October 3, 1895] 



NATURE 



551 



the war, M. I'astcur sent back the Diploma of Doctor 

 ^'iven to him by the University of Bonn in 1868, and 

 subsequently received a message from the students call- '■ 

 in^f him an impostor and a cjuack. In 1 881 Pasteur 

 was elected a member of the French Academy, suc- 

 ceeding to the scat of M. Littre. About the same time 

 he was made an honorarj- Doctor of Science of the 

 University of Oxford. In 1887 he was appointed per- 

 petual secretary- of the Academy of Sciences, but in 

 1889, owing to the failure of his health, he was compelled 

 to hand over the duties of this position to M. Rertholet. 



At the conclusion of his researches on crystals and 

 " ine fennentation, Pasteur commenced an inquiry into 

 the diseases of the silkworm, and in no investigation 

 that he undertook were his method and thoroughness 

 more fully exemplified than in this. When he com- , 

 menccd his inquiiy he had never even seen a 

 silkworm, but for four years he spent several months 

 of each year in tracing the genns of the " pebrinc " disease '' 

 through the \arious stages of dc\elopment of the worm, 

 egg, larva, chrysalis, and moth. He found what he 1 

 described as " corpuscles," which he indicated were 

 the contagious elements of the disease. These were 

 taken up from the mulberr\-leaves on which they 

 had been previously deposited by diseased moths ; 

 some of the worms died, but others went on to the 

 chrysalis and even to the moth stage, still affected by 

 these " corpuscles," and the eggs laid by these moths 

 were also found to contain them. He was convinced that 

 the only way was to breed from moths not affected by 

 the disease, and " to this end he invented the plan which 

 has been universally adopted, and has restored a source 

 of V. ealth to the silk districts : each female moth, when 

 ready to lay eggs, is placed on a separate piece of linen, 

 on which it may lay them all ; after it has laid them and 

 has died, it is dried, and then pounded in water, and, the 

 water is then examined microscopically. If " corpuscles" 

 are foimd in it, the whole of the eggs of this moth, and the 

 Imen on which they are laid, are burnt ; if no cor- 

 puscles are found, the eggs are kept, to be, in due time, 

 hatched, and yield healthy silkworms." 



Pasteur's experiments on fermentation began to have a 

 1 more direct bearing on disease when Sir Joseph Lister, 

 I ap])lying the principles to the changes that occur in 

 1 wounds, was able by his antiseptic practice to exclude 

 [putrefactive and septic germs from wounds, and so to 

 lpre\ent those terrible sequchc which were the terror of 

 Isurgeons of the past generation. 



Then came Pasteur's great work in bacteriology, his 

 lattenuation of the anthrax bacillus and of other pathogenic 

 lorganisms by which he procured a vaccinating virus, cap- 

 lable of producing a mild form of the disease : as a result of I 

 ^his attack vaccinated animals were protected against the 

 attacks of the non-attenuated organism. This was first 

 proved in connection with fowl-cholera, then in connection [ 

 livith swine erysipelas ; but the most important application | 

 lit that time was in connection with anthrax. His work on 

 aydrophobia is still fresh in the minds of all. Pasteur's 

 Ivork does not end with his death. He had collected in the 

 Institut Pasteur, which was raised as a memorial to his 

 life's work, a band of able and well-trained in\e5tigators, 

 Ivho are imbued with the spirit that animated his mind | 

 |nd soul men who, under his advice and encouragement. 

 Ire working out the details of the great works that he 

 nitiated, who are endowed with some of his great mental 

 Ikower, and who have been fully trained under his eye in the 

 ncthods of direct experiment and accurate observation, 

 Kien who have been taught by him " n'avancez rien qui 

 le puisse ctre prouve d'une fa(;on simple et decisive," 

 rule always practised by himself 



France may well offer a public funeral. Louis Pasteur 

 as one of her noblest sons — an honoured one during 

 Ilis life, and deeply lamented now that he is dead. 

 In Pasteur not only has France lost the greatest French- 



NO. 1353. VOL. 52] 



man, but the world has lost one of its greatest benefactors, 

 not only of this age but of all time. Letters and tele- 

 grams of condolence have been sent by men of light and 

 leading in many nations, and they indicate the sorrow felt 

 unto the ends of the earth. No greater testimony than 

 this could be given of the esteem in which the memor)- of 

 the great investigator is held. The blessings which the 

 human race owes to Pasteur ha\e been recognised for 

 some time, and now that the mind which gave them 

 birth is at rest, one great outburst of grief arises. The 

 expression of sorrow in F" ranee is full and sincere. At the 

 funeral, which is arranged to take place next Saturday, the 

 President of the Republic will be present, and other 

 representatives of the French Government, together 

 with a multitude of fellow -workers and friends who revere 

 Pasteur's memory. The funeral procession will first pro- 

 ceed to Notre Dame, where a solemn requiem will be 

 chanted in presence of the .Archbishop of Paris. The 

 body will afterwards be placed in one of the vaults of the 

 cathedral until the celebration of the Centenary- of the 

 Institute of France, in three weeks' time, when it will be 

 removed to its final resting-place. It has been arranged 

 that the body of the great investigator shall be finally 

 interred at the Institute which bears his name, and which 

 will form a fitting monument to him. The representa- 

 tives of science who will be assembled in Paris for the 

 Centenary will accompany the transfer of the mortal 

 remains of their foremost fellow -worker ; so that while 

 they unite to celebrate the foundation of the Institute of 

 France, they will join together in sorrow for the deep 

 loss which science has sustained. 



NO TES. 



The eleventh International Geodetic Conference was opened 

 at Berlin on Tuesday. Representatives were present from 

 Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Servia, Spain, 

 Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The proceed- 

 ings were opened by Dr. Bosse, the Prussian Minister of Public 

 Education. 



A N EW meteorological observatory is reported to have been 

 opened on the Brocken, in the Harz Mountains, on Tuesday. 

 The observations obtained there will be useful for discussion in 

 connection with those made at the observatory on Ben Nevis. 



Sir David Salomons has arranged for an exhibition of 

 horseless carriages on Tuesday, October 15, at the Tunbridge 

 Wells Agricultural Show Ground, which has been lent to him 

 for the occasion. The carriages will enter the ring at three 

 o'clock p.m. The entrance money received will be used for 

 prizes to be awarded at the show of the Tunbridge Wells and 

 South Eastern Counties Agricultural Society next year, for the 

 best horseless carriages intended to be used for agricultural, 

 trade, and private purposes. Invitation tickets for the exhibi- 

 tion may be secured in order of application by Fellows and 

 Members of the following Institutions sending an addressed 

 envelope to one of the Secretaries— the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, the Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of 

 Mechanical Engineers, the Royal College of Physicians, and the 

 Royal College of Surgeons. 



The Medical Schools attached to London and provincial 

 hospitals commenced a new session on Tuesday with the 

 customary introductory addresses. Prof. J. K. Bradford, at 

 University College, discussed the [wsitions occupied by biolog)-, 

 anatomy, and physiolog)' in the medical curriculum. Dr. A. P. 

 Laurie addressed the students at St. Mar)-"s Hospital on the 

 jnedical profession and unhealthy trades. At the London Hos- 

 pital, Dr. J. Hughlings-Jack-son was presented with his portrait 

 and a piece of plate, in recognition of his great services to the 

 London Hospital and Medical College, of his distinguished 

 ixjsition in the profession, and of the advance he has e6fected in 

 medical science by his laborious investigations and profound 



