiving new impressions”). Yet he immediately contrasts this beauty with the omnipresence of disease: “Aber wie so oft in den Tropen, unter der schönen Decke schlummert das Verderben” (“But as so often in the tropics, beneath the beautiful surface destruction lies dormant”). Koch describes seeing disease and pathogens everywhere — in the water, huts, walls, and crevices — but notes with frustration that the very illness he had hoped to study was absent: “Und in diesem Orte, wo es von tropischen Krankheiten wimmelt, fehlt gerade die, auf welche ich meine Hoffnungen gesetzt hatte, die Schlafkrankheit” (“And in this place, teeming with tropical diseases, precisely the one on which I had pinned my hopes, sleeping sickness, is lacking”). Thousands of inhabitants had been examined, and Koch himself had spent days travelling across the lake in a small pinnace, all in vain. The reports of an outbreak ultimately proved mistaken — “zum Glück für die Kolonie” (“fortunately for the colony”) — forcing the expedition onward to Entebbe, “the actual centre of the sleeping sickness regions”. The letter closes on a more optimistic note, with Koch expressing satisfaction over the founding of a microbiological association with numerous members and asking Gaffky to convey his greetings to the gentlemen involved. A remarkable scientific and historical document, combining first-hand observations of tropical medicine, colonial East Africa, and expeditionary hardship with unusually vivid landscape descriptions by one of the founders of modern bacteriology. In French private ownership since 2013..

Unfortunately I won’t be able to continue my important studies as I have to leave in the next days Grosseto to travel via Rome and Naples to Batavia. Maybe we can continuing the mosquito collection upon my return again. – Somewhat browned and with tear to folds (old re-backed)..

- From 1874 Proskauer worked at the Imperial Health Office in Berlin; in 1885 Koch was appointed Head of the Institute of Hygiene at Berlin University and Proskauer became departmental head. In May of that year, Koch was sent to Rome as a German delegate for the 6th international sanitary conference. In the letter, Koch tells Proskauer his current address in Rome, instructs him to keep him updated on any recent events at the Institute, informs him that he has been given official permission to conduct any urgent business at the Institute on Koch's behalf for the duration of his short stay in Rome, and asks him to pass on Koch's address and greetings to two further colleagues, one of whom was responsible for recommending the hotel at which Koch is currently residing (Hotel Minerva, Piazza della Minerva). - Small cracks in the center crease. Sometime folded, short note in pencil in a different hand on recto of second leaf..