Bernhard Laurits Frederik Bang: 

“Reminiscences from my Life as a Veterinarian” (1923)

Introduction: In the summer of 2005 I obtained a copy of Professor Bang's lecture, in Danish, from the Museum at Den Kgl. Veterinær- og Landbohøjskole –the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural College in Copenhagen , where. Bang spent his career. It has been translated from the original Danish (Maanedsskrift for Dyrlæger 35: 429-451, 1923) by Jill Klee , MD, Copenhagen , Denmark , in the Fall of 2005. I did some copy editing and added the pictures. before posting it on the Klee-Bang Family history website. Gerald D. Klee, MD, Webmaster

Prof. Dr B. Bang's lecture was given to the Danish Veterinary Society meeting on the occasion of his 50 years jubilee November 1st 1923.

Ladies and Gentlemen! It feels strange to give a long lecture about myself - but it isn't my fault. The Council of the Society has requested it, and I have always found it difficult to say “no” to anything that my friends ask of me. Perhaps I may assume that the majority of those present extend heartfelt friendship toward me and therefore will be interested in hearing something about the events of my life over the past 50 years.

I qualified as a doctor in January 1872 and in February commenced my veterinary studies. During my student years I had developed a strong preference toward the scientific, as opposed to the practical, side of the medical profession, and I began to think that I might be able to study animal anatomy or diseases. At that period in time I began to doubt my suitability to practice as a doctor, fearing my cold, moist hands, of which I was very aware, would scare patients away.

The field that attracted me most was pathological anatomy, but since I knew that my good friend C.J. Salomonsen shared this interest in the field, and I considered him to be far more clever than I, I felt that it would be hopeless for me to study that field. I was also interested in normal anatomy, and at first I considered whether it might be possible to do something in that field in the Veterinary College . I knew nothing other than that Dr. Krabbe was associated with that field, and that he had given lectures at the University on tapeworms, which I had not attended.

Accompanied by my friend and fellow student H.P. Ørum, (who had similar thoughts about starting a scientific study at the school, specifically in physiology), I contacted Krabbe and asked for his advice. This was of course rather foolish of me, as he had waited for many years for the position of teacher in anatomy (and physiology)! He referred us to “Etatsråd” (a Councilor of State) Bendz, who I had heard of, as he was one of my father’s cousins. He was kind to me, and told me that it was Krabbe who was expected to succeed him in anatomy, but he also said, “But you should study pathology, Bang, there is a lot to be done there.” And I was very glad to t ak e his advice - and started on my way.

Now it happened that just at this time there was a scholarship (the Neergaard Grant) available. It was very small - 300 kroner annually - but for me - who had never received any university scholarship, and who had in the previous 6 1/2 years been dependent upon my father, it seemed to be a rather good idea to apply. Strangely enough there were 2 or 3 of my medical student friends who also applied (we were a very large group of students that year, and it would seem that a transfer to the Veterinary School must somehow have been “in the air”). But I had the best marks in the examinations, and received the stipend.

I had come into a new world. Together with my new companions I quickly felt myself at home. Most of them were probably of a lower social class than my medical friends, but there were a number of really nice people among them - and I remember that I thought that many of them were more natural and showed a more spontaneous happiness about their studies than did those who studied medicine. During my short period (1 3/4 years) in this school I became familiar with many different groups. As a doctor I did not have to repeat the courses in the foundation science (as it was then known) nor pharmacology, but the youngest students were my comrades in the smithy. These were the ones I joined in the lectures and the stationary clinic, and through the various courses to graduation. I felt the most in common with the group who got their degrees in April 1873 (1/2 a year ahead of me); I had several good friends among them, two of whom are still alive: Madsen (previously called Bernstorfsminde) and Johansen (Hyllinge), while Hald (Thisted), Paul Hansen ( S. Bjert ) and Mykleby the Norwegian have died.

I found my own graduating class (of whom I think only Jens Pedersen (Hovedgaard) is still alive) to be rather inferior. Of the teachers I preferred Bendz and Stockfleth. Bendz was an excellent teacher - I have never encountered anyone equal to him. It was wonderful to hear his lively and lucid lectures, which were full of joy about the beauty and complexity of nature. I found them greatly interesting. Apart from this he was a fatherly friend throughout my student time, and I will always cherish my memories of him. Stockfleth’s lectures not particularly outstanding, but he had an extremely lively interest in all types of illness, and was always eager to go as deep into understanding of them as he was able. This meant that he had a stimulating effect not only on his students, but also the whole of the veterinary community. Add to this that he was a very practical, quick-witted man, who was very good at treating not only the animals, but also their owners. He was very quick in both movement and speech; it might be reasonable to call him restless. He could be quite satirical, but he was otherwise a willing, always helpful man, who was therefore generally liked by both students and customers. Unfortunately when I knew him he rarely paid visits out in the country-side; probable mainly because he was actively engaged in his surgery, but perhaps also because his health was deteriorating even at that time.

While Stockfleth was full of glowing interest in his subject, this was unfortunately not the case with the charming, kind Bagge. His clinical teaching was not very enlightening, and nor were his autopsies. I attended very few of Bagge’s lectures.

In general I found that I had to confine myself to the lectures given by Bentz, Stockfleth and Prosch. The last of these was a strange person, truly a member of the intellectual aristocracy. He was a good-looking man with classical features; his expression was serious, almost stern, but there could be a twinkle in his dark eyes. This was a man who instinctively commanded respect; no one dared to enter the lecture theater after he had reached the podium. He was eloquent and gave clear, well composed, but often not particularly lively, lectures. His lectures both interested and impressed the audience. But to my mind they were set at a level which exceeded that at which the majority of the students could follow him. He could not (or perhaps would not) reach down to them, and thus m ak e it easier for them to follow his interesting and copious information. It seemed as though he wished to raise them up to his level - something that was naturally impossible for many of them - but as if he were trying to stimulate them and extend their mental faculties. And thanks to those who were particularly interested, he became an expert in the development of animal husbandry in Denmark . I followed his lectures with great interest, but had no other contact with him. I felt great respect, yet almost a shyness in his presence as well. I do not think that he had any close contact with any of his students.

Prosch was a very egoistic man, who was strongly aware of his own worth. There was an anecdote, which I assume to be true, that at one time when he was in conflict with the Director of the Veterinary College (the Lord Chamberlain Emil Rosenørn) he said to him: “You can go from here to Tivoli (the amusement park in the center of Copenhagen) and meet 10 men who are as able as you to be the Director of the College, but you can go round the whole of the country without meeting one who could t ak e my place as professor in animal husbandry”. He had hardly any close relationships with any of his colleagues (except for Bay), and as he aged and grew we ak er he became more and more bitter. When I last met him, shortly after I had decided to apply for Stockfleth’s post, he said “I feel sorry for you -- this is the most lamentable institute that anyone could be associated with.”

I had very little contact with Bay during my period as a student. I did not have sufficient time to hear many of his lectures. I realized that they were clear and good, but I found his personality unattractive.

Westring was a very strange person, very highly intelligent, but very bizarre. At that time he taught only the practical aspects of metalworking, while farriery was taught by Prosch. Farriery was the subject that I found most difficult. I was a thin, we ak young doctor, who had never previously had the slightest encounter with physical crafts - (not even carpentry) - and now I had to shoe horses! At first this was very discouraging. Westring gave me an old shoe, which he told me to straighten out to a fine, regular four-sided nail rod. When I showed him my first attempt he said nothing, but threw it onto the rubbish heap. This repeated itself over the following 6 weeks. I then left the Smithy, as I had been given a position as an extra locum tenens at the local hospital, and in that period had only time to attend Bendz’s and Prosch’s lectures, and t ak e the obligatory course on the care of the horse (under a noncommissioned officer whose name was Preuss - who gave me very uncomfortable advice !). Then followed the summer holidays, and when I returned to the smithy I had got no further. My earlier attempt was still lying on the rubbish heap, and Westring never gave me any advice other than on occasion when he roared after me: “You have to strike while the iron is hot” or “the devil t ak es a cold smith every New Year’s night.” I was desperate, and turned for help to Bendz. I asked him whether it was possible that I could avoid the blacksmith exam, as I never expected to be able to pass it. He said, “You shouldn’t try to do that. If you managed it, it would always be used against you to prove that you weren’t a real veterinarian like your colleagues. But let me talk to Westring.” The result was that Westring put me in the hands of an older journeyman smith, who at the time was starting a course for farriers: in return I would help him and 3 other smith apprentices to go through horse shoeing. Thus this became the first veterinary subject that I taught! This was a great help for me; I never became a competent smith, but I was able to obtain my diploma as journeyman. - I must admit that after that time I have been interested in smithy work as part of the veterinarian syllabus (something which has been removed long ago)! For me it was an enrichment to attain a knowledge of, and a respect for, handworking     - and despite the fact that the majority of veterinary students - as least at that time came from villages and unlike myself had not the necessity of this experience - there might well have been a few who would have found it useful. And I have since felt that it was absolutely important that those who wished to work as veterinarians should learn to use their hands in practical work. And I found that metal working was a nice, little rationally-based trade.

After the summer holidays in 1872 I continued to work as a veterinary student, though with a partial interruption in the following spring, when I completed the obligatory practical course at the birthing hospital. The studies interested me greatly, especially anatomy. I did a number of dissections, and helped Assistant Krabbe to produce large specimens of the horse, to be used in some tutorials which he was holding for the pupils of the Academy of Fine Arts . I tried to acquire knowledge of pathological anatomy by looking more closely at the pathological preparations of the animals which had died in the clinic, after the clinicians had inspected them, etc.

However, I cannot deny that I had my own doubts about the path on which I had set out. I saw my colleagues from medical school working in hospitals or as locums for doctors; even I had, during the short period that I spent in the hospital, begun to feel an inclination towards the calling which was originally my goal, and here I was, a poor veterinary student without any chance of m ak ing a reasonable living within the near future. Now and then I was tempted to give it all up but partly because I had never wanted to abandon anything that I had started, and also because I would find it a moral obligation to pay back the Neergaard grant which I had received. It was not very large, but I was not inclined to go to my father and ask him to help me. (Once again the stipend had really worked according to its rules.)

Therefore I decided to follow the road to its end, but would try to speed up the conclusion such that I applied for permission to t ak e duty in the emergency department during the 6 months before I took the theoretical examination, rather than at the usual time, which was after the examinations. I was given permission - probably with kind assistance from Bendz and Stockfleth. It proved to be very hard work for me, but I managed it, and in October 1873 I took the final veterinary examination with very good first class honors.

But what shall I do now? If there had been a vacant position as assistant in the general clinic I would have applied, and possibly t ak en it. But there was no chance of that. I thought that there might be a chance that it might be reasonable to establish a new position in pathological anatomy, and enquired of the Director of the College, Fenger, whether this was possible. But despite the fact that Bendz and Stockfleth would both have backed me up, Fenger would not hear of it. It is interesting to note that he (who had himself started out as teacher in pathological anatomy at the University, and should have been able to see that this subject really needed to be expanded in the veterinary school) 3 years later, after I had t ak en a position as a prosector in the county hospital - and thus, having achieved a very high competence in this subject, no longer had the least interest in associating me with the Veterinary College in that sort of position! I look back on the differences between that time and now, when one professorship after another is being established. There is no doubt that the present time is a far happier one for young veterinary scientists.

Under these conditions I had to leave the veterinary system and return to the medical profession. I took a 6-months job as junior doctor at Alm. Hospital (from 1st Nov. 1873 - 1st May 1874 ), and afterwards worked as a temporary substitute for two general practitioners in the city before I took a post as intern at the Kommunehospital. Here I was able to learn a great deal about pathological anatomy, as I was responsible for most of the very numerous autopsies, and at the same time I had as my adviser the very competent pathological anatomist Dr. V. Rasmussen, who at that time had begun to t ak e over the instruction in that field at the University.

In the autumn the position of prosector at Kommunehospital became free. Until then this post had almost always been given to a junior doctor, but this time there was none who was interested. I applied and was given the post, probably thanks to Rasmussen’s recommendation. Before I started I went to Strassburg, where I studied for a few months with the distinguished pathological anatomist von Recklinghausen. I came home around Christmas, got married, and took over from Chr. Fenger, who later went to Chicago and became a famous surgeon whose memory is still held in high esteem. The job was not very lucrative, the wage being 1450 Kroner. In order to live I therefore had to start a small practice on Nørrebro, and to run coaching classes in pathological anatomy. At that time it was common for medical students in the 6 months before their final examinations to form groups of 4, who turned to a prosector who, with the help of his variety of pathological specimens, could give them tutorials on the understanding and description of the pathological conditions. I found this medical teaching very enjoyable. I continued to teach in this manner not only through the 3 years during which I was prosector, but also during the two following years, when Carl Salomonsen, who took over the prosector job, was kind enough to supply me with material. During these ca 5 years I thus had the possibility to help a large number of young medical students. Many of them later became well-known doctors, several of them Professors at the University. A number of them were really interested in my instruction, and it has been a great pleasure for me to have been able to keep so many of them as friends from that time. But by now many of them are dead.

The work as Prosector was both arduous and unhealthy. There were numerous autopsies; at times several, up to five, a day; and I can remember that now and then I was so tired that I had to lie down on a mat on the floor between dissections to renew my strength. There was no sofa available. This is a good illustration of the difference between that period and now. In recent years the position of Prosector has become a full-time job, at the same salary level as a chief surgeon, and with a number of assistants to help him, while in my time there was a 3-year limit at a very low wage, and no form of help except an untrained helper. Aside from the dissections it was the prosector who was responsible for the large amount of microscopic work required by the surgeons although there were fewer of these than at the present time.

In September 1877, just as my period as prosector had nearly run out, a post as junior doctor (reservelaege) became vacant in the third (medical) department. The Consultant, Dr. Fr. Trier, had become interested in me and gave me the position, despite the fact that I had a relatively poor medical education, as my time as intern had been very short. I moved into the hospital, where I managed, after a number of problems, to obtain a small apartment with 4 rooms (but without a kitchen) where I could live with my wife and small daughter. Economically it was a very poor position, as apart from the fact that this was rent-free my salary was 850 kroner (with a free dinner on the days I was on duty). In order to survive I had to continue to coach students in pathological anatomy, and the new students in stethoscopy, and I had to t ak e as much private practice as I could manage. Economically this was my hardest year, but I enjoyed the work, and I became fast friends with my Consultant. It would seem that there was a fair chance that I could, at some time, get a job as local medical officer - and maybe - maybe with time end up as Consultant in a medical department.

Despite the fact that I was, thanks to my imperfect basic education, rather a poor doctor, it would seem that I had shown various talents, and it seemed accepted by some that I was good at listening to the young, and thus might live up to expectations. At all events I was put forward by the medical officer of Copenhagen when I applied in 1879 for the position as chief physician at the newly opened Blegdamshospital. The municipal authorities (led by Fenger) preferred Chief Physician Søren Sørensen.

This was my situation when Stockfleth died in October 1879.

In these six years my connection to the veterinary field had been very loose. Stockfleth had occasionally sent me pathological preparations to study; I remember in particular a case of equine tuberculosis, in which I found wonderful giant cells, and on that basis was able to come up with the correct diagnosis. He had not realized what it was, but correctly diagnosed that it was not glanders - although at that time glanderous processes were characterized as tubercles.

Stockfleth and Bendz continued to t ak e a friendly interest in me, and have certainly still hoped that I would once again be associated with the school. At that time I had completely given up any thoughts in that direction (after my 2 unsuccessful attempts to persuade Fenger to do something about pathologic anatomy). I made no new plans when Bendz contacted me immediately after Stockfleth’s death, and when I received a letter from Fenger inviting me to visit him, I said to my wife: “Yes, now he probably wants me to come to the school, but I'm not going!”

Still, I went to him. He offered me Stockfleth’s position and explained to me what an excellent institution it was, and how much there was to do. I had naturally considerable misgivings, mainly because I felt that I was quite unsuited to t ak e over precisely that teaching position; I had no training in surgery, not to mention obstetrics, and how would I manage the out-patient clinic? I had only 6 months experience of practical veterinary practice, when I six years previously had worked in the emergency clinic, and twice a week was on duty in the northern part of Copenhagen . I was also afraid that I would have to work with Bay, whom I didn't like and mistrusted (this problem disappeared quite soon, as he died suddenly shortly after I took the post).

After a long talk Fenger said to me: “Well, think it over and let me have your decision within 8 days.” This was a very difficult week for me - probably the most difficult I have ever experienced. It meant that I would have to turn a total somersault. My heart was with medicine and the medical profession. I remember that during the first year when I started at the Veterinary school I found it difficult to go past the Municipal hospital, where I had spent 5 happy years. And I was afraid that I would not be able to be even fairly satisfactory in the new situation. After many discussions with family and friends I decided to accept Fenger’s offer, but under the condition that I would receive public funds to visit various foreign veterinary schools before I took up my post. In accordance with the usual economic problems of that period I received 800 kroner from the Ministry (another contrast to the sums which are now given to young teachers).

I didn't start on my travels immediately, as I should have done. I took 2 months off with my parents in Sorø to finish my doctoral thesis, which I had worked upon for a long time - it was related to studies on emboli and thromboses in the arteries of the lungs. The work was based on some very interesting observations I had made during my time as prosector. Finally I left, on March 1st, and in the period up to the middle of May I visited schools in Berlin , Dresden , Vienna , Munich , Stuttgart and Paris . I saw as much as I could, and naturally learned a great deal, as I also read all I could manage. In the course of this journey I made many contacts with many able people in the various countries and made some friends whom I found useful in the following years, e.g., Dieckerhoff, Møller and Schütz in Berlin , Siedamgrotzky and Johne in Desden and Nocard in Alfort.

I took over my work at the school at the end of May 1880. During my absence the out-patient clinic had been run by the competent assistant Laurids Nielsen, who had been assistant to Stockfleth for over 3 years. On June 1^st he left me and took over the stationary clinic. He left in 1883 for a practice in Aarhus and worked as a distinguished veterinarian until his death. His practice was t ak en over by the later well-known and distinguished Veterinary Roed-Müller.

It was obvious that I could not immediately assert myself as a practiced leader of the out-patient clinic. I quite naturally transferred a great part to my efficient assistant, and I explained to the first group of students that they should understand that at the moment they could not expect me to give them much advice. I appealed to their sense of honor, and asked them to help me get things working. Luckily there were 8 of them, mostly really decent young people, who developed an especially friendly relationship with me, such that I had the pleasure of meeting them at both their 25th and 40th jubilees; (apart from Rose, who died many years ago as a much respected military veterinarian in Greece ).

Thanks to the help from my first Assistants and the students my work as leader of the out-patients ran a reasonably acceptable course - at least there was nothing scandalous to report.

Naturally, I gradually learned a great deal, and although I was never a brilliant teacher in the ambulatory I managed, in the 7 years that I ran it, to keep it together, such that I could, in 1887, hand it over in a very reasonable state to my successor G. Sand.

When I returned to the school, I found that conditions there were unchanged from those I had left 6 1/2 years earlier. They were very primitive compared with those of the present time. The out-patient clinic comprised the west end of the southern block, i.e., the area which until recently served as the pharmacy. This area was divided into 3. You came in from the middle of the gable into a very small entrance hall, at the end of which there was a cupboard for the students’ overcoats and the larger instruments. From the hall there was a door on the right into the duty room, a very small room with a desk in front of the window, a large rough sofa against the south wall, and a table and some chairs by the east wall. This room was used by all the interns and assistants in the mornings, and the duty intern slept there at night. All treatment of dogs, cats and other small animals, i.e., all indoor work, was undert ak en here. The room on the other side of the hall was the teacher’s lounge and was connected to his apartment. Here I could talk to people, and I had my work-table with my microscope. If I remember correctly there was also a cabinet for instruments. There was no special room for larger domestic animals, such as horses. The only room that was available for clinical investigation of these animals was a large room near the end of the large old stables (which were demolished in 1894), which was situated where the anatomy and museum buildings now stand, but which was larger than the present buildings. The south end was t ak en up by the present pharmacy and the offices of the veterinary college. It was a very large, extremely dark room with an arched roof and a brick floor, and had many functions. It was called the operating theater, and was used for operations, but also as a coach house, and for autopsies. For that purpose there was a long table under a window where the organs could be displayed. My first reform was to put in place a fairly large window in the ceiling over this table to m ak e it easier to see the organs. (A couple of years later I had built a wooden shed with a sky-light near the glanders shed and later the small autopsy house, which is now being removed.)

Next door to this area was a stable for the school’s horses and then the stationary clinic, first 2 small areas, on each side of a hall which were designed as stables for horses with infectious disorders such as pulmonary diseases and strangles. (One of them contained the remains of a steam bath which I have never seen in use.) Then there was the much larger, but very dark riding school, and finally the 2 large stables (also separated by a hall) used in cases of non-infectious diseases, with loose boxes on one side and stalls on the other, and finally 2 large boxes for horses with the staggers. These stables were pleasant and spacious, with high, vaulted ceilings, but they were extremely flammable, as the ceilings were wooden, and they were filled with hay and straw. As the good old stableman Jens Möllehöj could hardly be called a teetotaler, it was a miracle that nothing caught fire in all the many years they were in use.

The conditions in the in-patient clinics were, for the time, very satisfactory, but those in the out-patient clinic were extremely primitive. The advantage of the situation at that time was the close proximity. It was much easier than at present to keep one’s eyes on where the students and juniors (not to mention the staff) were, and it was easier to call everyone together if there was anything interesting to show them.

At that time the stationary clinic was a single unit, lead by a Professor (Bragge) and his assistant who saw to both the horses and dogs - an arrangement that had the advantage that the teacher was able to obtain a far more detailed knowledge about the individual student, than was the case in later years, when the students were assigned to the individual departments, and after a few months disappeared from out of the teacher’s line of vision.

Apart from the stables described above (and in 1884 these were extended with a small building, later know as the “practice stable” used for quarantine of horses with lung diseases) there was also a special stable for horses with glanders, which was torn down a few years ago. The 6 rooms were primarily used for horses suspected of glanders, but now and then it was used for other cases where isolation was necessary, or, in the summer, occasionally for a few dogs with distemper, which could lie in the sun, whereas otherwise the dogs were confined to 3 small, very dark rooms with entry from the other side of an open corridor. These rooms are still to be found in the dog kennels, but have been greatly improved.

The explanation for my ability to raise myself above my students and veterinary colleagues, despite my very obvious lack of practical knowledge, and despite those who in the beginning must have to a great extent been skeptical with regard to my ability to fulfill the necessary requirements for my new position, can be attributed to my previous education in medicine. This, and my training in pathological anatomy, made it possible for me to bring new aspects into the teaching in the veterinarian curriculum. I was lucky enough to have been thrown into a study of animal diseases at a time which marked the beginning of one of the greatest advances in the history of medicine. The use of the microscope had lead to a deeper understanding of the true causes of many different disorders, and at the same time realized a completely new certainty in regard to the demarcation of individual diseases (think, for example, of the lines which have been drawn between what is tuberculosis and what is not). It is this type of research which has, during the previous decade, led to completely new treatments for wounds (antiseptics). This single finding was followed up by innumerable others (anthrax, anthrax-emphysema, wound infections, tuberculosis, Pfeiffer Ella, strangles, etc.)

Despite my very poor education in surgery, I was as a doctor very much aware of antisepsis. I was also schooled in histology, and I had the privilege of being taught bacteriology by Salomonsen, as I attended his first course in the subject - all these were to a great extent unknown to the veterinarians of those days.

My first independent research concerned actinomycosis, which I was able to study in the clinic (thesis 1883). The second was my studies of tuberculosis of the udders in cows - similarly on the basis of my clinical findings. I presented papers on this subject to the large, international medical congress which was held in Copenhagen in 1884. This research into tuberculosis of the udders was extended to include questions about the milk from cows with bovine tuberculosis, a problem which to great extent was the subject of my research in the following period. It was the introduction to my work on tuberculosis - and beyond the importance of what these studies have otherwise revealed; there was a different aspect, i.e., the establishment of a bacteriological laboratory in the research laboratory. This took place in the beginning of 1884, when Westring advised me to contact Fjord, who had recently started a new research laboratory, and ask him whether it would be possible for him to find room for me in his building (the “milk palace” as his enemies called it at the time) to set up a small bacteriological laboratory, and find me some money to run it. In the beginning I felt very uncertain as to whether this would be possible. I knew very little about my colleague Fjord, and what little contact I had had with him had been rather unfriendly, as I had suggested to the teaching faculty that veterinary students should pass the higher preliminary examination instead of the lower. Fjord vigorously opposed this reform, as he considered that it was preferable to m ak e admission as easy as possible for the young men who had been born into very poor families to enable them to fight their way up to a higher social level - as it turned out, Fjord at once embraced me with open arms, found me first a large - and shortly afterward also a smaller - room on the first floor, and helped me personally to carry out me first experiments regarding the temperature which was necessary to kill (or inhibit) Tuberculosis bacteria in milk, etc. During the first period I found it difficult to find time to do much work in the bacteriological laboratory, but space was made for Sand and Jensen to start on their first studies of malignant edema and strangles. It was in fact not until after 1887, when I was released from my duty in the out-patient clinic, and had t ak en over the newly established post as teacher in pathological anatomy and general pathology, that I was able to start my full- time work in bacteriology.

But I had at all events established the new Institution, the research laboratory in the bacteriological department, which over the following years would produce so many excellent papers. It was of great importance that late in 1887 C.O. Jensen was transferred from Nimtofte to assist me during an epidemic of swine fever. A few years later - as you know - he started up his own department under the laboratory, and it expanded over the years until 1908, when he established the Serum Laboratory.

I mentioned that I had little time in the first years after 1884 for my own research work. In fact, I had a tremendous amount to do. My wages were still pitiful (2800 kroner, of which 600 kroner was deducted for my laboratory at the school). The only other income that I possessed was a small amount from the equine insurance, which Stockfleth had received (about 300 kroner - which was increased after a couple of years by a share in the profits from the Veterinary police operation), and now with a family which included 3 young boys, it was necessary for me to t ak e up a small medical practice, which I found difficult and inconvenient to manage. And then - in November 1885 - I had to extend my usual teaching in order to give lectures in pathological anatomy and practical teaching in this subject; as a part of which I was expected to carry out all the available autopsies. The only official requirement which had been specified in my conditions of tenure was that I should be willing to t ak eover the teaching in these subjects, should it be requested. It was, in fact, never requested, but I took it over on my own inclination as soon as I realized that it would be possible for me to do so. It was really a pity but typical for those thrifty times, that it was apparently impossible to find a young, competent man, who was burning with zeal and the desire to do some good, such that he could use all his time for the good of his profession and veterinary science. During these years I worked very hard - I was lucky that I didn't wear myself out - but I could probably been more effective had the circumstances been more favorable. Things finally improved in 1887, when it was possible to establish a new teaching post in pathological anatomy and general pathology, which I took over, while Sand took over surgery and the ambulatory clinic.

This very important reform was brought about in a very strange way. Veterinarian and photographer Edv. Møller must t ak e most of the honors for this. This rather strange man, who will be remembered by all elder veterinarians, had spent many years as a veterinarian in Jutland, first in Ørsted near Randers , later in Randers itself. He apparently had a very lucrative practice, but also a great interest in photography, and moved to Copenhagen as a photographer. But at the same time he also had a great interest in veterinary work, and he spent much of his time at the school. At the same time he was an active politician in the radical left group, and gradually began to m ak e contact with various leading politicians. He had independent means, and kept away from colleagues in general, such that he could talk to politicians without arousing their suspicions that he was feathering his own nest. He took advantage of this with his own audacity. For example, he contacted Count Holstein-Ledreborg, who at that time was a very important member of the government, and explained to him what a great advance it would be for the community if I were to be given a new post in pathological anatomy. This would, among other results, ensure that the cause of contagious bovine abortion would be discovered, together with its cure; and God only knows how many other problems would be solved. I was naturally not unconditionally happy when he told me about his helpfulness - but luckily he was right with regard to brucella abortus: despite the fact that we have not as yet found any cure. He worked very hard to help the school and the veterinary profession in many other ways and all honor is due to his name for this. He died in 1911, and I have written a little verse in his honor in our monthly journal.

 The following couple of years were happy and tranquil, but in the Autumn of 1889 I again changed my course of study. At that time Prof. Bagge retired, and as I considered that my training and previous experience lay more closely to clinical work, the major part of veterinary practice, than to pathological anatomy, I found it reasonable to t ak e over his classes, which comprised lectures on special pathology and pharmacodynamics (at that time there was a division between pharmacology and pharmacodynamics), together with leadership of the entire stationary clinic, which included both surgery and medicine, and both large and small animals. I moved into the only large free residence in the college. (During the previous two years, with the help of the director, General Thomsen, I had received a concession which freed me from paying rent in my former home, something that has now been of use for the new resident, Sand).

I must admit that I was rather sad when I abandoned my favorite subject, pathological anatomy, but I had no problems about leaving it in the hands of a young, very competent man, namely C.O. Jensen, who was ready and waiting to take over this position.

My new position was very complex and comprehensive. There was a great amount of clinical work, so much that I generally had to schedule a number of operations to Sunday morning, but I had a splendid and very amusing helper in the young, very talented Valdemar Stribolt. Everything went with gusto and at full speed during those years – and also, in fact, in the following ones. Gradually I managed to get my workload reduced, not least because I had to t ake over another wide area, that of the county veterinary officer. In 1892 Jensen took over the kennels, and then in 1896 there was the wide reform, when the clinic for the larger animals was divided such that A. W. Mørkeberg took over the surgical department. It was surgery which I found most interesting, but I realized that it was left in the best possible hands.

During my period as leader of the clinic there were a number of important changes affecting the stable conditions, such that the old stables were demolished and replaced with 3 new ones. I had considerable influence with regard to the layout, and I feel that in general everything must be considered as beneficial. As I have described in my “biography” (published on the occasion of the l50-year jubilee of the veterinary school) it was I who had the pleasure of pushing through the idea such that it became a reality, and that it ended in such a nice place.

In the period from 1896 until my retirement from the School in 1914 I was only in charge of the half of the clinic which was responsible for animals with non-surgical conditions (internal conditions and skin disorders). Altogether during those 24 long years my main task was to guide the students in diagnosis and treatment of sick animals, in the early days for all types of illness, later only some of these. It must be left to my colleagues and students to determine whether I managed to their satisfaction. I was quite aware of my own inadequacies. This was partly the result of the many other things I had to look after. My hope is that my students will remember me as a teacher who, without getting weary of the necessary repetitions, has tried to teach them to study their patients carefully and scrupulously - in other words, to give them a background for them to teach themselves to be good veterinarians.

With regard to the lectures I gave in this period, I was happy that in 1901 I was released from pharmacodynamics (a subject that had never been of interest to me), as I was able, while constituted as director of the school, to establish a position of lecturer in pharmacology and canine clinic, which was t ak en by Carl H. Hansen.

"Senex loquax" as the Romans said; i.e., elderly men are talkative. This is also true in my case, and I'm afraid that I may have tired those who are listening to me. But since I have vowed to give a sketch of my life as a veterinarian, I cannot exclude to mention the more important of my scientific works. Although I still consider myself an amateur in the field of bacteriology, I was lucky enough to have found a few answers of lasting importance. Apart from my study of mastitis (1888) and swine erysipelas (1889) I would like to emphasize my original studies of the necrosis bacteria and all the various diseases this can cause (1890). Then came the studies on Tuberculosis, which led in 1892 to set out my plan to combat Tuberculosis in cattle - a matter which has occupied a great proportion of my time in the past 30 years, and which led to the important legislation regarding the pasteurization of skim-milk and buttermilk in the dairies, and a requirement that butter must be made from pasteurized cream. The fight against tuberculosis has given me a great deal of sorrow and in periods has called down over my sinful head harsh condemnation from a large percentage of the farming community (I could tell you about many strange things in that connection) - but it has also given me a great deal of pleasure, and it especially pleases me that I might experience a turn of the tide in this area before I die.

Following this was the discovery reported by Stribolt and myself in 1896 of the cause of contagious bovine abortion, which after several years of obscurity has become accepted over the whole world, and has spurred significant progress. Finally I will mention my investigation into paratuberculosis (the Lollandic disease) (reported in 1906), where I was lucky enough to demonstrate that it was a case of a hitherto unknown, independent infectious disease, which has proved to be of great importance in many parts of the world. This case is a fine example of what great help a scientist can receive from the careful observations of the pathological pictures that the practicing veterinarian may observe in his patients. It was of course veterinarian P. H. Nielsen's report (from Maribo), which opened my eyes to the probability that this was a hitherto unknown disorder. All of us who teach in veterinary schools in general (as we try to emphasize) in many respects t ak e pleasure and advantage of the good relationship between the school and the practicing veterinarians - and I would like to t ak e this opportunity to thank you all heartily.

In conclusion I must speak briefly of the other half of my “veterinary life”, which comprises my work as a member, and for more than 30 years chairman, of the Animal Health Board and as the county veterinary medical officer. I still remain in the first of these positions, and it is probably sufficient to say that it has been, and still is, enough to take up a great deal of my time and energy. But it has naturally been my work as county veterinary medical officer which has been of the greater external importance. Even while Bagge was veterinary officer I began to become involved with the prevention of infectious diseases. During the first years after I took over the work we had a couple of small epidemics of pleuropneumonia in oxen, which we considered must have come from Sweden, and already at that time I ended up in a very vehement controversy, which has long since been forgotten. In the autumn of 1887, in my work as pathological anatomist, I discovered the existence of the very dangerous swine disease “necrotic enteritis”, which at that time had not been described in Europe apart from England . Bagge was still ill, and it became my duty (with the support of temporary police veterinarian Gautier) to combat the epidemic. I find it interesting to mention this case, as it led to very important alterations in pig breeding and agricultural practice. The Germans claimed (incorrectly) that this was a disease which did not exist in their area, and they therefore closed the borders for the import of Danish pigs. As Hamburg had until then been our main market, this was considered to be a great calamity, but in fact it turned out to be serendipitous, as the breeders turned instead to the British market, and bred bacon pigs instead of the big, overly fat Hamburg pigs. A number of new bacon factories were started, and a great part of the waste remained in Denmark . After a few years laws governing the veterinary control of bacon production were passed, and that has put bread into the mouths of many veterinarians!

As veterinary medical officer I had a great deal to do in connection with the fight against glanders, actually for as long as we had the large import of horses from Russia . It was important to note that in 1890 I had demonstrated the value of Mallein [extract of the glanders bacillus used in the diagnosis of glanders].

The most important task that I have had to work with was still the fight against hoof and mouth disease - a very difficult and laborious task, which in the end I was able to solve - although there were some epidemics which lasted for years. But this is so well known that I will not go into it any further.

When I look back over the 43 years since I returned now to the Veterinary school, I have reason to thank the Lord that everything went as well as it did. I have absolutely no reason to complain that I followed the path which was set before me.

Admittedly there were often difficult years during my tenure, but the same would have been true had I worked as a doctor - in fact, I doubt whether I would have been able to endure the strenuous and responsible work as a doctor for as long as in the work that I chose. And I felt that I was very lucky to have been able to work in a field where my humble efforts were sufficient for me, being given the right time and conditions, to make it possible to fill a position and be of use – which has always been my greatest wish. The great appreciation which has been shown to me from the State, and the knowledge that my students and colleagues (who are in the best position to evaluate my work) together with the other fellow citizens who have honored me by erecting a monument for me and establishing a scholarship in my name, have given me the right to believe that people have really felt that my work has been useful for the college and the community. For me to realize this has brought great happiness. I extend heartfelt thanks to all those who have contributed to my believing this. I would also like to t ak e this opportunity to thank all the good and competent associates who have helped me in the clinic, the laboratories and the Health Board through the years, and all my good colleagues here at the college, with whom I was happy to enjoy a friendly, in many cases truly amicable, relationship.

I have in general had a happy life. I have usually been happy in my work, and I have lived a quiet and happy family life. I would therefore like to thank my good children and a number of relatives and friends, but most of all, my noble-minded and beloved wife. She had what was for me the invaluable quality of not being exacting, but accepting that, to a very high degree, my time had to be given to my work. There was often little left for entertainment, hardly enough for common amusements. She probably felt this, but never complained. For her the first consideration was always that I should at all times try to do the right thing. Therefore my thanks go to her in her grave. A good wife is the best support that a man can have.

Bernhard Bang’s beloved wife Elise Klee Bang is on the far left in a family gathering Please see below for details                                                                                                                 

Translation:   Family gathering ca. 1903-04. Seated from the left: Elise Bang, Edel Olufsen  née Bang, Odine Bang (BB’s sister), Edel Olufsen’s daughter Gerda born May 16, 1901, the widow Sopie Margrethe Bang, BB, and in the background Aage Olufsen married to Edel Bang. Standing from the left: Henrik Owesen son of a cousin of BB and Elise, i.e. daughter of a third sister Moth (Marie Alette Elise Charlotte married Arreboe Iversen), foster son Valdemar Frederik (Fred) Klee, Oluf Bang, and farthest on the right Olga Barfoed (Margrethe and Ludvig Bang’s adopted daughter).