LOUIS PASTEUR 



409 



country, and with a knowledge of the cause of fermentation it was 

 possible to check the diseases which had spoiled wine. 



In 1865-1868 Pasteur turned his attention to a silkworm dis- 

 ease which threatened to wipe out the silk industry of France and 

 Italy. He found that this disease was caused by two tiny organ- 

 isms, one a protozoan, the other a bacterium. After careful study 

 he made certain recommendations which, when carried out, re- 

 sulted in the complete conquest 

 of the disease and the saving of 

 millions of dollars to the poor 

 people of France and Italy. 



His greatest service to man- 

 kind came later in his life when 

 he applied certain of his dis- 

 coveries to the treatment of 

 disease in people. First ex- 

 perimenting upon chickens, he 

 proved that a vaccine made 

 from the germs which caused 

 chicken cholera could be re- 

 duced to any desired strength. 

 He then inoculated chickens 

 with the vaccine of reduced 

 strength, giving them a mild 

 form of the disease, and found 

 that this made them immune. 

 This discovery, first applied to 

 chicken cholera, laid the foundation for all future work in the uses 

 of serums, vaccines, and antitoxins. 



Pasteur is perhaps best known through his study of rabies. 

 The great Pasteur Institute, founded by popular subscriptions 

 from all over the world, has successfully treated many thousands 

 of cases of rabies with a death rate of less than 1 per cent. But 

 more than that, it was the place where Roux (roo), a fellow worker 

 with Pasteur, discovered the antitoxin for diphtheria which has 

 saved thousands of human lives. There also were estabhshed the 

 principles of inoculation against bubonic plague, lockjaw, and other 

 germ diseases. 



Louis Pasteur. 



