Manchester Memoirs, Vol. lix. (191 5), No. 11. 29 



causes of which were at one time completely unknown, 

 are the result of the presence of certain microbes (bacteria, 

 etc.), which multiply in the interior of the body. Again, 

 it is Pasteur to whom we owe this memorable discovery. 

 The first disease which Pasteur studied, in 1865, was a 

 silk-worm epidemic. He succeeded in discovering the 

 cause of this disease and indicating the means of prevent- 

 ing it. In this way he rendered a great service to the 

 silk industry in France. He then studied chicken cholera, 

 a disease which was destroying 10 % of the poultry in 

 France. Pasteur succeeded in reducing the ravages to 

 1 %. The cattle disease known by the name of anthrax 

 was studied in its turn : it was a new triumph for Pasteur, 

 who succeeded in saving millions of oxen and sheep in 

 every country of the world. 



On the 14th of November, 1888, the Institut Pasteur, 

 devoted to the treatment of hydrophobia (or rabies}, was 

 opened in Paris. Thousands of men, bitten by maddened 

 animals, and drawn from all parts of the world, were saved 

 and cured in this institute. In many other towns institutes 

 similar to that in Paris were founded. 



It is difficult in a concise form to give an idea of the 

 methods conceived by Pasteur for combating of microbian 

 diseases. Only a doctor is capable of making such a 

 summary, and the subject is one incapable of comprehen- 

 sion save by a. doctor. 



We will content ourselves with recalling that the 

 discoveries of Pasteur and the methods of investigation of 

 which he was the pioneer and which have been followed 

 and perfected by a large number of other scientists, have 

 already allowed of the discovery of the microbes of 

 many diseases ; that it has been possible to isolate these 

 microbes, to cultivate them, to study their habits, and to 

 weaken them in such a way as to obtain what is known 



