BACTERIOLOGY IN A NUTSHELL. 



Chlorine 

 Solution. 



Pasteur's 

 Experiments. 



cases in the maternity wards, with little 

 thought, apparently as to the condition of 

 their hands. Semmelweis immediately began 

 to scrub and disinfect his own hands before ap- 

 proaching the beds of his maternity cases, and 

 soon found his efiforts crowned with success. 

 Then he insisted upon his fellow-students 

 practicing the same routine. The mortality 

 rate in the students' clinic thereafter became 

 much less than that of the midwives. The dis- 

 infectant used by Semmelweis and his co- 

 workers was chlorine solution. In spite of the 

 success of this conscientious worker, there was 

 much skepticism with regard to his theory, and 

 he died in an insane asylum, his malady the re- 

 sult of worry over unfriendly criticism. 



In 1849 the germ which causes anthrax was 

 discovered by Pollender, of Germany, but it 

 was not until the year 1863 that *Casimir 

 Joseph Devalue, a Frenchman, by the process 

 of inoculation proved that Pollender' s germ 

 really produced anthrax. 



In 1862 tLouis Pasteur, of France, the fame 

 of whose work at "Pasteur Institute," Paris, is 

 world wide, first began his experiments to 

 prove that living organisms are in the air we 

 breathe, in the food we eat, upon the clothing 



♦Casimir Joseph Devaine, born at St. Armand-les- 

 Eaux, France, in 1812; died in 1882. 



t Pasteur was bom at Dole, Jura, France, in IffiB; 

 died in 1895. 



r6 



