LOUIS PASTEUR. 29 



But for a final demonstration that his methods were suc- 

 cessful, was required a long series of public experiments which 

 were not to be obtained by any one dramatic incident. To obtain 

 such testimony no means appeared to be possible except to 

 announce to the public the discovery of a method of preventing 

 hydrophobia. Such an announcement was made by Pasteur. 

 The public had such unlimited confidence in the man that they 

 at once accepted the conclusion as correct. Certain it is that no 

 one else could have taken the public into his experiments, but his 

 uninterrupted success in previous years gave all a belief that he 

 had made no mistake here. Opportunities for experiment began 

 to multiply, and scores and then hundreds of individuals who had 

 been bitten by animals, either rabid or supposed to be rabid, 

 flocked to the laboratory of Pasteur to be treated by his method. 



The experiments thus begun have continued for eight years, 

 and even yet can hardly be considered as concluded. The 

 opinion of the public, and especially of the medical world, has 

 vibrated from one side to the other. At first, Pasteur's conclu- 

 sions were accepted as probable, simply on the basis of the great 

 reputation of the man, and the fact that Pasteur made so few 

 mistakes. Later, flying to the other extreme, the whole efficacy of 

 the method as practised by Pasteur was doubted. Most violent 

 opposition arose, and it is thought that this opposition contributed 

 to undermine Pasteur's health and check his active life. Later 

 again the world became slowly convinced, by the accumulating 

 testimony in his Institute, that here too no mistake had been made. 



At the present time there is hardly a question that Pasteur's 

 methods, even in the case of hydrophobia, have demonstrated 

 themselves as successful. While statistics are a very uncertain 

 kind of evidence, one cannot read of the success which has 

 attended the inoculation in Pasteur's Institute for eight years 

 without being convinced that Pasteur's methods are correct. In 

 his Institute have been treated several thousands of cases of per- 

 sons bitten by animals supposed to have been rabid, and among 

 those that have been treated the number of deaths has only been 

 a trifle over one per cent. With this exceptionally small per 

 centage, even after we say everything possible as to the uncertainty 

 of statistics, we can hardly question that truth underlies these 



