Chernin E
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
Rev Infect Dis. 1988 May-Jun;10(3):661-7. doi: 10.1093/clinids/10.3.661.
Paul de Kruif's book, Microbe Hunters, published in New York in 1926, was a romanticized medical "history," written in a breathless style, that describes the lives and works of a dozen famous figures, ranging from Leeuwenhoek to Sir Ronald Ross. Ross, who received the Nobel Prize in 1902 for his discovery that certain mosquitoes transmit malaria, resented de Kruif's personal remarks and his version of the malaria story, especially concerning the disputes with Italian workers over priorities. In a little-known polemic "review" of Microbe Hunters, Ross castigated de Kruif for statements he considered libelous. While Ross could not sue for libel across the Atlantic, his threatened action for libel forced the publisher of the British edition of Microbe Hunters to delete the chapter about Ross and one about David Bruce, Ross's countryman. de Kruif's book, a best-seller in its day and influential among the young for a generation, now seems gauche and anachronistic. While Ross seems to have been justified in some of his complaints about Microbe Hunters, the bitter tone of his reactions all but confirms de Kruif's opinion of him. Ross died in 1932 with a permanent niche in medical history; de Kruif died in 1971 and is little remembered except, perhaps, for Microbe Hunters.
保罗·德·克鲁伊夫所著的《微生物猎手》于1926年在纽约出版，是一部带有浪漫色彩的医学“历史”，文风急促，记述了从列文虎克到罗纳德·罗斯爵士等十几位著名人物的生平与成就。罗斯于1902年因发现某些蚊子传播疟疾而获得诺贝尔奖，他对德·克鲁伊夫的个人评论以及他所讲述的疟疾故事版本感到不满，尤其是关于与意大利同行在优先权问题上的争议。在一篇鲜为人知的对《微生物猎手》的论战性“书评”中，罗斯严厉斥责德·克鲁伊夫发表他认为构成诽谤的言论。尽管罗斯无法跨越大西洋提起诽谤诉讼，但他威胁要采取的诽谤诉讼行动迫使《微生物猎手》英国版的出版商删去了关于罗斯以及关于罗斯的同胞大卫·布鲁斯的章节。德·克鲁伊夫的这本书在当时是畅销书，且在一代人中对年轻人颇具影响力，如今却显得笨拙过时。虽然罗斯对《微生物猎手》的一些抱怨似乎有道理，但他反应中的尖刻语气几乎证实了德·克鲁伊夫对他的看法。罗斯于1932年去世，在医学史上留下了永久的一席之地；德·克鲁伊夫于1971年去世，除了《微生物猎手》外，几乎不被人记得。
