THE LABORATORY OF THE ECOLE NORMALS. 279 



like that of boils, in pairs of two or four, and also in 

 parcels, some with a clearly defined outline, others 

 scarcely visible, and with very faint outlines. The 

 external pus showed an abundance of pus globules, 

 but that of the interior did not show any. It was 

 like a paste entirely composed of microbes, so numerous 

 and fertile that, in less than six hours after sowing them 

 in the cultivating liquid, the development of the little 

 microbe had commenced, and was rendered visible to 

 the naked eye by a slight but general turbidity of the 

 liquid. 



Its close resemblance to the organism of the boil 

 might lead to the assertion that they are identical, if 

 it were not known how great are the physiological 

 differences that may exist between microscopic parasites 

 of the same appearance and the same dimensions. 



I. 



As Pasteur advanced in these studies, he found at 

 the Academy of Medicine some fellow labourers, who 

 being keenly interested in such researches did all they 

 could to promote them. Thus M. Villemin, the chief 

 medical officer of the Val de Grace (who had with so 

 much sagacity discovered the contagion of tuber- 

 culosis) when typhoid fever was raging in Paris two 

 years ago, never allowed a case of the fever to pass 

 through his hands without informing Pasteur, who 



