220 LOUIS PASTEUR 



The reports of the success of the Pasteur treat- 

 ment caused the British Government to appoint a 

 Commission to make a first-hand investigation of 

 the facts. On this Commission were several men 

 of international fame, such as Lauder Brunton, 

 Quain, Joseph Lister, Burdon Sanderson, Victor 

 Horsley, and Sir James Paget. Delegates visited 

 Paris, observed the methods followed, and took 

 account of the results. Looking over Pasteur's 

 records of ninety persons who were treated within 

 the neighborhood of Paris, they visited all of them 

 in their own homes. Further experimental work 

 was carried on by the Commission in both France 

 and in England. Fourteen months were spent in 

 a most exhaustive and critical investigation, and 

 for this reason it was all the more gratifying that 

 the Commission fully verified all of Pasteur's re- 

 sults. "It may be considered as certain," says the 

 report, "that M. Pasteur has discovered a preven- 

 tive method against hydrophobia comparable to 

 that of vaccination against smallpox. It would be 

 difficult to overestimate the utility of this discov- 

 ery." 



The support of this Commission was much ap- 

 preciated by Pasteur who in spite of his striking 

 successes was, as in most periods of his career, not 



