382 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



more than a fortnight since we had seen a single case of 

 cholera ; we were beginning to study cattle-plague. 



" Of us all, Thuillier was the one who took most precautions ; 

 he was irreproachably careful. 



"We are writing by this post a few lines to his family, in 

 the names of all of us. 



" Such are the blows cholera can strike at the end of an 

 epidemic ! Want of time forces me to close this letter. Pray 

 believe in our respectful affection." 



The whole of the French colony , who received great marks of 

 sympathy from the Italians and other foreigners, wished to 

 perpetuate the memory of Thuillier. Pasteur wrote, on October 

 16, to a French physician at Alexandria, who had informed him 

 of this project : 



"I am touched with the generous resolution of the French 

 colony at Alexandria to erect a monument to the memory of 

 Louis Thuillier. That valiant and beloved young man was 

 deserving of every honour. I know, perhaps better than any 

 one, the loss inflicted on science by his cruel death. I cannot 

 console myself, and I am already dreading the sight, of the dear 

 fellow's empty place in my laboratory." 



On his return to Paris, Pasteur read a paper to the Academy 

 of Sciences, in his own name and in that of Thuillier, on the 

 now well-ascertained mode of vaccination for swine-fever. He 

 began by recalling Thuillier's worth : 



' ' Thuillier entered my laboratory after taking the first rank 

 at the Physical Science Agr^gation competition at the Ecole 

 Normale. His was a deeply meditative, silent nature ; his whole 

 person breathed a virile energy which struck all those who knew 

 him. An indefatigable worker, he was ever ready for self 

 sacrifice." 



A few days before, M. Straus had given to the Biology 

 Society a summary statement of the studies of the Cholera Com- 

 mission, concluding thus: "The documents collected during 

 those two months are far from solving the etiological problem of 

 cholera, but will perhaps not be useless for the orientation of 

 future research." 



The cholera bacillus was put in evidence, later on , by Dr. Koch, 

 who had already suspected it during his researches in Egypt. 



Glory, which had been seen in the battlefield at the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century, now seemed to elect to dwell in the 



