46 PASTEUR AND AFTER PASTEUR 



hand to the work, this chemist who had never 

 touched a silkworm ; he discovered the cause and 

 course of the disease, and the way to prevent its 

 recurrence ; he brought back prosperity to the silk 

 trade, and saved his country out of her distress. 

 It was one of the hardest of all his studies : and it 

 was a time of bitter sorrow for him. In June, 1865, 

 his father died : in September, his child Camille : 

 in May, 1866, his child Cecile : in October, 1868, 

 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, and nearly died : 

 in 1870, came the Franco-German War. The 

 difficulties of the work, even to-day, would be 

 formidable, if a man were to start investigating 

 the disease, with all the latest advantages to help 

 him. In 1865, the difficulties were ten times 

 greater: no such investigation had ever yet been 

 made : every inch of the way had to be cut, like 

 steps in ice. Besides, he had to deal with a full 

 measure of opposition, prejudice, and downright 

 dishonesty. These years, which began with the 

 wrecking of his home and ended with the wrecking 

 of his country, were indeed heavy and full of grief : 

 but, in the end, he won. Nothing, in the later 

 years of his life, surpasses his Etudes sur les 

 Maladies des Vers a Sole. He used to commend 

 this book to students : and there could hardly be 

 a better guide for young men of science. 



The disease was called pebrine, from the black 



