278 LOUIS PASTEUR. 



find some fruitful in the little organism of the 

 boils.' 



But whilst Dr. Maurice Raynaud gave Pasteur the 

 means of studying boils, Dr. Lannelongue enabled him 

 to investigate that serious disease of the bones and 

 marrow called 'osteomyelitis.' In February 1880 

 that skilful surgeon, who has published a highly 

 esteemed work on osteomyelitis, and on the possi- 

 bility of its cure by trepanning the bone, followed by 

 washings and antiseptic dressings, conducted Pasteur 

 to the Hospice Trousseau. A little girl twelve years 

 of age, attacked with this cruel malady, was about to 

 be operated upon. The right knee was much swollen, 

 as was also all the leg to below the calf, and a part 

 of the thigh above the knee. After having chloro- 

 formed the child, Dr. Lannelongue made a long in- 

 cision below the knee, from which pus flowed 

 abundantly. The bone of the tibia was laid bare for 

 a considerable length. Three trepanning perforations 

 were then made in the bone, from each of which the 

 pus issued in great quantities. Pasteur carefully 

 collected, with all the conditions necessary to the pre- 

 servation of their purity, the pus of the exterior and 

 the pus of the interior of the bone, and, returning to 

 his laboratory, he examined them attentively. The 

 direct observation, by a microscope, of the two speci- 

 mens of pus was extremely interesting. It was obvious 

 that they contained, in large quantities, an organism 



