150 LOUIS PASTEUE. 



word expressed everything. It indicated the existence 

 of a mysterious scourge, the origin and nature of 

 which could not be traced, but which was ready to 

 fall upon all the establishments devoted to the nurture 

 of the worms. Whatever might happen, or whatever 

 might be the cause of ruin in a silkworm nursery, the 

 disease was held responsible. One of the most striking 

 proofs that the evil was attributed to pebrine alone is 

 found in the fact that a prize of 5,000 florins was 

 offered by the Austrian Government in 1868, as a 

 reward for the discovery of the best remedy for the 

 prevention and cure of pebrine ' the epidemic disease 

 which devastates the silkworm.' 



A rapid glance at the principles which have just 

 been established suffices to show that pebrine might 

 now be regarded as vanquished. Pasteur had de- 

 monstrated that moths free from corpuscles never 

 produced a single corpusculous egg ; he had proved, 

 moreover, that eggs brought up hi a state of isolation, 

 at a distance from contaminated eggs, produce no 

 worms, chrysalides, or moths which are corpusculous. 

 ,It was easy, therefore, to multiply cultivations free from 

 pebrine. The production of silk and the production of 

 eggs was thus secured. To make sure that the eggs 

 were pure it was only necessary to have recourse to 

 the microscopic examination of the moths which had 

 produced them. These observations might be made 

 by women, by young girls, even by children. It was 



