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"The most widespread and fatal of all acute diseases, pneumonia is now the 'Captain of the Men of Death,' to use the phrase applied by John Bunyan to consumption."

Notes:

1. The original Bunyan quote, referring to consumption, is "the captain of all these men of death…" (Bunyan, J. The Life and Death of Mr. Badman. New York, R. H. Russell, 1900. p. 129)
   
   
2. At the British Congress on Tuberculosis in 1901, Osler "…recalled Bunyan's description of consumption as 'captain of the men of death;' the captain, he said, had been reduced to a lieutenant and would soon be brought down to an ensign and from thence to the ranks. But finally to drum him out of the regiment was too much to expect." (British Congress on Tuberculosis, First General Meeting. Br Med J 2:205, 1901.)
   
   
3. In 1917, Osler said, "Many years ago in the 'Life and Death of Mr. Badman,' I came across Bunyan's phrase the 'Captain of the Men of Death,' which 'caught on' in the literature. In his day it may have been true of consumption; it is so no longer; the headship in temperate climates belongs undoubtedly to syphilis." (Osler, W. The Campaign Against Syphilis. Lancet 1:787-792, 1917.
   
   
4. http://www.cosmos-club.org/journals/1996/krause.html
   
   
5. http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/notes/TBN_1_00/tbn2000.htm