286 INFECTION AND IMMUNITY 



large scale for the prevention of rabies among dogs, 

 and if these animals were thus protected, rabies would 

 soon become practically extinct. The method is even 

 more reliable than vaccination as a protection against 

 smallpox. But its practical application on a large 

 scale would be attended with great difficulties and 

 would, no doubt, be opposed by a large proportion 

 of the owners of dogs. There has, therefore, so far 

 as I am informed, never been any attempt to apply 

 this discovery of Pasteur's in a practical way for the 

 prevention of rabies. But these preliminary experi- 

 ments led to the discovery that animals and man may 

 be rendered immune to the disease by protective in- 

 oculations made after they have been bitten by a 

 rabid animal. I shall not attempt to give an account 

 of the experiments which led Pasteur to this im- 

 portant discovery or of the methods employed for 

 obtaining an attenuated virus, but will content myself 

 with a summary statement of the results which have 

 been attained in the practical application of this 

 method of prevention. 



It is probably generally known that " Pasteur Insti- 

 tutes" for the treatment of persons bitten by rabid 

 animals have now been established in all parts of the 

 civilised world. During the year 1891, 1564 persons 

 were inoculated at the Pasteur Institute in Paris 

 with a total mortality of 0.57 per cent. In 324 of 



