Barthlein

Barthlein, Karl (Karl Barthlein, born 1880), professor at the University of Würzburg, founder of the theory of so-called bacterial mutation. The first work on bacterial variability was published by him from the Institute of Health Department (Gesundheitsamt) in Berlin (Dahlem) in 1911. His main work was printed in the proceedings of this Institute in 1912 ("Arbeiten aus dem kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamt", 1912). In it, B. described a method by which "mutants" could be obtained from almost every bacterium. The varieties of bacteria obtained in this way were described by B. with exceptional observation and depth of analysis for pathogenic and some saprophytic bacteria. A series of works on the variability of bacteria was completed by him with a monograph printed in "Zentralblatt f. Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde u. Infektionskrankheiten", 1 Abt., 1918. The theory of bacterial variability has significance not only for biology, but also for epidemiology, the practice of preparing vaccines, agglutinating sera, and so on.