1880—1882 331 



that he had protested against certain barbarities, coldly- 

 executed by some Prussian generals during that campaign of 

 1870? Had he not considered the clauses of the Treaty of 

 Frankfort as Draconian and dangerous? If he had been sole 

 master, would he have torn Alsace away from France? What 

 share would his coming reign bear in the history of civiliza- 

 tion? . . . Fate had already marked this Prince, only fifty 

 years old, for an approaching death. In his great sufferings, 

 before the inexorable death which was suffocating him, he was 

 heroically patient. His long agony began at San Remo, 

 amongst the roses and sunshine; he was an Emperor for less 

 than one hundred days, and, on his death-bed, words of peace, 

 peace for his people, were on his lips. 



As Pasteur, coming to this Congress, was not only curious to 

 see what was the place held in medicine and surgery by the 

 germ-theory, but also desirous to learn as much as possible, he 

 never missed a discussion and attended every meeting. It was 

 in a simple sectional meeting that Bastian attempted to refute 

 Lister. After his speech, the President suddenly said, ''I call 

 on M. Pasteur," though Pasteur had not risen. There was 

 great applause; Pasteur did not know English; he turned to 

 Lister and asked him what Bastian had said. 



"He said," whispered Lister, ''that microscopic organiza- 

 tions in disease were formed by the tissues themselves." 



''That is enough for me," said Pasteur. And he then 

 invited Bastian to try the following experiment : 



"Take an animal's limb, crush it, allow blood and other 

 normal or abnormal liquids to spread around the bones, only 

 taking care that the skin should neither be torn nor opened in 

 any way, and I defy you to see any micro-organism formed 

 within that limb as long as the illness will last." 



Pasteur, desired to do so by Sir James Paget at one of the 

 great General Meetings of the Congress, gave a lecture on the 

 principles which had led him to the attenuation of virus, on 

 the methods which had enabled him to obtain the vaccines of 

 chicken-cholera and of charbon, and, finally, on the results 

 obtained. "In a fortnight," he said, "we vaccinated, in the 

 Departments surrounding Paris, nearly 20,000 sheep, and a 

 great many oxen, cows and horses. . . . 



"Allow me," he continued, "not to conclude without telling 

 ^>ou of the great joy that I feel in thinking that it is as a 

 Jiember of the International Medical Congress sitting in 



