168 LOUIS PASTEUR 



It was inoculated, placed in a cold bath, and kept 

 there until symptoms of the disease became clearly 

 apparent. Would it recover if restored to its nor- 

 mal temperature? The hen was wrapped in cotton 

 wool and put into a warm container at 35 ° C. and 

 soon made a complete recovery. Here is a most 

 instructive experiment in proving that the natural 

 resistance of the body to infection may be broken 

 down by unfavorable conditions and allow an in- 

 vasion of bacteria which would normally be over- 

 come. 



At this time anthrax was causing serious losses 

 among cattle and sheep in several districts of 

 France, and Pasteur was commissioned by the Min- 

 ister of Agriculture to make a study of so-called 

 spontaneous anthrax which broke out without ap- 

 parent cause. This feature of the disease made it 

 particularly difficult to cope with. When herds 

 were infected they were commonly taken to some 

 other locality, as it was held that it might be the 

 water, dampness, or dryness of the soil, or some 

 peculiarity of the pasturage that was responsible 

 for the outbreak. Pasteur visited one of the in- 

 fected regions in the vicinity of Chartres accom- 

 panied by M. Roux, one of his devoted collabo- 

 rators, who was destined to attain a prominent 



