1884—1885 187 



gunpowder over the wound and setting a match to it, he recom- 

 mended caustics, such as nitric acid, sulphuric acid, hydro- 

 chloric acid, potassa fusa, butter of antimony, corrosive sub- 

 limate, and nitrate of silver. 



Thus, after centuries had passed, and numberless remedies 

 had been tried, no progress had been made, and nothing better 

 had been found than cauterization, as indicated by Celsus in 

 the first century. 



As to the origin of rabies, it remained unknown and was 

 erroneously attributed to divers causes. Spontaneity was still 

 believed in. Bouley himself did not absolutely reject the idea 

 of it, for he said in 1870 : " In the immense majority of cases, 

 this disease proceeds from contagion; out of 1,000 rabid dogs, 

 999 at least owe their condition to inoculation by a bite." 



Pasteur was anxious to uproot this fallacy, as also another 

 very serious error, vigorously opposed by Bouley, by M. 

 Nocard, and by another veterinary surgeon in a Manual on 

 Rabies, published in 1882, and still as tenacious as most pre- 

 judices, viz., that the word hydrophobia is synonymous with 

 rabies. The rabid dog is not hydrophobe, he does not abhor 

 water. The word is applicable to rabid human beings, but is 

 false concerning rabid dogs. 



Many people in the country, constantly seeing Pasteur's 

 name associated with the word rabies, fancied that he was a 

 consulting veterinary surgeon, and pestered him with letters 

 full of questions. What was to be done to a dog whose manner 

 seemed strange, though there was no evidence of a suspicious 

 bite? Should he be shot? " No," answered Pasteur, " shut 

 him up securely, and he will soon die if he is really mad." 

 Some dog owners hesitated to destroy a dog manifestly bitten 

 by a mad dog. "It is such a good dog! " "The law is 

 absolute," answered Pasteur; " every dog bitten by a mad dog 

 must be destroyed at once." And it irritated him that village 

 mayors should close their eyes to the non-observance of the law, 

 and thus contribute to a recrudescence of rabies. 



Pasteur wasted his precious time answering all those letters. 

 On March 28, 1885, he wrote to his friend Jules Vercel — 



"Alas! we shall not be able to go to Arbois for Easter; I 

 shall be busy for some time settling down, or rather settling 

 my dogs down at Villeneuve l'Etang. I also have some new 

 experiments on rabies on hand which will take some months. 



