SCIENCE AND WAR 227 



becoming and the relation of the real to the concrete. 

 Yet Pasteur felt he could learn much of value from 

 the simplest shepherd or vine-dresser. 



He was complete in the simplicity of his affec- 

 tions, in his compassion for all suffering, in the 

 warmth of his religious faith, and in his devotion to 

 his country. He thought France was to regain li- r 

 place in the world's esteem through scientific prog- 

 ress. He was therefore especially gratified in Au- 

 gust, 1881, at the thunders of applause which 

 greeted his appearance at the International Medical 

 Congress in London. There he was introduced to 

 the Prince of Wales (fondateur de V Entente Cor- 

 diale), " to whom I bowed, saying that I was 

 happy to salute a friend of France." 



Pasteur's investigation of rabies began in this 

 same year. Difficulty was found in isolating the 

 microbe of the rabic virus, but an inoculation from 

 the medulla oblongata of a mad dog injected into 

 one of the brain membranes (dura mater) of an- 

 other dog invariably brought on the symptoms of 

 rabies. To obtain attenuation of the virus it was 

 sufficient to dry the medulla taken from an infected 

 rabbit. The weakened virus increased in strength 

 when cultivated in a series of rabbits. Pasteur ob- 

 tained in inoculations of graded virulence, which 

 could be administered hypodermically, a means of 

 prophylaxis after bites. He conjectured that in vae- 

 cinal immunity the virus is accompanied by a sub- 

 stance which makes the nervous tissue unfavorable 

 for the development of the microbe. 



It was not till 1885 that he ventured to use his 

 discovery to prevent hydrophobia. On July 6 a little 



