THE SUPREME HOMAGE 195 



"Monsieur Pasteur/' he said, "the great hon- 

 our has been accorded me of bringing you the 

 homage of the sciences of medicine and sur- 

 gery. 



"As a matter of fact, there is no one living in 

 the entire world to whom the medical sciences 

 owe so much as they do to you. Your re- 

 searches in regard to fermentations have shed a 

 powerful light that has illumined the fatal 

 darkness of surgery and changed the treatment 

 of wounds from a matter of empiricism, uncer- 

 tain and too often disastrous, to a scientific art 

 of assured beneficence. 



"Thanks to you, surgery has undergone a 

 complete revolution which has robbed it of its 

 terrors and extended its efficacious powers al- 

 most without limit. 



"Medicine is indebted, no less than surgery, 

 to your profound and philosophic studies. You 

 have lifted the veil which for centuries had 

 overhung infectious diseases. You have dis- 

 covered and demonstrated their microbic na- 

 ture; thanks to your initiative, and in many 



