Species and Specificity

An Interpretation of the History of Immunology

Pauline M. H. Mazumdar (University of Toronto)

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English

Cambridge University Press
18 July 2002

History of science; Biochemical immunology

In the first hundred years of its history, the problems of species and specificity were the core problems of research and practice in immunology. The old botanical dispute about the nature of species reappeared in the late nineteenth century in the disputes of the bacteriologists, to be followed by their students, the immunologists, immunochemists and blood group geneticists. In the course of this controversy, Mazumdar argues, five generations of scientific protagonists make themselves aggressively plain. Their science is designed only in part to wrest an answer from nature: it is at least as important to wring an admission of defeat from their opponents. One of those on the losing side of the debate was the German immunochemist Karl Landsteiner, whose unitarian views were excluded from the state health and medical institutions of Europe, where specificity and pluralism, the legacies of Robert Koch and Paul Erlich, were entrenched.

By: Pauline M. H. Mazumdar (University of Toronto)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 753g
ISBN: 9780521525237
ISBN 10: 0521525233
Pages: 476
Publication Date: 18 July 2002
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Part I. Specificity and Unitarianism in XIX Century Botany and Bacteriology: 1. The Unitarians; 2. The Linnaeans; 3. The dominance of specificity; 4. The history of XIX century bacteriology from this point of view; Part II. The Inherited Controversy: Specificity and Unitarianism in Immunology: 5. Dichotomy and classification in the thought of Paul Erlich; 6. Max von Gruber and Paul Erlich; 7. Max von Gruber and Karl Landsteiner; 8. Unity, simplicity, continuity: the philosophy of Ernst Mach; Part III. Chemical Affinity and Immune Specificity: The Argument in Chemical Terms: 9. Structural and physical chemistry in the late XIX century; 10. Erlich's chemistry and its opponents: the dissociation theory of Arrhenius and Madsen; 11. Erlich's chemistry and its opponents: the colloid theory of Landsteiner and Pauli; 12. Erlich's chemistry and its opponents: the new structural chemistry of Landsteiner and Pick; 13. The decline and persistence of Erlich's chemical theory; Part IV. Absolute Specificity in Blood Group Genetics: 14. Immunology and genetics in the early XX century; 15. The specificity of cells and the specificity of proteins; 16. The last confrontation; Conclusion.

Reviews for Species and Specificity: An Interpretation of the History of Immunology

' ... you will have to read this fascinating book'. Richard A. Lake, The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Mazumdar has produced an immensely well-researched account.' Bernard Dixon, New Scientist 'It is perhaps the human cost of such encounters that makes Mazumdar's account of this particular conflict so enthralling.' British Journal for the History of Science 'Mazumdar's thesis is an important and persuasive one that deserves serious attention from anyone interested in 19th and 20th century biology.' John E. Lesch, Science 'This book is abundantly and well illustrated with many photographs.' Fred S. Rosen, Nature