1877—1879 49 



septic poison was created, born spontaneously, which was after- 

 wards carried to other patients by such medicines as the tools 

 and bandages and the hands of the surgeon. But, originally, 

 before the propagation of the contagium germ, a purulent in- 

 fection was spontaneously produced and developed. And, in 

 order to put his teaching into forcible words, M. Le Fort 

 declared to the Acad^mie de Medecine : "I believe in the 

 interiority of the principle of purulent infection in certain 

 patients ; that is why I oppose the extension to surgery of the 

 germ theory which proclaims the constant exteriority of that 

 principle." 



Pasteur rose, and with his firm, powerful voice, exclaimed : 

 " Before the Academy accepts the conclusion of the paper we 

 have just heard, before the application of the germ theory to 

 pathology is condemned, I beg that I may be allowed to make 

 a statement of the researches I am engaged in with the colla- 

 boration of Messrs. Joubert and Chamberland." 



His impatience was so great that he formulated then and 

 there some headings for the lecture he was preparing, proposi- 

 tions on septicaemia or putrid infection, on the septic vibrio 

 itself, on the germs of that vibrio carried by wind in the shape 

 of dust, or suspended in water, on the vitality of those germs, 

 etc. He called attention to the mistakes which might be made 

 if, in that new acquaintance with microbes, their morphologic 

 aspect alone was taken account of. " The septic vibrio, for 

 instance, varies so much in its shape, length and thickness, 

 according to the media wherein it is cultivated, that one would 

 think one was dealing with beings specifically distinct from 

 each other." 



It was on April 30, 1878, that Pasteur read that celebrated 

 lecture on the germ theory, in his own name and in that of 

 Messrs. Joubert and Chamberland. It began by a proud exor- 

 dium : "All Sciences gain by mutual support. When, subse- 

 quently to my early communications on fermentations, in 1857- 

 1858, it was admitted that ferments, properly so called, are liv- 

 ing beings ; that germs of microscopical organisms abound on 

 the surface of all objects in the atmosphere and in water ; that 

 the hypothesis of spontaneous generation is a chimera ; that 

 wines, beer, vinegar, blood, urine and all the liquids of the 

 economy are preserved from their common changes when in 

 contact with pure air — Medicine and Surgery cast their eyes 

 towards these new lights. A French physician, M. Davaine, 



