THE CURATIVE POISON 115 



made experiments on anaerobic (without air) 

 and aerobic (with air) forms of life, and he dis- 

 covered that a certain number of these organ- 

 isms could pass from one mode of life to the 

 other with an accompanying change in form 

 and function. 



But these studies of fermentations, through 

 which he was destined to refute Claude Ber- 

 nard, Berthelot, etc., studies which he pursued 

 with unflagging energy, and which were shed- 

 ding light upon phenomena that had remained 

 obscure until he had given the key to their in- 

 terpretation, did not prevent him from ponder- 

 ing over the role played by microbes in infec- 

 tious diseases or from beginning experiments 

 concerning them. 



Pasteur had been elected to full membership 

 of the Academy of Medicine in 1873, and it was 

 thenceforward there that he waged his battles 

 against prejudice, hostility and unfairness, in 

 order to achieve the triumph of ideas which 

 brought with them the most complete revolu- 

 tion that had ever taken place in medicine. 



