1880—1882 97 



ludicrous if it had not been touching. The thought of having a 

 dog's cranium perforated was very disagreeable to him ; he very 

 much wished that the experiment should take place, and yet he 

 feared to see it begun. I performed it one day when he was 

 out. The next day, as I was telling him that the intercranial 

 inoculation had presented no difficulty, he began pitying the 

 dog. ' Poor thing ! His brain is no doubt injured, he must 

 be paralysed ! ' I did not answer, but went to fetch the dog, 

 whom I brought into the laboratory. Pasteur was not fond of 

 dogs, but when he saw this one, full of life, curiously investigat- 

 ing every part of the laboratory, he showed the keenest 

 pleasure, and spoke to the dog in the most affectionate manner. 

 Pasteur was infinitely grateful to this dog for having borne 

 trephining so well, thus lessening his scruples for future 

 trephining." 



As the day was approaching for the last experiments at 

 Pouilly le Fort, excitement was increasing in the veterinary 

 world. Every chance meeting led to a discussion ; some 

 prudent men said " Wait." Those that believed were still few 

 in number. 



One or two days before the third and decisive inoculation, the 

 veterinary surgeon of Pont-sur-Yonne, M. Biot, who was 

 watching with a rare scepticism the Pouilly le Fort experi- 

 ments, met Colin on the road to Maisons-Alfort. " Our con- 

 versation " — M. Biot dictated the relation of this episode to 

 M. Thierry, his colleague, also very sceptical and expecting the 

 Tarpeian Rock — "our conversation naturally turned on 

 Pasteur's experiments. Colin said : ' You must beware, for 

 there are two parts in the bacteridia-culture broth : one upper 

 part which is inert, and one deep part very active, in which the 

 bacteridia become accumulated, having dropped to the bottom 

 because of their weight. The vaccinated sheep will be inocu- 

 lated with the upper part of the liquid, whilst the others will 

 be inoculated with the bottom liquid, which will kill them.' 

 Colin advised M. Biot to seize at the last moment the phial 

 containing the virulent liquid and to shake it violently, " so as 

 to produce a perfect mixture rendering the whole uniformly 

 virulent." 



If Bouley had heard such a thing, he would have lost his 

 temper, or he would have laughed heartily. A year before 

 this, in a letter to M. Thierry, who not only defended but 

 extolled Colin, Bouley had written : 



