262 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



the same time given us a rational method 

 of treating them. Modern surgery owes 

 much to his teachings, for the intelligent 

 use of antiseptics, have rendered possible 

 operations, which in former days were 

 not thought of. 



Louis Pasteur was born at Dole, De- 

 cember 22d, 1822 ; his father was a tan- 

 ner who served as a soldier under Napo- 

 leon ; when Louis was two years old, 

 the family removed to Arbois, where 

 later Louis was sent to the local school ; 

 then to Besancon College, preparatory 

 to entering the Ecole Normale at Paris. 

 Pasteur early developed a passionate 

 love for the study of chemistry, becom- 

 ing so absorbed in his work that all else 

 was forgotten. It is related that on his 

 wedding day he was so interested in his 

 work, that he forgot the time of the cere- 

 mony and messengers had to be sent to 

 remind him of the occasion. 



We can but allude now to the more im- 

 portant discoveries of Pasteur, hoping at 

 some future time to give a fuller account 

 of his life work. Following in the footsteps 

 of Jenner, Pasteur was a firm believer 

 in vaccination as a preventive against 

 disease; and as each particular disease 

 was caused by its own special microbe, he 

 believed we had but to cultivate this 

 particular microbe, and by proper innocu- 

 lation of the patient grant them immun- 

 ity. Pasteur's scientific career is a long 

 and honorable one, but for all his achieve- 

 ments, none have brought him such a 

 wide-spread fame as the treatment of 

 rabies. His experiments and successful 

 work upon the diseases of the silkwork, 

 upon Anthrax, and the Phylloxera have 

 each been, patterns of careful experi- 

 ment, and correct deduction, and been 

 of lasting benefit to mankind. 



"Such were some of the principal la- 

 bors of the great savant who has just 

 passed away. His life was a quiet one 

 in the serene peace of laboratories and 

 libaries; and the chief landmarks in it 

 were soon told. He was successively 

 assistant in physical science and pre- 



parator in chemistry at the Ecole Nor- 

 male and doctor of sciences. A few 

 years later, he became professor in 

 Strasburg. then dean of the scientific 

 faculty of Lillie. From this city he was, 

 in 1857, recalled to Paris to become 

 director of scientific studies at the Ecole 

 Normale, then professor of geology, 

 physics and chemistry at the Beaux 

 Arts; finally, professor of chemistry at 

 the Sorbonne. The Academy of Sciences, 

 The Academy of Medicine, and finally, 

 the French Academy, opened their 

 doors to him. 



"In 1874 he was voted a life annuity 

 of 1 2,000 f., which the following 3'ear 

 was increased by 6,000 f. He was made 

 Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor 

 in 1878. From the entire world he 

 received the most flattering and envi- 

 able honors and distinctions. On De- 

 cember 27, 1892, on the motion of the 

 medical and surgical section of the 

 Academy of Sciences, the seventieth 

 anniversary of his birth, was celebrated 

 in the old Sorbonne. The President of 

 the Republic, the Ministers, the mem- 

 bers of Parliament, the diplomatic body, 

 the scientific societies of France and 

 delegates from the universities and col- 

 leges of the whole world came and pre- 

 sented to Pasteur the tribute of their 

 enthusiastic admiration." 



Tree Trunks as Fillers. — A well known 

 Austrian engineer, M. Pfister, has announced as 

 having discovered a remarkable property of the 

 trunks of trees, namely, that of retaining the 

 salt of sea water that has filtered thrcugh the 

 trunk in the direction of the fibers. He has 

 consequently constructed an apparatus de- 

 signing to utilize this property in obtaing pot- 

 able water for the use of ships' crews. This 

 apparatus consists of ,1 pump which sucks up 

 the sea water into a reservoir and then forces it 

 into the filter formed by the tree trunk. As 

 soon as the pressure reaches 1.5 to 2.5 atmos- 

 pheres the water is seen — at the end of from 

 one to three minutes, according to the kind of 

 wood used — to make its exit from the other ex- 

 tremity of the trunk, at first in drops and then 

 in fine streams; the water thus filtered being 

 potable, freed, in fact, from every particle of 

 the usual saline taste which is such a drawback 

 to water obtained in the ordinary manner. — 

 The Pharmaceutical Era. 



