Ideas about the transmission of disease have long formed the core of modern biology and medicine. Heredity and Infection examines their development since the 1800s. Two scientific revolutions - the bacteriological revolution of the 1890s and the genetic revolution at the start of the 20th century - acted as the catalysts of major change in our understanding of the causes of illness. As well as being great scientific achievements, these were social and political watersheds that reconfigured the medical and administrative means of intervention. By establishing a clear distinction between...