NOTES 639 



method for the protection of communities. He satisfied himself of the 

 soundness and safety of the practice experimentally in 1796, and thus estab- 

 lished the doctrine of immunity, by a process which had brought about 

 attenuation of the then and still unrecognised causative agent of the disease. 

 Received at first, as most new branches of thought or practice usually are, 

 by much incredulity and hostility, Jenner lived to see vaccination eagerly 

 sought for by nations throughout the world. The British Government 

 recognised the public value of his labours by giving him a grant of ;^2o,ooo, 

 and the city of Calcutta (where 23 per cent, of all deaths were due to small- 

 pox) forwarded to him a thank-offering of ;^6,ooo. The life-saving and pre- 

 vention of maiming of survivors of attacks in populations protected by 

 vaccination are too well recognised in the present day to require comment. 

 The work of Jenner has been followed, as with the proverbial casting of 

 the stone in the pool, by ever widening influence. 



Within a month of the death of Jenner (January 1823), there was born 

 the bearer of a name that has become as familiar throughout the world as 

 that of Jenner, namely, the French savant Pasteur. The existence of micro- 

 organisms had been recognised as far back as 1659. In 1848, Pasteur per- 

 formed experiments in fermentation which demonstrated the multiphcation 

 of certain of these under special conditions, with the production of specific 

 results. Later, cultivations of a micro-organism derived from instances of 

 chicken-cholera exhibited varying virulence. Using the mild form as 

 vaccine, he secured immunity in fowls. Pasteur thus laid the foundation of 

 that important science — Bacteriology. No longer could Liebeg's theory of 

 the spontaneous origin of micro-organisms be accepted. That great truth, 

 in relation to surgery, was grasped by Lister, with the result that where 

 formerly in careful hands death followed in 10 per cent, of operations, in the 

 present day, not more than i per cent, can be so ascribed. Operations for- 

 merly dared only as a last resort, are now regarded as a matter of routine. 

 Devalue, who had found bacilli in the blood of sheep suffering from anthrax 

 before the period of Pasteur's fermentation experiments, but without pro- 

 nouncing their pathogenic character, in the light thus afforded by Pasteur 

 concluded (1865) that these possessed specific qualities. To secure protection 

 of herds of sheep demanded their immunisation. The great mind of Pasteur 

 (1877) conjectured that if in Jenner 's vaccination the unrecognised specific 

 causative agent had been modified in passing through bovines, might it not 

 also be possible by artificial means to bring about attenuation of disease- 

 bearing bacilli which were now distinguishable ? This he accomphshed. The 

 artificial attenuation doctrine having thus been estabUshed, he was led to 

 the discovery of a method of prophylaxis against the development of hydro- 

 phobia in the human being, of utility within a period of the infliction of 

 bite by rabid animals. He thus brought the hope to thousands of human 

 beings of rescue from one of the most agonising forms of death conceivable. 

 Pasteur Institutes are now featmres of preventive medical science wherever 

 the dread disease of rabies prevails. 



But the hope of obtaining immunity by attenuated forms of the disease- 

 bearing agent which filled Jenner in approaching anti-variola vaccination, 

 and which in the hands of Pasteur was so magnificently expanded, has borne 

 fruit beyond that anticipated by the latter. Haffkine, pmrsuing modifications 

 of Pasteur's methods, has excogitated a vaccine against cholera and, notably, 

 against plague, which should have earned the undying gratitude of plague- 

 stricken India. In the hands of Wright, vaccine has been produced which 

 has caused typhoid — the scourge of armies — to be brought under control. 

 Whilst improved knowledge as to disposal of infective matter and detection 

 of " carriers " must have contributed to the result, it must be held that the 

 prophylactic use of anti-typhoid vaccine contributed greatly to the contrast 

 afforded by the mortality in the armies employed, respectively, in the South 



