1885—1888 199 



a beloved friend of his, J. J. Perraud, a great and inspired 

 sculptor, who had died in 1876. Perraud, whose magnificent 

 statue of Despair is now at the Louvre, had had a sad life, and, 

 on his lonely death-bed (he was a widower, with no children), 

 Pasteur's tender sympathy had been an unspeakable comfort. 

 Pasteur now took a leading part in the celebration of his friend's 

 fame, and was glad to speak to the assembled villagers at Monay 

 of the great and disinterested artist who had been born in their 

 midst. 



On his return to Paris, Pasteur found himself obliged to 

 hasten the organization of a " service " for the preventive treat- 

 ment of hydrophobia after a bite. The Mayors of Villers-Farlay, 

 in the Jura, wrote to him that, on October 14, a shepherd had 

 been cruelly bitten by a rabid dog. 



Six little shepherd boys were watching over their sheep in 

 a meadow ; suddenly they saw a large dog passing along the 

 road, with hanging, foaming jaws. 



" A mad dog ! " they exclaimed. The dog, seeing the chil- 

 dren, left the road and charged them ; they ran away shrieking, 

 but the eldest of them, J. B. Jupille, fourteen years of age, 

 bravely turned back in order to protect the flight of his comrades. 

 Armed with his whip, he confronted the infuriated animal, 

 who flew at him and seized his left hand. Jupille, wrestling 

 with the dog, succeeded in kneeling on him, and forcing its 

 jaws open in order to disengage his left hand ; in so doing, his 

 right hand was seriously bitten in its turn ; finally, having been 

 able to get hold of the animal by the neck, Jupille called to his 

 little brother to pick up his whip, which had fallen during the 

 struggle, and securely fastened the dog's jaws with the lash. 

 He then took his wooden sabot, with which he battered the dog's 

 head, after which, in order to be sure that it could do no further 

 harm, he dragged the body down to a little stream in the 

 meadow, and held the head under water for several minutes. 

 Death being now certain, and all danger removed from his com- 

 rades, Jupille returned to Villers-Farlay. 



Whilst the boy's wounds were being bandaged, the dog's 

 carcase was fetched, and a necropsy took place the next day. 

 The two veterinary surgeons who examined the body had not 

 the slightest hesitation in declaring that the dog was rabid. 



The Mayor of Villers-Farlay, who had been to see Pasteur 

 curing the summer, wrote to tell him that this lad would die 



