November 8, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



609 



to tried upon animals alone. A youtli who 

 had been severely bitten by an unques- 

 tionably rabid dog was brought to him at 

 his laboratory. The youth's life was de- 

 spaired of by the physicians, inasmuch as 

 with certainty he would develop hydropho- 

 bia. Under the circumstances Pasteur felt 

 justified in trying upon this youth the ex- 

 periments that had succeeded with dogs 

 and rabbits. The experiment so far as could 

 be demonstrated was a success. The youth 

 failed to develop this disease. But for a 

 final demonstration that his methods were 

 successful was required a long series of 

 public experiments which were not to be 

 obtained by any one dramatic incident. 

 To obtain such testimony no means ap- 

 peared to be possible except to announce to 

 the public the discovery of a method of pre- 

 venting hydrophobia. Such an announce- 

 ment was made by Pasteur. The public 

 had such unlimited confidence in the man 

 that they at once accepted the conclusion 

 as correct. Certain it is that no one else 

 could have taken the pubUc into his exjjeri- 

 ments, but his uninterrupted success in 

 previous years gave all a belief that he had 

 made no mistake here. Opportunities for 

 experiment began to multij)ly, aud scores 

 and then hundred of individuals who 

 had been bitten by animals, either rabid 

 or supposed to be rabid, flocked to the 

 laboratory of Pasteur to be treated by 

 his method. The experiments thus be- 

 gun have continued for eight years, and 

 even yet can hardly be considered as con- 

 cluded. The opinion of the public, and 

 especially of the medical world, has vibrated 

 from one side to the other. At first Pasteur's 

 conclusions were accepted as probable sim- 

 ply on the basis of the great reputation of 

 the man, and the fact that Pasteur made so 

 few mistakes. Later, flying to the other 

 extreme, the whole ef&cacy of the method as 

 practiced by Pasteur was doubted. Most 

 violent opposition arose, and it is thought 



that this opposition contributed to under- 

 mine Pasteur's health and check his active 

 life. Later again the world became slowly 

 convinced, by the accumulating testimony 

 in his Institute, that here too no mistake 

 had been made. At the present time there 

 is hardly a question that Pasteur's methods, 

 even in the case of hydrophobia, have dem- 

 onstrated themselves as successful. While 

 statistics are a very uncertain kind of evi- 

 dence, one cannot read of the success which 

 has attended the inoculation in Pasteur's 

 Institute for eight years without being con- 

 vinced that Pasteur's methods are correct. 

 In his Institute have been treated several 

 thousands of cases of persons bitten by 

 animals supposed to have been rabid, and 

 among those that have been treated the 

 number of deaths has only been a trifle over 

 one per cent . With this exceptionally small 

 percentage, even after we say everything 

 possible as to the uncertainty of statistics, 

 we can hardly question that truth underlies 

 these methods, and that Pasteur's last great 

 work was as successful as those of his earlier 

 years. 



This work upon hydrophobia was the last 

 piece of work which we have directly from 

 Pasteiir's own personality. A Pasteur Insti- 

 tute was established, and from that Institute 

 has come, and is still coming, a series of in- 

 vestigations along the lines that Pasteur 

 began, which are yearly adding not only to 

 our scientific knowledge, but to our practi- 

 cal method of dealing with disease. While 

 Pasteur's name is no longer attached to 

 these individual researches, the master's 

 hand gave the inspiration for them all. 

 For several years the experiments have all 

 been in the hands of his assistants. While 

 we have looked upon them as his assistants, 

 we must recognize them as independent and 

 as having achieved their own reputation, but 

 nevertheless, we must feel that the work that 

 has come from Pasteur's Institute, and that 

 wUl for a number of years be given to the 



