176 LOUIS PASTEUR 



and Pasteur's friends and followers were filled with 

 anxiety over the outcome of the bold step which 

 their leader had taken. It was specified that 

 twenty-five sheep were to be inoculated with an- 

 thrax vaccine and afterwards inoculated with 

 anthrax. Twenty-five unvaccinated sheep were to 

 be inoculated with anthrax alone. Six cattle were 

 to be inoculated and four others kept as controls. 

 Two weeks after vaccination the sheep and cattle 

 vaccinated and unvaccinated alike were to be given 

 an injection of virulent germs of anthrax and three 

 days later the meeting was to be called to witness 

 the results. The preliminary inoculations were 

 carried out on May 5, 1881. "These experiments," 

 wrote Rossignol, "are solemn ones and should be- 

 come memorable, if, as M. Pasteur affirms with so 

 much conviction, they confirm all that he has 

 already claimed. We express the ardent hope that 

 M. Pasteur will succeed and depart as victor from 

 a contest which has now lasted sufficiently long. 

 If he succeeds, he will have conferred upon his 

 country a great benefit, and his adversaries should, 

 like the ancient captives, wreathe their brows with 

 laurel, and prepare to follow, chained and bowed 

 down, the chariot of the immortal victor; but he 

 must succeed; that is the price of triumph. How- 



