184 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



criminals condemned to death; they were all saved, and the 

 Royal Family submitted to inoculation. 



There is undoubtedly a beautiful aspect of that idea of 

 utilizing the fate of a criminal for the cause of Humanity. But 

 in our modern laws no such liberty is left to Justice, which 

 has no power to invent new punishments, or to enter into a 

 bargain with a condemned criminal. 



Before his departure from Arbois, Pasteur encountered fresh 

 and unforeseen obstacles. The successful opposition of the 

 inhabitants of Meudon had inspired those of St. Cloud, Ville 

 d'Avray, Vaucresson, Marnes, and Garches with the idea of 

 resisting in their turn the installation of Pasteur's kennels at 

 Villeneuve l'Etang. People spoke of public danger, of children 

 exposed to meet ferocious rabid dogs wandering loose about 

 the park, of popular Sundays spoilt, picnickers disturbed, 

 etc., etc. 



A former pupil of Pasteur's at the Strasburg Faculty, M. 

 Christen, now a Town Councillor at Vaucresson, warned 

 Pasteur of all this excitement, adding that he personally was 

 ready to do his best to calm the terrors of his townspeople. 



Pasteur answered, thanking him for his efforts. ' . . . I 

 shall be back in Paris on October 24, and on the morning of 

 the twenty-fifth and following days I shall be pleased to see 

 any one desiring information on the subject. . . . But you 

 may at once assure your frightened neighbours, Sir, that there 

 will be no mad dogs at Villeneuve l'Etang, but only dogs made 

 refractory to rabies. Not having enough room in my labora- 

 tory, I am actually obliged to quarter on various veterinary 

 surgeons those dogs, which I should like to enclose in covered 

 kennels, quite safely secured, you may be sure." 



Pasteur, writing about this to his son, could not help saying, 

 " Months of fine weather have been wasted! This will keep 

 my plans back almost a year." 



Little by little, in spite of the opposition which burst out now 

 and again, calm was again re-established. French good sense 

 and appreciation of great things got the better of the struggle; 

 in January, 1885, Pasteur was able to go to Villeneuve l'Etang 

 to superintend the arrangements. The old stables were turned 

 into an immense kennel, paved with asphalte. A wide passage 

 went from one end to the other, on each side of which accom- 

 modation for sixty dogs was arranged behind a double barrier 

 of wire netting. 



