Pneumonia, in many respects, certainly as a cause of death, is the most important infectious disease with which we have to deal. The symptomatic treatment is difficult and of doubtful utility ; there is no well-established form of specific therapy. Nevertheless, up to within a very recent time, the investigation of the real nature of the process has been slight and fragmentary.
While the association of certain kinds of bacteria with this disease has been well established, much obscurity exists with regard to the mode of infection, the relation of the bacteria to the lesions and symptoms, the nature of recovery and, above all, with regard to the possibility of prevention or of cure. It has been in the hope of helping to shed some light on these problems that my associates and I have been making some clinical and experimental studies. It will be impossible to review
COLE R. PNEUMOCOCCUS INFECTION AND LOBAR PNEUMONIA. Arch Intern Med (Chic). 1914;XIV(1):56-93. doi:10.1001/archinte.1914.00070130063005