1885—1888 415 



absolutely straightforward, and of a discreet and active kind- 

 ness. He was passionately fond of work, and had recourse to 

 it when smitten by a deep sorrow. 



Vulpian expressed the opinion that Pasteur's experiments 

 on dogs were sufficiently conclusive to authorize him to foresee 

 the same success in human pathology. Why not try this treat- 

 ment? added the professor, usually so reserved. Was there 

 any other efficacious treatment against hydrophobia? If at 

 least the cauterizations had been made with a red-hot iron I 

 but what was the good of carbolic acid twelve hours after the 

 accident. If the almost certain danger which threatened the 

 boy were weighed against the chances of snatching him from 

 death, Pasteur would see that it was more than a right, that 

 it was a duty to apply antirabic inoculation to little Meister. 



This was also the opinion of Dr. Grancher, whom Pasteur 

 consulted. M. Grancher worked at the laboratory; he and 

 Dr. Straus might claim to be the two first French physicians 

 who took up the study of bacteriology; these novel studies 

 fascinated him, and he was drawn to Pasteur by the deepest 

 admiration and by a strong affection, which Pasteur thoroughly 

 reciprocated. 



Vulpian and M. Grancher examined little Meister in the 

 evening, and, seeing the number of bites, some of which, on 

 one hand especially, were very deep, they decided on perform- 

 ing the first inoculation immediately; the substance chosen 

 was fourteen days old and had quite lost its virulence: it waa 

 to be followed by further inoculations gradually increasing in 

 strength. 



It was a very slight operation, a mere injection into the 

 side (by means of a Pravaz syringe) of a few drops of a liquid 

 prepared with some fragments of medulla oblongata. The 

 child, who cried very much before the operation, soon dried 

 his tears when he found the slight prick was all that he had 

 to undergo. 



Pasteur had had a bedroom comfortably arranged for the 

 mother and child in the old RoUin College, and the little boy 

 was very happy amidst the various animals — chickens, rabbits, 

 white mice, guinea-pigs, etc.; he begged and easily obtained 

 of Pasteur the life of several of the youngest of them. 



*'A11 is going well," Pasteur wrote to his son-in-law on 

 July 11: ''the child sleeps well, has a good appetite, and the 

 inoculated matter is absorbed into the system from one day 



