The Anti-plague Medical Campaign, India, 1897

The Anti-plague Medical Campaign, India, 1897

PROFESSOR ALESSANDRO LUSTIG (1857-1937) AND THE ANTI-PLAGUE MEDICAL CAMPAIGN, Mumbai, 1897. Selection of 36 vintage albumen silver prints from a private Italian collection, subjects include a family portrait, group pictures, portraits of workers, street views, archaeological ruins, hospitals rooms, a ritual bath in Ganges River, locations comprise Mumbai, Elephanta’s caves (Elephanta Island, Mumbai), Malabar Hill (Mumbai), Rajabai Clock Tower, Mumbai University. Albumen silver prints (36), image size, 230 x180 mm, mounted on cardboard, mount size, 300 x 250 mm, most prints with pencil annotations on mount handwritten in Italian by Alessandro Lustig.

(Quantity:36)

Provenance: Alessandro Lustig’s family.

Alessandro Lustig (1857-1937) was a world-renowned Italian physician and anatomist. He was professor of general pathology at the University of Florence’s Institute of Experimental Pathology. His contribution to medical science was substantial, especially in regard with hygiene campaigns. Lustig carried out groundbreaking scientific research on infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and Asian cholera. In June 1897, the British government asked Lustig and his colleague Gino Galeotti (1867-1921) to lead a mission in Mumbai to test the efficiency of an anti-plague serum he previously developed in Florence. The two Italian physicians stayed in India until September 1897. Galeotti subsequently returned with new supply in March of the following year. From March to June 1898, the serum was tested on 175 ailing people in Mumbai. With funding from the municipality of the city, Galeotti and another Italian physician, Giovanni Polverini, set up a laboratory in the city in October 1898, where they recreated the anti-plague serum using the techniques developed in Florence.