Medicine: Cold Germ?

Dr. John Arthur Franklin Pfeiffer of Baltimore last week declared that he had found a germ which he believes to be the cause of the common cold. He said he had seen it under his microscope, a spherical germ occurring in pairs and sometimes in rows. After he had isolated it he tested it out on healthy humans by spraying a culture into their noses. In 24 hours they would develop strong nasal colds. A vaccine made from the culture and injected under their skins “would break up the cold in short order.”

Of causes and cures for the common cold physicians are skeptical. However, they believed Dr. Pfeiffer because of the wide range and thoroughness of his re-search in bacteriology, St. Vitus’ Dance, pernicious anemia. . . . He, on the other hand, wanted to quiet all disbelief. He sent his research to Johns Hopkins University, where seven years ago he himself lectured on pathology, and which is now conducting a wide, deep, determined search into the cause of colds.