S16 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



charbon germs brought to the surface by earthworms, and that 

 "ihey would die of splenic fever. Finally, twenty-five other 

 sheep might be folded in a neighbouring spot, where no charbon 

 victims had ever been buried, and under these conditions none 

 would contract the disease. 



M. de la Rochette having expressed a desire that cows should 

 be included in the programme, Pasteur answered that he was 

 willing to try that new experiment, though his tests on vaccine 

 for cows were not as advanced as those on sheep vaccine. 

 Perhaps, he said, the results may not be as positive, though he 

 thought they probably would be. He was offered ten cows; 

 six were to be vaccinated and four not vaccinated. The experi- 

 ments were to begin on the Thursday, 5th May, and would in 

 all likelihood terminate about the first fortnight in June. 



At the time when M. Eossignol declared that all was ready 

 for the fixed time, an editor's notice in the Veterinary Press 

 said that the laboratory experiments were about to be repeated 

 in campo, and that Pasteur could thus *' demonstrate that he 

 had not been mistaken when he affirmed before the astonished 

 Academy that he had discovered the vaccine of splenic fever, 

 a preventative to one of the most terrible diseases with which 

 animals and even men could be attacked." This notice ended 

 thus, with an unexpected classical reminiscence: ** These 

 experiments are solemn ones, and they will become memorable 

 if, as M. Pasteur asserts, with such confidence, they confirm 

 all those he has already instituted. We ardently wish that M. 

 Pasteur may succeed and remain the victor in a tournament 

 which has now lasted long enough. If he succeeds, he will 

 have endowed his country with a great benefit, and his adver- 

 saries should, as in the days of antiquity, wreathe their brows 

 with laurel leaves and prepare to follow, chained and prostrate, 

 the chariot of the immortal Victor. But he must succeed: 

 such is the price of triumph. Let M. Pasteur not forget that 

 the Tarpeian Rock is near the Capitol.'* 



On May 5 a numerous crowd arriving from Melun station or 

 from the little station of Cesson, was seen moving towards the 

 yard of Pouilly le Fort farm ; it looked like a mobilisation of 

 Conseillers Generaiix, agricultors, physicians, apothecaries, and 

 especially veterinary surgeons. ]\Iost of these last were full of 

 scepticism — as was remarked by M. Thierry, who represented 

 the Veterinary Society of the Yonne, and one of his colleagues, 

 M. Biot, of Pont-sur-Yonne. They were exchanging jokes and 



