CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE 



of rendezvous, a vast crowd, composed of veterinary sur- 

 geons, newspaper correspondents, and farmers from far 

 and near, gathered to witness the closing scenes of this 

 scientific tourney. What they saw was one of the most 

 dramatic scenes in the history of peaceful science a 

 scene which, as Pasteur declared afterwards, " amazed 

 the assembly." Scattered about the enclosure, dead, 

 dying, or manifestly sick unto death, lay the unprotected 

 animals, one and all; while each and every "protected" 

 animal stalked unconcernedly about with every appear- 

 ance of perfect health. Twenty of the sheep and the 

 one goat were already dead ; two other sheep expired 

 under the eyes of the spectators ; the remaining victims 

 lingered but a few hours longer. Thus in a manner 

 theatrical enough, not to say tragic, was proclaimed the 

 unequivocal victory of science. Naturally enough, the 

 unbelievers struck their colors and surrendered without 

 terras ; the principle of protective vaccination, with a 

 virus experimentally prepared in the laboratory, was es- 

 tablished beyond the reach of controversy. 



That memorable scientific battle marked the begin- 

 ning of a new era in medicine. It was a foregone con- 

 clusion that the principle thus established would be still 

 further generalized ; that it would be applied to human 

 maladies; that, in all probability, it would grapple suc- 

 cessfully, sooner or later, with many infectious diseases. 

 That expectation has advanced rapidly towards realiza- 

 tion. Pasteur himself made the application to the hu- 

 man subject in the disease hydrophobia, in 1885, since 

 which time that hitherto most fatal of maladies has 

 largely lost its terrors. Thousands of persons, bitten 

 by mad dogs, have been snatched from the fatal conse- 

 quences of that mishap by this method, at the Pasteur 



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