Gabrichevsky

GABRICHEVSKY, Georgy Norbertovich (1860-1907), bacteriologist; born in St. Petersburg, graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University. As a student, he received a gold medal for his composition on the clinical significance of albuminuria. After graduating from the university in 1883, G. worked in the neurological clinic of Professor Rot, then at the department of physiology under Professor Morokhovets and in the clinic of Professor Cherinov. In 1888, he defended his dissertation ("On the excitability of muscles", diss., Moscow, 1888) and was elected privat-docent at Moscow University. In 1889-91, he was on a foreign mission and specialized in hematology and bacteriology under Ziegler, Schottelius, Ehrlich, Koch, Naunyn, Emmerich, Rou and Metchnikoff. During this time, G. became a major bacteriologist and experienced experimenter. Returning to Moscow, he was the first to begin teaching courses in bacteriology for doctors and students at the university. With these courses, he began the study of the then new science of bacteriology, not only in Moscow but in Russia in general. In 1895, G. founded the first Bacteriological Institute in Moscow in Russia, which was expanded with private funds in the building of the former morgue of the Novo-Yekaterininskaya Hospital. (The institute now bears G.'s name). His entire scientific life took place here, and here under his leadership a school of Russian bacteriologists was formed. G. was one of the first Russian bacterologists with a European reputation, which was created by the large number of his scientific works. The most important questions to which these works refer are as follows: 1) The bacillus coli and its role in human pathology. 2) Preparation and use of antidiphtheritic serum, preventive measures against diphtheria; differential diagnosis of diphtheria bacilli; diphtheria vaccine. In 1895, G. was the first in Russia to introduce antidiphtheritic serum into medical practice. 3) G. was the first to begin promoting the "mosquito" theory of malaria in Russia and was the first to begin the systematic study of extensive foci of malaria in the Caucasus, in the Volga region and other places, creating for this purpose a malaria commission under the Pirogov Society. 4) Biology of the plague bacillus. Anti-plague serum. 5) Antitoxic properties of aniline dyes. The effect of high temperatures on the staining of bacteria. Working on this question, G. enriched bacteriological technique with a thermostat of a special type for different temperatures and developed an ingenious method for determining the active motility of bacteria. 6) Relapsing fever. Serotherapy of spirochete infections. In these questions, G. conducted brilliant research which proved extremely valuable for clarifying the question of immunity. Regarding these works, a scientific dispute arose between G. and Metchnikoff, as a result of which extracellular dissolution of spirochetes was recognized with certain limitations by Metchnikoff himself. 7) Glanders. Developing the question of glanders in foals, which depends on a special streptococcus, G. was the first to develop a vaccination method against glanders, which gave brilliant results. 8) Scarlet fever. Vaccination against scarlet fever. Being a supporter of the streptococcal theory of scarlet fever, G., by analogy with glanders in foals, proposed vaccination against scarlet fever with killed, freshly isolated from humans cultures of streptococci. This method was met with great interest by the medical world. At that time, many zemstvos, led by the Moscow zemstvo, carried out a broad, systematic scientific experiment covering several hundred thousand vaccinations and giving quite favorable results. After G.'s death, this question for a time lagged, and only now, after the works of American authors (Dick), has again moved along the path outlined by G. In 1893, G. published "Medical Bacteriology", which quickly went through 3 editions. As a public figure, G. is known as an active member of the Pirogov Society, and then as its chairman in 1904-05, when many representatives of academic science left the Society, "not finding in themselves sympathy for the changed direction of the Society's activity". In the position of chairman, G. remained until his death. Despite his outstanding scientific activity, G. did not have a chair, and a university in another country (Lviv) elected and invited him as a professor, from which he refused. G.'s outstanding scientific work was unexpectedly interrupted by his premature death - he died of pneumonia at the age of 47, full of creative strength. All of Europe responded to G.'s death as a heavy loss of a major scientific force. G.'s most significant works: "Bacillus coli commune and its role in human pathology" (Moscow, 1894); "On the preparation and use of antidiphtheritic serum" (Moscow, 1894); "Bacteriology of bubonic plague" (St. Petersburg, 1896); "On the pathology and therapy of spirochete infections" (St. Petersburg, 1898); "On the antitoxic effect of aniline dyes" (St. Petersburg, 1901); "Malaria in the Caucasus" (St. Petersburg, 1903); "Bubonic plague and measures against it" (Moscow, 1904); "Streptococcal vaccines and their use in scarlet fever" (Russian Doctor, 1905, No. 30).-Gabrichevsky's vaccine, see Scarlet fever.