Contagia, Herr Professor’s ruminations on germs were no doubt
reverberating in Koch’s ears. His bio-mathematical calculations had led
Henle to conclude that little animated “vegetable bodies,” or “infusoria,”
simply had to be at work in the microscopic world. The slight delay in
symptoms followed by a precipitous decline in an afflicted individual
mirrored a community’s collapse in the face of the same disease. Neither
the lone patient nor an entire tribe could be felled by simple chemical
amalgamation; replicating, organic beings were feeding at the hosts’
expense. Fresh from the war, it was up to Koch to prove Henle right.
No longer in Germany, Wöllstein lies in Poland, where it is known as
Wolsztyn. It remains a small town, surrounded by a patchwork of fields
and pastureland that are reminiscent of rural Americana. The town boasts
a few churches and many small shops whose windows are embellished
with undecipherable Polish lettering. Within minutes you realize this little
village has precious few visitors, and the scant few pilgrims who make
their way to this pastoral enclave are here to encounter Koch a century and
a half later.
In the center of town, along Roberta Kocha Road, stands Robert Koch’s
house and clinic, which previously had been a hospital for the poor,
completed in 1846. The family of three moved here in 1872, occupying the
upstairs of the Gothic building with a large bay window and red tile roof.
On the lower floor, below the bay window, is a large double door that
provides access to a passageway into the house, functioning as a receiving
portal to Dr. Koch’s downstairs examination room. That arcade was
frequented by stricken patients who likely could receive no benefit
whatsoever from Koch.
Within a few years, Koch had settled into his routine of seeing patients
and tinkering with his beloved microscope. Demanding more, Koch
acquired cutting-edge microscopes at a time when he could scarcely afford
them. Happily for mankind, Koch lavishly drained his bank account,
obsessively examining tissues and experimenting on animals from his
backyard collection.