118 



PLAGUE. 



In 1894, Kitasato and Yersin,* working at plague 

 in Hong- Kong, discovered the bacillus pestis (see 

 the Lancet, August 11 and 25, 1894). Thus, 1894 

 stands out as the first year of diphtheria antitoxin, 

 the first year of HafFkine's protective inoculation 

 against cholera, and the first year of the bacteriology 

 of plague. 



Lovers of the Vie de Pasteur will remember the 

 account of the little festival at the Pasteur Institute 

 in April, 1895. The occasion was the Centenary 

 of the Ecole Normale : it was five months before 

 Pasteur's death : he had lost all bodily strength, 

 but was able to receive some old Normaliens. In 

 the great laboratory, Roux had arranged an exhibi- 

 tion of the work of near forty years : the original 

 flasks used by Pasteur in 1860, ferments, bacteria, 

 everything, down to pure cultures of diphtheria and 

 plague : 



"Vers midi, Pasteur se fit transporter dans le 

 laboratoire. M. Roux, prenant un microscope, 

 montra a son maitre le bacille de la peste. En 

 voyant tant de choses representatives de ses propres 

 travaux et des recherches de ses eleves, Pasteur 

 pensait aux disciples qui, de tous cotes, pour- 

 suivaient 1'ceuvre commencee. En France, il 



* Yersin is now Director of the Pasteur Institutes at 

 Nhatrang and Saigon, and Surgeon-in-chief to the French 

 Colonial Forces. 



