THE CONQUEST OF HYDROPHOBIA 219 



Probably without his foresight you would have been ill, 

 and to be ill of hydrophobia means certain death. You 

 owe him, therefore, a great obligation. Good-bye and 

 keep well. 



Among the various people who came to Pasteur's 

 laboratory were nineteen Russians who had been 

 bitten by rabid wolves. Some of them were in a 

 very bad condition on account of the severity of 

 their wounds. The percentage developing hydro- 

 phobia after being bitten by rabid wolves was 

 known to be very high, being on the average of 

 about eighty-two per hundred. Two weeks had 

 passed since the unfortunate Russians were bitten, 

 and it was therefore very doubtful if they could be 

 saved. Two inoculations a day, a morning and an 

 evening one, were given in order to speed up the 

 process of immunization. Greatly to Pasteur's 

 grief, three of the Russians soon died, but the 

 others, who were followed with the greatest 

 anxiety, recovered, and were sent back to their 

 native country. In behalf of these and other Rus- 

 sians who had been saved, the Tsar presented to 

 Pasteur a diamond cross of the Order of St. Anne, 

 and a hundred thousand francs for the Pasteur 

 Institute for which funds were then being collected. 



