This source analysis covers Source Analysis Practice within Germ Theory for GCSE History. Revise Germ Theory in Medicine Through Time for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 10 of 16 in this topic. Use this source analysis to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

📜 Source Analysis Practice

"Gentlemen, it is the microbes who will have the last word."

— Robert Koch, address to the International Medical Congress, Berlin, 1890

Applying NOP Analysis:

Nature: Public speech — spoken at an international scientific congress

Origin: Robert Koch, who had already identified the tuberculosis and cholera bacteria; speaking to peers and rivals at the height of his fame

Purpose: To assert the centrality of bacteriology to medicine's future — and implicitly to promote German science over French rivals

Grade 9 Model Paragraph:

This source is useful for an enquiry into attitudes towards germ theory in the late 19th century because it shows Koch, by 1890 the world's leading bacteriologist, publicly asserting that microbial science would define medicine's future. His confidence reflected the significant progress made since 1876 — he had already proved the specific bacteria causing anthrax (1876), tuberculosis (1882), and cholera (1883). However, the source's utility is limited as evidence of wider medical opinion: Koch spoke to an international congress of fellow scientists already broadly convinced by germ theory, not to the general medical practitioners who remained resistant to its practical implications. His remark therefore tells us about scientific consensus at the summit, not adoption across the profession.

Source Analysis Practice