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. 2012 Apr 1;2(2):130-133.
doi: 10.4161/bact.20757.

The strange history of phage therapy

William C Summers  1
Affiliations

The strange history of phage therapy

William C Summers. Bacteriophage. .

Abstract

Since the enlightenment, scientists have enjoyed a self-image as rational actors, guided only by reason, evidence and logic. When the Royal Society of London was founded in 1660 it chose as its motto "nullius in verba" (often translated as "on the word of no one") a reference to Horace's Epistles "Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri…" (being not obliged swear allegiance to any master). Similar to our 21st century contemporaries who embrace the "new evidenced-based medicine," the "virtuosi" of the Royal Society proclaimed a new era in science based only on observation and direct experience.

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References

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    1. Editorial. Limitations of bacteriophage therapy. JAMA. 1931;96:693. doi: 10.1001/jama.1931.02720350045014. - DOI
    1. Editorial. Commercial aspects of bacteriophage therapy. JAMA. 1933;100:1603–4. doi: 10.1001/jama.1933.02740200037014. - DOI
    1. Stent GS. Molecular Biology of Bacterial Viruses. San Francisco and London: WH Freeman, 1963:8-9.
    1. Summers WC. Felix d’Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology. New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 1999.

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