1885—1888 433 



In August, 1886, wliile staying at Arbois, Pasteur spent 

 much time over his notes and registers; he was sometimes 

 tempted to read over certain articles of passionate criticism. 

 ' ' How difficult it is to obtain the triumph of truth ! ' ^ he would 

 say. *' Opposition is a useful stimulant, but bad faith is such 

 a pitiable thing. How is it that they are not struck with the 

 results as sho^vn by statistics? From 1880 to 1885, sixty 

 persons are stated to have died of hydrophobia in the 

 Paris hospitals; well, since November 1, 1885, when the 

 prophylactic method was started in my laboratory, only three 

 deaths have occurred in those hospitals, two of which were cases 

 which had not been treated. It is evident that very few people 

 who had been bitten did not come to be treated. In France, 

 out of that unknown but very restricted number, seventeen 

 cases of death have been noted, whilst out of the 1,726 French 

 and Algerians who came to the laboratory only ten died after 

 the treatment.^' 



But Pasteur was not yet satisfied with this proportion, already 

 so low; he was trying to forestall the outburst of hydrophobia 

 by a greater rapidity and intensity of the treatment. He read 

 a paper on the subject to the Academy of Sciences on November 

 2, 1886. Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, who was in the chair, 

 said to him, ''All great discoveries have gone through a time of 

 trial. May your health withstand the troubles and difficulties 

 in your way.'' 



Pasteur's health had indeed suffered from so much work and 

 anxiety, and there were symptoms of some heart trouble. Drs. 

 Villemin and Grancher persuaded him to interrupt his work and 

 to think of spending a restful winter in the south of France. 

 M. Raphael Bischoffsheim, a great lover of science, placed at 

 Pasteur's disposal his beautiful "vdlla at Bordighera, close to the 

 French frontier, which he had on divers occasions lent to other 

 distinguished guests, the Queen of Italy, Henri Sainte-Claire 

 Deville, Gambetta, etc. 



Pasteur consented to leave his work at the end of November, 

 and started one evening from the Gare de Lyon with his wife, 

 his daughter and her husband, and his two grandchildren; 

 eighteen friends came to the station to see him off, including 

 his pupils, M. Bischoffsheim, and some foreign physicians who 

 were staying in Paris to study the prophylactic treatment of 

 hydrophobia. 



The bright da^vn and the sunshine already appearing at 



