Editing 1884 in science (section)

==Medicine==
* January 7 – German microbiologist [[Robert Koch]] isolates ''[[Vibrio cholerae]]'', the [[cholera]] [[bacillus]], working in India.<ref>Koch, R. (20 March 1884) {{lang|de|2=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yY41AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA191 "Sechster Bericht der deutschen wissenschaftlichen Commission zur Erforschung der Cholera"]}} (Sixth report of the German scientific commission for research on cholera), ''{{lang|de|Deutsche medizinische Wochenscrift}}'' (German Medical Weekly), '''10''' (12):  191–192. On page 191, he mentions the characteristic comma shape of ''Vibrio cholerae'':  ''"{{lang|de|Im letzten Berichte konnte ich bereits gehorsamst mittheilen, dass an den Bacillen des Choleradarms besondere Eigenschaften aufgefunden wurden, durch welche sie mit aller Sicherheit von anderen Bakterien zu unterscheiden sind. Von diesen Merkmalen sind folgende die am meisten charakteristischen: Die Bacillen sind nicht ganz geradlinig, wie die übrigen Bacillen, sondern ein wenig gekrümmt, einem Komma ähnlich.}}"'' (In the last report, I could already respectfully report that unusual characteristics were discovered in the bacteria of enteric cholera, by which they are to be distinguished with complete certainty from other bacteria. Of these features, the following are the most characteristic: the bacteria are not quite straight, like the rest of the bacilli, but a little bent, similar to a comma.)</ref> Koch and [[Friedrich Loeffler]] formulate [[Koch's postulates]] on the causal relationship between [[microbe]]s and diseases. Loeffler also discovers the causative organism for [[diphtheria]], ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''.
* Dr [[Takaki Kanehiro]] of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] conducts a [[controlled experiment]] demonstrating that deficient diet is the cause of [[beriberi]], but mistakenly concludes that sufficient protein alone would prevent it.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rosenfeld|first=L.|title=Vitamine—vitamin: the early years of discovery|journal=Clin Chem|volume=43|pages=680–5|year=1997|issue=4|pmid=9105273|doi=10.1093/clinchem/43.4.680|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Georg Theodor August Gaffky|Georg Theodor Gaffky]] isolates the pathogenic [[bacillus]] ''[[salmonella typhi]]'' as the cause of [[typhoid fever]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gaffky|first=G. T. A.|year=1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6lQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA372|title=Zur Aetiology des Abdominaltyphus|journal=Mittheilungen aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte|volume=2|pages=372–420}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Hardy, A.|title=Food, hygiene, and the laboratory. A short history of food poisoning in Britain, circa 1850-1950|journal=Social History of Medicine|volume=12|issue=2|pages=293–311|date=August 1999|pmid=11623930|doi=10.1093/shm/12.2.293}}</ref>
* [[Ophthalmologist]] [[Karl Koller (ophthalmologist)|Karl Koller]] announces his use of a [[local anesthetic]] ([[cocaine]]) in surgery;<ref>At a medical congress in [[Heidelberg]], [[Germany]], September 15. {{cite journal|last1=Honegger|first1=H.|last2=Hessler|first2=H.|title=[Discovery of local anesthesia by Karl Koller. I]|journal=Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde|volume=157|issue=3|pages=428–38|location=West Germany|issn=0023-2165|pmid=4922411|language=German|date=September 1970}}</ref> Jellinek also demonstrates cocaine's effects as an anesthetic on the [[respiratory system]].
* [[Friedrich Schultze]] first describes the disorder that will become known as [[Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Enersen|first=Ole Daniel|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/30.html|title=Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease|work=[[Who Named It?|Whonamedit?]]|accessdate=April 12, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628223408/http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/30.html|archivedate= June 28, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* First known case of [[artificial insemination]] by [[sperm donation]]: William H. Pancoast, a professor in Philadelphia, takes sperm from his "best looking" student to inseminate an anesthetized woman without her knowledge, not reported for 25 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/first-artificial-insemination/423198/|title=The First Artificial Insemination Was an Ethical Nightmare|last=Yuko|first=Elizabeth|date=2016-01-08|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kramer |first=Wendy |date=2016-05-10 |title=A Brief History of Donor Conception |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-brief-history-of-donor-conception_b_9814184 |access-date=2021-07-29 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Medical World |date=April 1909 |pages=163–164 |title=Letter to the Editor: Artificial Impregnation |url=http://familyscholars.org/2011/02/17/4579/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724221400/http://familyscholars.org/2011/02/17/4579/ |archive-date=2012-07-24 }} (cited in {{cite journal|author1=Gregoire, A.  |author2=Mayer, R.|year=1964|title=The impregnators|journal=Fertility and Sterility|volume=16|pages=130–4 | pmid = 14256095|doi=10.1016/s0015-0282(16)35476-0|doi-access=}})</ref>
* Among the papers on [[brain function]] published by [[Vladimir Bekhterev]] is a study on the formation of the human conception of space.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Alexander|last=Petrunkevitch|title=Russia's Contribution to Science|journal=Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences|volume=23|year=1920|page=232}}</ref>