1882—1884 367 



ing, grandly: "M. Pasteur ^s excuse is that he is a chemist, 

 who has tried, out of a wish to be useful, to reform medicine, 

 to which he is a complete stranger. . . . 



**In the struggle I have undertaken the present discussion 

 is but a skirmish; but, to judge from the reinforcements which 

 are coming to me, the melee may become general, and victory 

 will remain, I hope, to the larger battalions, that is to say, to 

 the *old medicine.' '' 



Bouley, amazed that M. Peter should thus scout the notion 

 of microbia introduced into pathology, valiantly fought this 

 ** skirmish" alone. He recalled the discussions a propos of 

 tuberculosis, so obscure until a new and vivifying notion came 

 to simplify the solution of the problem. **And you reject that 

 solution! You say, 'What does it matter to me? . . . What! 

 M. Koch, of Berlin — who with such discoveries as he has made 

 might well abstain from envy — M. Koch points out to you the 

 presence of bacteria in tubercles, and that seems to you of nc 

 importance? But that microbe gives you the explanation of 

 those contagious properties of tuberculosis so well demonstrated 

 by M. Villemin, for it is the instrument of virulence itself which 

 is put under your eyes.'' 



Bouley then went on to refute the arguments of M. Peter, 

 epitomized the history of the discovery of the attenuation of 

 virus, and all that this method of cultures possible in an extra- 

 organic medium might suggest that was hopeful for a vaccine of 

 cholera and of yellow fever, which might be discovered one day 

 and protect humanity against those terrible scourges. He con- 

 cluded thus — ''Let M. Peter do what I have done; let him 

 study M. Pasteur, and penetrate thoroughly into all that is 

 admirable, through the absolute certainty of the results, in 

 the long series of researches which have led him from the 

 discovery of ferments to that of the nature of virus; and 

 then I can assure him that instead of decrying this great 

 glory of France, of whom we must all he proud, he too 

 will feel himself carried away by enthusiasm and will 

 bow with admiration and respect before the chemist, who, 

 though not a physician, illumines medicine and dispels, in 

 the light of his experiments, a darkness which had hitherto 

 remained impenetrable. ' ' 



A year before this (Peter had not failed to report the fact) 

 an experiment of anthrax vaccination had completely failed at 

 the Turin Veterinary School. All the sheep, vaccinated and 



