SOME GREAT NAMES IN BIOLOGY 



401 



ever, by the year 1802, vaccination was practiced in most of the 

 civilized countries of the world. At the present time the death rate 

 in Great Britain, the home of vaccination, is less than .3 to every 

 1,000,000 living persons. This shows that the disease is practically 

 wiped out in England. An interesting comparison with these 

 figures might be made from the history of the disease in parts of 

 Russia where vaccination is not practiced. There, thousands of 

 deaths from smallpox occur annually. During the winter of 

 1913-1914 an epidemic of smallpox with more than 250 cases 

 broke out in the city of Niagara Falls. This epidemic appears 

 to be due to a campaign conducted by people who do not believe 

 in vaccination. In cities and towns near by, where vaccination 

 was practiced, no cases of smallpox occurred. Naturally if oppo- 

 sition to vaccination is found nowadays, Jenner had a much 

 harder battle to fight in his day. He also had many failures, due 

 to the imperfect methods of his time. The full worth of his dis- 

 covery was not fully appreciated until long after his death, which 

 occurred in 1823. 



Louis Pasteur. - The one man who, in biological science, did 

 more than any other to directly benefit mankind was Louis Pasteur. 

 Born in 1822, in the mountains 

 near the border of northeastern 

 France, he spent the early part 

 of his life as a normal boy, fond 

 of fishing and not very partial 

 to study. He inherited from 

 his father, however, a fine char- 

 acter and grim determination, 

 so that when he became inter- 

 ested in scientific pursuits he 

 settled down to work with en- 

 thusiasm and energy. 



At the age of twenty-five he 

 became well known throughout 

 France as a physicist. Shortly 

 after this he became interested in the tiny plants we call bac- 

 teria, and it was in the field of bacteriology that he became most 



HUNTER, CIV. BI.--26 



Louis Pasteur. 



