Models and microbiology: Pasteur and the body

Abstract

Louis Pasteur developed a model of the body as a culture vessel in the late 1870s as an explanation of both natural and acquired immunity, and other investigators quickly applied the model in the explanation of other microbiological phenomena, principally the tissue tropism seen in the normal and the pathological flora. This paper will argue that although Pasteur quickly abandoned the model, it persisted as an explanation of tissue tropism for nearly 70 years, structuring the interpretation of data by and guiding the research of a diverse group of microbiological researchers.