Man and Microbes. 89 



by anthrax. What could stop such waste other than an act of 

 Providence? 



From Pasteur's own notes we learn that, "On May 5, 1881, 

 twenty-four sheep, one goat and six cows were inoculated with 

 an attenuated form of anthrax. On the following- May 7, these 

 were reinoculated with a more virulent culture. On May 31, 

 the same animals were again inoculated with the most viru- 

 lent bacilli, along with a corresponding number of animals 

 which had not been previously inoculated. Two days later he 

 had the extreme satisfaction of demonstrating to the commis- 

 sion the results of his experiment. Not one of the immune 

 animals demonstrated the least signs of infection, while in the 

 nontreated group all were either dead or seriously affected. 



The most fascinating, if not the most romantic of Pasteur's 

 labors, were associated with the conquest of hydrophobia or 

 rabies. The appalling effects of the mad dog's bite has been 

 known since time immemorial. One of Homer's warriors calls 

 Hector a mad dog. Aristotle described the disease. Celsus 

 recommended that a victim of the bite be held under water 

 until almost drowned. Van Helmont, he of mice-making 

 fame, recommended that Celsus's treatment be applied until 

 the whole Psalm "Miserere" be sung. Perhaps in some in- 

 stances it would be far more pleasant, even unto death, to be 

 fully immersed during the vocal execution of the Miserere by 

 some tremulous prima donna. Still such a procedure could 

 never be made a standardized practice. 



Many other therapeutic measures had been devised for 

 rabies. Bleeding the patient nigh unto death, starvation, or 

 both of these procedures combined, a diet of mad dog's liver, 

 and drinking the blood of the mad dog, were some of the prac- 

 tices in vogue. One of the most common practices was suffoca- 

 tion. Either the victim was drowned or suffocated, by some 

 such means as compression between two mattresses. As late 

 as 1810 France passed a law prohibiting drowning or suffoca- 

 tion of hydrophobia victims. It is impossible for us in this 

 day to realize the extreme horror with which the disease was 

 held. Always regarded as incurable, it was a frequent prac- 

 tice for parents to lead the child who had been bitten to some 

 pond or stream and there drown it. Such customs were by no 

 means uncommon in Europe up until the time when Pasteur 

 turned his attention to the study of rabies, in 1880. 



