Victor Vaughan

Victor Vaughan’s career at the University of Michigan spanned more than four decades, beginning with his graduate studies in physiological chemistry during the 1870s and ending in 1921 with his retirement after three decades as dean of the medical school. Not only was he instrumental in modernizing medical training at Michigan, his work in areas of hygiene, epidemiology and the study of toxins and infectious disease was highly regarded on the national scene.
Twice he was called upon to serve his country in times of crisis. During the Spanish-American War he was a key member of the Typhoid Commission which investigated the outbreak of the life-threatening fever among army recruits in southern camps. During World War I, he was a member of the medical board within the Council of National Defense which contended with an unprecedented influenza outbreak.
Vaughan’s professional work included more than 250 published papers and some 17 books, many outlining laboratory techniques that modernized the newly evolving field of bacteriology.

Richard Adler is a professor of microbiology at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. He has written five other books and numerous professional articles as well as works for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Richard Adler
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 220
Bibliographic Info: 29 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9599-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1784-8
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vi

Preface 1

1. Origin and Evolution of the Medical School at the University 7

2. Victor Clarence Vaughan: The Early Years 23

3. Member of the Faculty 29

4. Dean of Medicine 43

5. Ptomaines and Leucomaines 56

6. War and Disease 66

7. The Interim, 1898–1916 89

8. The 1910s: Dean and National Service Again 125

9. Influenza and the Great War 134

10. Retirement 179

Chapter Notes 191

Bibliography 203

Index 207

“This well written volume focuses on one of the lesser-known bacteriologists who lived and worked during the ‘golden age of microbiology’ in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Recommended”—Choice.