254 NATURE STUDIES. 



pebrine ; the eggs, in such, a case, inheriting the disease 

 from the parent moth which laid them. As the result 

 of a long and laborious series of experiments, Pasteur 

 showed that the pebrine would spread like an infectious 

 disease "by the contact of whole with diseased worms. 

 He showed that, just as man isolates his fever patients, 

 so the French silk-grower had to isolate and separate 

 his diseased worms. But the knowledge which led to 

 this effectual result was knowledge that had been won 

 by an uphill fight, and that had been gained by the 

 object-glass of the microscope, and by the whole-souled 

 devotion of many months' industry. 



Turning now to the Charbon or Splenic Fever, we 

 witness another veritable triumph of Pasteur's in- 

 dustry and research. In 1850, certain observers 

 noted the interesting fact that minute, rod-like 

 bodies, which appeared to be lower forms of plant 

 life, existed in the blood of animals affected with 

 this disease. The ' ' rods/ 5 it was observed, originated 

 from particles which might, with perfect accuracy, be 

 called "Germs." And as we watch the "rods" in 

 turn, we see that, sooner or later, microscopic specks 

 appear in their substance ; these grow to form regular 

 bead-like rows within the ' ' rods " ; and when finally 

 the " rods " themselves break up and fall to pieces, 

 these beads are liberated as the " germs," which in 

 time will grow into new rods. Thus countless 

 myriads of rods and germs grow and are reproduced 

 within the body of the animal suffering from splenic 

 fever. The fever, in a word, is the result of the 

 growth and development within the living soil, of 



