Clifford Dobell and the Making of Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters

While researching the activities of Paul de Kruif, an American microbiologist and medical science journalist,1 I came across some previously unknown correspondence of interest for the history of malaria research and of the history of medicine generally. It sheds new light on the origin of De Kruif’s book Microbe hunters and more particularly on his description of the discovery of the transmission of malaria parasites by mosquitoes. The letters were written by Clifford Dobell, a British protozoologist, to his friend Paul de Kruif.2 They triggered a little-known sequel to the priority battle between the two discoverers of the transmission of malaria parasites, Ronald Ross and Giovanni Battista Grassi.