200 LOUIS PASTEUR 



cline in the mortality from surgical operations to 

 about one-tenth the rate which obtained before the 

 application of antiseptic methods. Lying-in hos- 

 pitals that witnessed the death of more than ten 

 percent of their child-bearing women showed a 

 death rate of less than one percent. Erysipelas 

 and gangrene had been almost abolished from hos- 

 pitals in which they formerly ran riot. France 

 became relatively free from certain diseases of 

 animals, against which a battle had long been 

 waged in vain. All these facts spoke more elo- 

 quently than any words of controversy concerning 

 the great value of Pasteur's labors and the work 

 which he inspired. 



