The "Two Camps" Competition: the 1894 Hong Kong Plague in Two English Medical Journals

Scholars have discussed at length whether Kitasato Shibasaburō or Alexandre Yersin was first to discover the plague bacillus in 1894. Through an analysis of publications as they appeared chronologically in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this paper reveals that two camps competed to report the news of the plague, show their findings, and express their standpoints. One camp included Shibasaburō Kitasato, James Lowson and The Lancet, while the other included Alexandre Yersin, James Centlie and the BMJ. This paper concludes that when discussing who was first to discover the plague bacillus, the historical facts should be made clear, especially the “two camps” competition. The roles of James Lowson and James Cantlie and their publications in the controversial debate on the discovery of the plague bacillus should not be neglected.