JULY 9/TAMMUZ 13

1809:

Birthday of Friedrich Henle, a German anatomist and pathologist, who in 1840 was the first to argue that infectious diseases are transmitted by living organisms. He was proven to be right 40 years later by his student Robert Koch.

Public Domain

1840:

After the first ever organized protest of American Jewry took place throughout major cities to protest the Damascus blood libel, President Martin van Buren applied pressure on Syria and eventually the remaining survivors were released.

Library of Congress (Public Domain)