author
Charles Neil McBryde
b. 1872
A pioneering American bacteriologist, he wrote practical early-20th-century research on food spoilage, disinfection, and animal disease for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His best-known work explores the science behind ham souring with a clear focus on real-world industry problems.
1 Audiobook
A bacteriological study of ham souring
by Charles Neil McBryde
About the author
Born on February 2, 1872, Charles Neil McBryde was an American bacteriologist from Albemarle County, Virginia. Available biographical records identify him as the son of John McLaren McBryde and Cora Bolton McBryde, and note studies at the University of South Carolina, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington University.
McBryde's published work shows a career closely tied to scientific and agricultural research in the early 1900s. His writings include The Germicidal Value of Liquor Cresolis Compositus (U.S.P.) (1907), Filtration Experiments with Bacillus Cholerae Suis (1909), and A Bacteriological Study of Ham Souring (1911), all issued through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Industry. These works point to a scientist interested in bacteriology not just as theory, but as a tool for improving food safety and animal health.
He died in 1962. Although detailed personal accounts are hard to find, the surviving publications present him as part of an era when laboratory science was becoming essential to modern agriculture and public health.