PEACTICE OF MEDICINE AND HYGIENE 



it. The study of his activities has more educa- 

 tional value than the study of the activities of 

 Napoleon. Pasteur was the ideal of honesty, 

 kindness, and zeal for the truth. 



Arteriosclerosis, the hardening of the blood 

 vessels by the deposit in their walls of fibrous 

 tissue, constituting the chief symptom of old 

 age, has been studied experimentally. It has 

 been found possible to produce this condition 

 in rabbits and other animals by administering 

 to them the toxins which develop in the human 

 intestine. Continuous poisoning with alcohol 

 and tobacco has been found to have a similar 

 effect upon animals. It was upon the basis of 

 such experiments that Metchnikoff worked out 

 his theory of old age, and found intestinal 

 putrefactive bacteria to have much to do with 

 this most fatal of all human diseases. 



Snake bite in this country is of some impor- 

 tance, but in many of the tropical countries it 

 is a great national question. There are twenty 

 thousand deaths annually in India from cobra 

 bite. Mitchell, of the United States, in 1860, 

 investigated the nature of this venom, exper- 

 imenting with rattlesnakes, frogs, birds, and 

 other animals. His studies were followed by 

 researches by English physicians in India who 



113 



Arterio- 

 sclerosis. 



Snake bite. 



