254 LOUIS PASTEUR. 



a striking extent. On examination after death, the 

 lesions of these animals were found to be similar to 

 those observed in sheep which were attacked by splenic 

 fever in sheds, or which died of the disease in the 

 open fields. 



From that time forward, the idea which had been 

 predominant in the minds of Pasteur and his fellow- 

 workers during all their inquiries, was materially 

 strengthened. They were convinced that the animals 

 which died of blood disease in the department of Eure 

 et Loire had been infected by germs or spores of the 

 splenic microbe contained in their food ; but the 

 question remained, Whence came these germs ? 



From the moment when all belief in the spon- 

 taneous generation of the parasite is rejected, attention 

 is naturally drawn to the possible consequences which 

 may arise from burying in the earth animals which 

 have died of splenic fever. In the greater number of 

 cases, when the knacker's establishment is too far off 

 and the dead animal is of little value, a trench is dug 

 on the spot, at a depth varying from half a meter to a 

 meter. If the animal dies in a field, it is buried where 

 it falls ; if it dies in a shed the body is carried into a 

 neighbouring field. There it is buried, and putrefac- 

 tion sets in ; and since all the splenic fever filaments 

 of the blood are destroyed by putrefaction, it was 

 thought that no dissemination of the germs of splenic 

 fever, after the animal had been buried, could occur. 



